United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC depicts the history of the 6 million Jews and others who suffered and died during the Nazis rule of Germany. (1933-1945). It is dedicated to documenting, studying, and interpreting the history of the Holocaust. The facilities house a number of exhibitions, artworks, publications, and artifacts relating to the Holocaust. The museum collects and preserves material evidence, distributes educational materials, and produces public programming. The Holocaust Museum also holds annual Holocaust commemorations and remembrances. The $ 168 million building cost was raised entirely through private donations, with over fifty individual gifts of $1,000,000 or more, and on land provided by the federal government. Occupying 250,000 square feet, three of its six floors house a large permanent exhibition. Its director, Raye Farr, says the aim is to teach and memorialize' the events of the Holocaust. The hunt for materials began in 1980 when the museum was officially sanctioned by an Act of Congress. The USA and Western Europe yielded a valuable crop of artifacts. Many people parted with objects of intense personal value, like Lili Deutsch of Los Angeles who donated her schutz pass' (protective passport) initialed by the Swedish diplomat and anti-Nazi hero Raoul Wallenberg. (Fernekes, William R.)
The stream of goods became a flood with the fall of the Iron Curtain after 1989. Bricks from the wall of the Warsaw Ghetto, a Hollerith' punch card machine used to identify Jews and other minorities, as well as clothing, personal effects, and paintings, drawings, and music produced in the camps and ghettoes have all come to light. It has been estimated that almost 40 per cent of all Holocaust-related documents are held in former Soviet archives another historical goldmine for researchers. The opening up of the East has made access to hitherto unseen documents and artifacts much easier...................
