Virginia Holocaust Museum

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Virginia Holocaust Museum The Virginia Holocaust Museum is committed to Holocaust education and honoring Holocaust victims.

Located in downtown Richmond, the Museum details the Holocaust while telling stories of local Survivors. We are open year-round except for Easter, the first day of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

Before Auschwitz, there was music. At just 13 years old, Anita Lasker-Wallfisch was already deeply in love with her cell...
10/25/2026

Before Auschwitz, there was music.

At just 13 years old, Anita Lasker-Wallfisch was already deeply in love with her cello.

Music was her passion. It was part of who she was—a young girl with talent, dreams, and a future she could not yet imagine.

Then the N***s took that future away.

Anita survived Auschwitz, in part because her ability to play the cello led to her becoming a member of the women’s orchestra at the camp.

But Anita's story is so much more than what happened to her during the Holocaust. It is the story of a girl, a musician, a survivor, a mother, and a woman whose voice still has the power to teach us today.

And now, you can hear that voice for yourself.

Through Dimensions in Testimony® at the Virginia Holocaust Museum, you can sit across from Anita and ask her questions about her life, her experiences, her music—and hear her answer.

Come meet Anita.

Ask her anything.

Hear her story in her own words.

Included with general admission. Plan your visit today!

You can read about the Holocaust. You can see photographs. But standing next to an actual piece of that history feels di...
10/23/2026

You can read about the Holocaust. You can see photographs. But standing next to an actual piece of that history feels different.

Take the boxcar, located just outside our front door. It is an authentic early twentieth-century Deutsche Reichsbahn boxcar from a railyard in Haltern am See, Germany. In 2003, with the help of the late Holocaust survivor Alex Lebenstein, the Museum acquired it.

It is hard to imagine what happened inside cars like this one. Millions of innocent people were forced inside. The doors were slammed shut, and they were transported to places they could never have imagined.

If you haven't seen it, come by the Virginia Holocaust Museum. Take a minute to stand beside it. Then come inside and spend some time with the stories and people behind the history.

We look forward to welcoming you.

October 22, 1941 | Annihilation of the Jews of OdessaOn this date, an explosion at the military headquarters in Odessa (...
10/22/2026

October 22, 1941 | Annihilation of the Jews of Odessa

On this date, an explosion at the military headquarters in Odessa (Ukraine) killed 60 people. While those responsible for the blast were never identified, authorities blamed communists and Jews, and roundups and ex*****ons quickly followed. By the end of October 23, 5,000 people—mostly Jews—had been hanged by Romanian officials. Subsequently, thousands of Jews were marched to the nearby village of Dalnyk. At Dalnyk, Jews were locked inside buildings that were then set on fire. Officials shot anyone attempting to escape the inferno.

In 1939, Jews constituted roughly one-third of Odessa’s population of 600,000. By the end of 1942, a year after Ukraine’s occupation by Romania (a N**i ally), the Jews of Odessa had largely been shot, hanged, burned or deported.

Pictured: Holocaust Memorial, Odessa

October 20, 1943 | The Arrest of Irena SendlerDuring the Holocaust, a secret Polish resistance organization known as Zeg...
10/20/2026

October 20, 1943 | The Arrest of Irena Sendler

During the Holocaust, a secret Polish resistance organization known as Zegota helped Jews survive N**i persecution. Supported by the Polish government-in-exile, its members provided food, money, forged documents and other assistance to Jews in hiding.

Irena Sendler, a Polish social worker, joined Zegota in early 1943. She helped smuggle hundreds of children out of the Warsaw Ghetto and arrange safe places for them in convents, orphanages, hospitals and private homes.

On October 20, 1943, the Gestapo arrested Sendler. She was tortured and sentenced to death, but Zegota arranged a bribe that secured her release. She survived the war and, in 1965, was recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations. She died in 2008.

At the Virginia Holocaust Museum, we honor the Righteous Among the Nations—non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. Their stories remind us that even in the darkest times, people made the courageous choice to help others.

Visit the museum to learn more about their stories.

Some stories need to be seen.Some stories need to be heard.And some lessons must never be forgotten.Inside the Virginia ...
10/16/2026

Some stories need to be seen.
Some stories need to be heard.
And some lessons must never be forgotten.

Inside the Virginia Holocaust Museum, you’ll encounter powerful personal stories, historic artifacts, thought-provoking exhibits, and survivor testimony that connects the past to the world we live in today.

Curious? Visit our website and plan your visit today!

October 15, 1941 | Stahlecker Report On this date, a report from SS-Brigadier General Walter Stahlecker is submitted to ...
10/15/2026

October 15, 1941 | Stahlecker Report

On this date, a report from SS-Brigadier General Walter Stahlecker is submitted to the Reich Security Main Office. This report details the ex*****on of roughly 120,000 Jewish adults and children across the Baltic states and Belarus by Einsatzgruppe A, which Stahlecker commanded, between June and October of that year. These murders were part of what is now known as the "Holocaust by Bullet". Einsatzgruppe A was one of 4 (A, B, C, and D) who were tasked with moving east behind the advancing Wehrmacht and executing Jews. Between 1.5 and 2 million people—mostly Jews, but also Sinti/Roma, Polish and Russian Civilians, communists, and partisans—were murdered by firing squad during the Holocaust. The Stahlecker Report would later be submitted into evidence at the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg.

Photo (courtesy USHMM): Map entitled “Jewish ex*****ons carried out by Einsatzgruppe A.” The note at the bottom is that there are an estimated 128,000 Jews “still on hand.”

October 13, 1943 | Plans Finalized for the Sobibor Uprising On the night of October 13, Jewish leaders in the Sobibor ex...
10/13/2026

October 13, 1943 | Plans Finalized for the Sobibor Uprising

On the night of October 13, Jewish leaders in the Sobibor extermination camp finalized their plans for a mass uprising and escape the following day. Inmates in the camp had learned that the Belzec camp had recently been liquidated and dismantled and feared the same would happen at Sobibor, where only 600 Jews remained. The following afternoon, roughly half the remaining prisoners carried out their attack, killing 11 N***s and a few local police. Roughly 200 Jews made it outside the ghetto fence and into the surrounding minefield. 150 would die in the minefield or be captured and shot later. As a designated killing center, the explicit and implicit purpose of the camp was that there be no survivors, and estimates have the number killed at Sobibor between 170,000-250,000. Because of the bravery at Sobibor in October 1943, 50 Sobibor Jews would survive the war.

Picture (Courtesy USHMM): Sobibor killing center. The arm of the excavator used to remove bodies from mass graves is visible over the building to the left.

Address

2000 East Cary Street
Richmond, VA
23223

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm
Saturday 11am - 5pm
Sunday 11am - 5pm

Telephone

+18042575400

Website

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