LOS ANGELES — Holocaust Museum LA broke ground on Wednesday, Nov. 16 , on a major expansion of its Pacific Park campus that will double the size of the facility and add features including a theater, classrooms and exhibit space.
“Holocaust Museum LA is digging in with its shovels and our hearts to continue building an institution dedicated to eradicating all forms of antisemitism and hate through education and enlightenment,” museum CEO Beth Kean said. “We will continue to honor both the memories of those who perished and our beloved survivors, whose courage, determination, strength and resiliency remind the world that we must never forget the critical lessons of the past.”
The $50 million expansion, named the Jona Goldrich Campus, will include outdoor “reflective spaces”; galleries; classrooms; a theater for survivor talks, film screenings, concerts, conferences and public programs; and a Boxcar Pavilion that will house an authentic boxcar discovered outside the Majdanek death camp in Lublin, Poland.
The campus will also include a dedicated theater for USC Shoah Foundation’s “Dimensions in Testimony,” a holographic exhibition featuring a conversation with a virtual Holocaust survivor.
Also featured on the campus will be the Flame of Courage, a perennial fire that will burn at the facility.
The expansion was planned in response to burgeoning demand at the museum, where officials said space had reached capacity and attendance had increased four-fold since 2011, forcing the facility to actually turn some groups away.
The project was named after museum founder and survivor Jona Goldrich, thanks to a donation from Goldrich’s daughters Andrea and Melinda.
Numerous local officials attended the groundbreaking event, including county Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky, Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel and Sen. Ben Allen.
Museum officials said the expansion will increase its visitor capacity to 500,000 by…
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