CapitalCampaignReportJUNE2017

R E M E M B E R I N G O U R PA S T . B U I L D I N G O U R F U T U R E . H M H C A P I T A L C A M P A I G N 2 0 1 4 - 2 0 1 8

CAPITAL CAMPAIGN PROJECT SUMMARY

LETTER OF INVITATION

Dear Friends, Holocaust Museum Houston (HMH) is a 501(C) (3) nonprofit organization founded in 1996 by Houston–area Holocaust Survivors, their descendants and members of the community. We honor the past so that we may act in hope for the future. We invite you to join us as we expand our service to our community. HMH is accredited by The American Alliance of Museums and currently entertains 163,000 visitors per year. These visitors include more than 43,500 middle and high school students whose time with us builds their historical knowledge and empathy. Our work with young people is particularly compelling as we encourage them to become “upstanders,” – young men and women who take a stand on behalf of themselves and others. HMH is a place of learning and empowerment as well as a place of reflection and connection. It is a place where people of all backgrounds can embark on journeys of self-discovery, gain respect for individual differences and experience the strength that comes from valuing all human experience. We ask for your support for this Capital Campaign. With your help, HMH will continue to honor the memory of all Holocaust victims, preserve the stories of our local Survivors and serve as a catalyst to champion diversity and inclusion in the greater Houston metropolitan area. Sincerely,

Existing Facility to Renovate

21,800 S.F.

New First Floor

28,760 S.F.

New Second Floor

14,696 S.F.

New Third Floor

12,770 S.F.

TOTAL PROPOSED MUSEUM 56,499 S.F. LEED Certified

MISSION Holocaust Museum Houston is dedicated to educating people about the Holocaust, remembering the 6 million Jews and other innocent victims and honoring the survivors’ legacy. Using the lessons of the Holocaust and other genocides, we teach the dangers of hatred, prejudice and apathy. VISION We envision a society that transforms ignorance into respect for human life, that remembers the Holocaust, and affirms an individual’s responsibility for the collective actions of society. PUBLIC VALUE STATEMENT Holocaust Museum Houston builds a more humane society by promoting responsible individual behavior, cultivating civility, and pursuing social justice.

Gary Markowitz Chair, Board of Trustees

Heidi Gerger Campaign Co-Chair

Benjamin S. Warren Campaign Co-Chair

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Visit hmh.org/givehope for more information.

ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN

What lessons have we learned from the Holocaust? What can we do to create a future without hate? The Museum has the responsibility of serving as the gatekeeper of Survivor memory and culture. Our work bridges the gap between remembering the lives lost in the Holocaust and conveying the relevance and history of the Holocaust to youth and adults in our diverse community. We can accomplish this only by introducing exhibits and expanding outreach and educational programs that tie the events of the Holocaust to modern life and the ethical and moral challenges we face on a daily basis. We are creating a unique, complex center, a space for intellectual and practical inquiry, where questions emerge and focus our intent. In an ever- changing world facing local and global challenges, Holocaust Museum Houston will play a significant role in creating and evaluating programs about the Holocaust, genocide, human behavior and decision-making. Holocaust Museum Houston is a space of difference, a place where history and memory are mined and interwoven. The Museum’s physical presence and the capacity of its programs and exhibits invites visitors into a relationship, finding ways to open doors of possibility that provide entry points into a dialogue with a difficult past — and a conversation with the present — and the future. We consider how social justice and social responsibility connect and how these ways of thinking and acting increase the relevancy of the Holocaust in the 21 st century. The new L.E.E.D. Certified 57,000 s.f. facility will feature the new Human Rights Gallery, the new Youth Diaries Gallery and the expanded core exhibit Holocaust gallery, “Bearing Witness”. A new Welcome Center will have

an Orientation film, and all exhibitions materials will be available in English and Spanish. “Bearing Witness” will also feature new, technology-enriched sections including Nazism in Power, Forced Removal and Ghettos, Final Solution, Deportations, Systematic Killing, War, Collaboration / Choices, Rescue and Resistance, Death Marches, Liberation, Rebuilding Lives and Trials. The Human Rights Gallery will explore the history of human rights, other genocides, the Stages of Genocide and feature historical figures who were human rights exemplars. The Rhona and Bruce Caress Gallery “Anne Frank & Young Writers Voices”, will focus on the experience of youth during the Holocaust, exhibiting journals and diaries of children attempting to mark their place in the world and cope with adversity while sharing ways of documenting their personal experience. The “Anne Frank Interpretive Display” will be followed by an Interactive Context Media Bar and Interactive Diary experience, Audio Program and Artifact Display. A representation of Anne Frank’s personal space and desk will allow visitors hands- on activity as they identify with the young author. A brand new second floor will house a theater, auditorium, the Samuel Bak Learning Center and Art Gallery and Education

