By Steph Solis
June 5, 2023
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.”