Entrance to the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust. Photo by Belzarch, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
The Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust (LAMOTH) is the oldest Holocaust museum in the United States founded by Holocaust survivors. It was founded in 1961 by a group of Holocaust survivors who met in English-as-a-second-language classes at Hollywood High School. They discovered that a number of them kept artifacts from their horrific experience at Nazi concentration camps such as photographs or camp uniforms. The desire to highlight and bring these artifacts together with their stories and to commemorate those who died in the Holocaust led them to establish the museum. Some of the founders continue to be active in 2018 with the LAMOTH board. The museum has always been free to visitors because the founders specified that no one be turned away from learning about the Holocaust. The Museum opened a new facility in 2010 in Pan Pacific Park to ceremonies attended by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. The award-winning subterranean facility, designed by architect Hagy Belzberg, descends and decreases in light to impact a visitor's experience as they move into the darkest parts of Holocaust history.
Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust
100 S. The Grove Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90036
Telephone (323) 651-3704