department offices, training and education classrooms. The 200-seat Albert and Ethel Herzstein Auditorium will host performance, lectures and films. The Bak Gallery will be home to the nation’s only permanent Samuel Bak collection, over 129 pieces that will be rotated throughout the year. Houston Survivor Photos will feature our beloved Houston-area survivors, a salute to their courage, tenacity and devotion to educating future generations of compassionate, empathetic young men and women. Finally, the second floor will serve as the home to the Jerold B. Katz Family Butterfly Loft and the HMH Butterfly Project, a collection of over 1.5 million handmade butterflies sent to the Museum from children all over the world. The new third floor will host staff and administrative offices, conference and training rooms and The Boniuk Library. We need your help as we work to combat ignorance with education and replace disbelief and denial with proof. Please join us in support of this Capital Campaign so that we can draw attention to the reality of the Holocaust and other genocides and apply those lessons to present-day issues.

PROPOSED CAMPUS PLAN DRAFT

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“Bearing Witness: A Community Remembers” is the permanent exhibit at Holocaust Museum Houston. This exhibit will remain personalized with testimony of Holocaust Survivors who later settled in the Houston area who lived through a genocidal war that inflicted mass death on unprecedented numbers of innocent civilians. The exhibit features artifacts donated by the Holocaust Survivors who later settled in the Houston area, their descendants, liberators and other collectors. The exhibit also educates visitors about Jewish and non-Jewish resistance efforts, including the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, prisoner revolts, sabotage, the partisan movement, displaced persons camps and life after the Holocaust. This Capital Campaign will expand and enhance the permanent exhibit by bringing two of the Museum’s most important artifacts, the World War II era railcar and the 1940's Danish fishing boat, into the Museum facility, enabling staff to preserve the artifacts from the weather, according to best museum practices. Featuring only state-of-the-art exhibits and technological advances, “Bearing Witness: A Community Remembers” includes the one-of-a-kind “Josef and Edith Mincberg Destroyed Communities” interactive exhibit. “BEARING WITNESS: A COMMUNITY REMEMBERS”

During the Holocaust, extraordinarily talented young writer Anne Frank left a record of her life in hiding in Amsterdam, writing in a way that continues to enthrall readers around the world. She and other youth diarists wrote with passion, humor and fear, depending on what they experienced in different geographic and chronological settings, in hiding, in camps, in places where circumstance placed them, usually with no choice. Their writings, and the “Anne Frank & Young Writers' Voices” exhibit brings us close to the record they left. Their writing makes us think; it makes us feel and it makes us wish for a kinder, gentler world. The HMH Capital Campaign will feature a permanent exhibit on Anne Frank and six other youth diarists to educate visitors about the very personal stories of the Holocaust as well as the existing dangers of hatred, prejudice and apathy. Students will be able to access and utilize electronic diaries, providing them with the unique use of an interactive, experiential technology. Working with renowned diary expert Alexandra Zapruder and using numerous digital resources, this exhibit space will open doors of inquiry to HMH visitors of all ages, engaging them while evoking reflection and care. RHONA AND BRUCE CARESS GALLERY “ANNE FRANK & YOUNG WRITERS’ VOICES”

FIRST FLOOR

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WHO STOOD UP FOR HUMAN RIGHTS? AND MINI-THEATER • Attitudes • Knowledge • Skills • Action

