Jun 5, 2023 - Development

Boston Holocaust Museum plans take shape

An architectural rendering of the six-story Boston Holocaust Museum and Education Center, which features a railroad car that sent Jewish people to their deaths in concentration camps.

The Holocaust Museum and Education Center will be located along the Freedom Trail. Courtesy of Schwartz Silver Architects

The organization behind Boston's upcoming Holocaust Museum and Education Center is filing architectural renderings today with city planning officials.

Driving the news: A stainless-steel metal fabric will wrap the facade of the six-story building, representing the curtains that remained drawn in Jewish households as the Nazi regime gained power, according to the firm Schwartz/Silver Architects.

  • The curtain stops short in one corner, where a railcar comes into view. The railcar was used to send Jewish people to their deaths in Nazi Germany’s extermination camps, per the Holocaust Legacy Foundation, the nonprofit behind the museum.

Why it matters: As Massachusetts sees a surge in antisemitic incidents, the museum’s design makes the legacy of the genocide impossible to ignore.

What they’re saying: “We’re hoping that people understand the dangers of intolerance, discrimination and the consequences of unchecked state power,” says Jody Kipnis, co-founder of the foundation.

  • “Visitors can apply those lessons to contemporary issues and work toward creating a more inclusive, tolerant, just society.”
A close up of the railcar that will be visible from outside the Boston Holocaust Museum and Education Center.
Museum goers can see the Boston Common and the State House from the windows before entering the railcar. Courtesy of Schwartz Silver Architects
A close up of a railcar used to send Jews to concentration camps at the Boston Holocaust Museum and Education Center and the woven steel fabric exterior.
A close up shows both the railcar and the steel woven curtain. Courtesy of Schwartz Silver Architects
Below the steel woven curtain wrapped around the Holocaust museum's facade are poems about the horrors of the Holocaust.
Courtesy of Schwartz Silver Architects
avatar

Get more local stories in your inbox with Axios Boston.

🌱

Support local journalism by becoming a member.

Learn more

More Boston stories

No stories could be found

Bostonpostcard

Get a free daily digest of the most important news in your backyard with Axios Boston.

🌱

Support local journalism by becoming a member.

Learn more