The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is world renowned because of the initiatives that it stands behind.

The Holocaust Museum has been instrumental in informing crowds of tourists day in and day out about the intimate and tragic history of the holocaust. Over 7,000 visitors a day, including graduate students, teachers, and professors travel to the museum site for the academic experience.

But the museum’s purpose expands vastly outside of its physical presence. The Holocaust Museum hosts a full palate of educational programs to further the knowledge of the masses and prepare participants to be aware of future situations that could evolve towards genocide.

As a cultural institution they use their reach to educate and expand the knowledge of the Holocaust and its application to modern day societies. Find out how this cultural organization is changing lives through tech solutions and educational initiatives at a global level.

The Museum’s History in Brief

The Holocaust Museum is advanced in the fact that it offers its exhibits both in-person and digitally. In 2014 alone, their website received over 13 million visitors, amongst 236 countries and territories. But their immense following also exists on their social media channels too. The Holocaust Museum has over 120k Facebook fans and over 215k Twitter followers.

Yet, the museum’s online traffic is in close contest with their physically influx of visitors. Since they opened, 38.6 million people have visited the campus. The Holocaust Museum also holds an astounding 170,000 members and have toured more than 3,500 foreign officials through their display exhibits.

In the past few months, The Holocaust Museum has been the host to notable officials from the likes of European Council President Donald Musk, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Director of Documentation Center of Cambodia Youk Chhang, Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan. The list continues but the diversity of these visitors is just the surface of the impact that this institution hopes to pursue.

Educating About the Past to Shape Future Communities

The Jewish Holocaust Museum is centered around a past event that changed world history, but their focus is to educate and positively affect present day people and communities.

The Museum draws scholars and educators across the world, year-round. Though, during the summer, the organization invites participants to their curriculum educational seminars that are said to, “Inspire a commitment to Holocaust teaching and learning.” They’ve managed to launch 32 public programs in eight states in 2014 alone, educate 155,217 members under their Leadership Program and they’ve grown over 7 different educational outreach initiatives.

Those who indulged came for the museum’s unique collection, archival resources, and insight that only this organization could provide. The courses are said to range from the causes of the Holocaust and its consequence to the present-day recognitions of that historical event. But the community aspect has also grown organically from these educational programs. Participants are essentially placed in a network where they can meet colleagues who share like interests.

The US Holocaust Museum’s approach to building their immense library of artifacts, both tangible and digital, is far more advanced than others. On average, the museum acquires a new collection every day and they seek to obtain objects that tell personal stories. Their team also is aggressively collecting evidence from over 50 countries across six continents. The collection currently consists of 18,100 objects, 76 million archival pages, 135 million International Tracing Service images, 89,000 photographic images, and over 100,000 books and other published materials.

With such an impressive inventory, the museum plans to find more innovative ways to use education to change the future of societies who could also face religious persecution. They are teaming up with Booz Allen Hamilton for a 12-hour hackathon to design the automation of early warning technology; allowing world leaders and civil societies access to data to anticipate and make informed decisions to prevent potential genocide.

Continuing with technology, the museum has also hosted their first person survivor conversation podcasts on YouTube, iTunes, and the museum’s website. Being that they are able to expand their presence to online communities, it has only boosted their reach and educational impact.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has created a library of personal stories and published materials that tell the Holocaust narrative from a well rounded perspective. Except they further their impact by using their research and findings to help the future of modern day societies.