HUMAN RIGHTS GALLERY

The Human Rights, Genocide and call to action exhibits in the Human Rights Gallery will be primary tools in the teaching and outreach efforts of Holocaust Museum Houston. Human rights are at the heart of the Museum, and recent exhibits and curriculum guides focus on human rights questions and modern issues, such as “The Art of Gaman,” which featured handmade folk art created by the detainees from the U.S. Japanese internment camps during World War II. The first floor will feature a new Interfaith Pool of Reflection, part of The Boniuk Center for the Future of Holocaust, Human Rights and Genocide Studies. This beautiful, tranquil space will lend itself to meditation and reflection, encouraging visitors to take the time to quietly think through the challenges that face us, as well as the solutions we can compassionately reach. The Holocaust does not stand alone as the only modern genocide. It is imperative that visitors bridge the divide between cultures and understand the lessons learned from modern genocides. Genocide studies will include collaborations with Houston’s Serbian, Croatian and Cambodian communities, as well as the greater Houston Holocaust Survivor community, Darfur and Rwandan refugee communities. By exchanging shared experiences, members of the diverse Houston community draw close to one another, creating a rich fabric of lessons learned while outlining positive actions for the youth of tomorrow. This diversity of experience lends strength to all local survivors of modern genocide and creates a strong and caring Houston community. Holocaust Museum Houston’s Human Rights Gallery also features the call to action exhibit, “What Can We Do?”. We will seek to engage visitors to understand the lessons explored at the Museum. Visitors are asked to think critically, understanding intricate and age-old problems. Holocaust Museum Houston challenges children and adults to engage with one another, and the outside world, to understand their calling relative to these social ills, and the choices that one single person can make to turn the tide and combat hatred and prejudice.

WHAT CAN WE DO? • Exemplars • Defenders • Movements

WHY DO ATROCITIES HAPPEN? AND MINI-THEATER • Definition • Causes/Stages • Timeline • Efforts for Justice & Reconciliation WHAT ARE HUMAN RIGHTS? AND MINI-THEATER • Key Principles • Origins • Universal Declaration of Human Rights • How Protected

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THE DANISH RESCUE BOAT AND THE GERMAN WORLD WAR II RAILCAR

The message at the very heart of Holocaust Museum Houston’s educational programs encourages visitors to become Upstanders, those who take positive action on behalf of others. The Holocaust and modern genocides that have followed would not have been possible without the complicity of bystanders. This complicity, represented by the World War II-era railcar, is contrasted with the 1940’s Danish fishing boat, the Hanne Frank . The railcar tells the stories of incredible evil committed by ordinary people against their very own neighbors. It reminds visitors of the horrible injustices that occurred while much of the world stood idly by and did little or nothing in response. The Hanne Frank has been intentionally placed next to the Museum’s Holocaust-era railcar to help the Museum teach students and other visitors the continuing importance of each individual’s responsibility to act when confronted with injustice. The Hanne Frank tells the heroic story of a three-week period in 1943 when Christians in Denmark risked their own lives to save more than 7,200 Jews, nearly the entire Jewish population in Denmark, from almost certain execution at the hands of Nazi Germany. The juxtaposition of the ship, which was used to save the lives of Jews during World War II, and the railcar, which deposited millions of Jews at German concentration and killing centers, inspires the docents to ask students and visitors the age-old question, “When presented with a situation, will you choose to be an upstander, bystander or perpetrator?” To emphasize this important lesson and

ensure that the meaning is not missed, we are bringing the artifacts inside, to ensure their preservation. This new space will allow students and visitors to contemplate the actions that could have been taken and recognize that one person can make a difference. Docents and students will be able to enjoy the lessons learned comfortably year- round without regard to inclement weather. The structure will be climate-controlled and will prevent damage and wear on the railcar and boat by the elements and ensure that generations of visitors and students will learn the lessons of the Holocaust and choose a way that is positive for themselves and others.

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The new Moral Choices Hall serves as the heart of Holocaust Museum Houston. Located on the second floor of the new building, programs based here will remind all visitors of the choices they remain free to make and the lives that they can successfully impact, spreading the primary message of Holocaust Museum Houston. The new Moral Choices Hall features our beloved Jerold B. Katz Family Butterfly Loft. The butterflies will be displayed for visitors to enjoy. For over two decades, schoolchildren from around the world have created butterflies in memory of the 1.5 million children who perished in the Holocaust. The students have studied the Holocaust, and by gaining a thorough knowledge of how genocides happen, as well as what can be done to prevent them, they leave HMH knowing that one person’s compassion can make a difference and that we must be vigilant as we search for and work to eradicate hatred, prejudice and apathy. MORAL CHOICES HALL & JEROLD B. KATZ FAMILY BUTTERFLY LOFT

OFF. 168 SF

CLASSROOM 516 SF

CLASSROOM 513 SF

CLASSROOM 513 SF

CLASSROOM 516 SF

STORAGE 576 SF

EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

STORAGE

TEACHER WORK ROOM 217 SF

CEN. GALLERY EXTEN. 480 SF

THE BONIUK CENTER FOR THE FUTURE OF HOLOCAUST, HUMAN RIGHTS AND GENOCIDE STUDIES

SERVERY 141 SF

PREP. KITCHEN 225 SF

MORAL CHOICES HALL 3,032 SF

STAGE @ 24” 511 SF

DRESSING 533 SF

MEN

ELEV.

WOMEN

GLASS FLOOR

FREIGHT ELEV.

JEROLD B. KATZ BUTTERFLY LOFT

OVERLOOK

HISTORY OF SAM BAK 658 SF

ROOF BELOW

SAMUEL BAK GALLERY & LEARNING CENTER IN LOVING MEMORY OF HOPE SILBER KAPLAN 1,265 SF

CORE EXHIBIT BELOW

LEGEND

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SECOND FLOOR

THE ALBERT AND ETHEL HERZSTEIN AUDITORIUM Holocaust Survivor Abraham H. Foxman stated that “a major inhibitor of antisemitism for decades — shame about the Holocaust — is eroding. As time moves on, as Survivors pass away and new generations are more remote from World War II, the lessons of Auschwitz and where antisemitism can lead are weakening.” Outreach, education, as well as arts and culture focusing on the Holocaust and human behavior must be emphasized in order to connect with future generations. This Campaign supports a new 200-seat Albert and Ethel Herzstein Auditorium, equipped to provide a state-of-the-art experience for visitors and students. The Herzstein Auditorium will feature a professional performance-sized stage with artist dressing space which will allow HMH to expand the variety of performances, plays and presentations offered on-site. From educational programming to movies, lectures and talks given by our Survivor community, the new auditorium will allow Holocaust Museum Houston to reach greater numbers of visitors.

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SAMUEL BAK GALLERY & LEARNING CENTER IN LOVING MEMORY OF HOPE SILBER KAPLAN

THE BONIUK CENTER FOR THE FUTURE OF HOLOCAUST, HUMAN RIGHTS & GENOCIDE STUDIES

“IDENTIFICATION” by Samuel Bak

From the beginning, education has been a primary focus of Holocaust Museum Houston and the Education Department remains dedicated to translating the events and enormity of the Holocaust and other genocides into terms that are accessible and meaningful to the varied audiences of the Museum. Educational programs and outreach of The Boniuk Center for the Future of Holocaust, Human Rights and Genocide Studies will feature our current programs of excellence, including the Warren Fellowship for Future Teachers, the Spector-Warren Fellowship, Max M. Kaplan Summer Institute, All Behaviors Count, Engines of Change Student Ambassadors, Educator In Motion and Through Their Eyes. The Center will provide a research and scholarly forum to consider how to coexist, how to hold our integrity to the Holocaust and its history and memory, current values, and how our work shapes society’s citizenry. Working with recognized and emerging scholars, studies will focus on the larger questions, drawing students and visitors to the Museum in order to understand how to best deliver research on the Holocaust, genocide and human behavior studies in formal (school based) and informal (museum and community) settings. The second-floor facilities will feature four spacious classrooms situated near the Education Department offices.

Image Courtesy of Pucker Gallery www.puckergallery.com

The Capital Campaign expansion includes the Samuel Bak Gallery & Learning Center in Loving Memory of Hope Silber Kaplan. Holocaust Museum Houston is exceptionally honored that the Bak Gallery & Learning Center will serve as a permanent, international gallery for his paintings, works that have been donated directly to the Museum by the artist. The Bak Learning Center will help visitors to understand the content of his works, as well as the rich symbolism used in his paintings. Bak was born in 1933 in Vilna, Poland. His artistic talent was first recognized during an exhibition of his work in the Vilna Ghetto when he was nine years old. While both Bak and his mother survived, his father and four grandparents all perished at the hands of the Nazis. Bak and his mother survived the Holocaust through the efforts of his father, his aunt and a Benedictine nun known as Sister Maria who gave Bak and his mother shelter in a convent in Vilna. Bak’s life-and-death experiences inspired his prolific collection of artwork. Visitors will enter the 1,923-square-foot center through an antechamber focusing on the life of Samuel Bak. The gallery itself is circular, comprised of three intimate galleries with seating and a bilingual education center. The galleries will continuously display the exceptional work of the artist. Through customized curriculum development, the Samuel Bak Gallery & Learning Center will emphasize the educational focus important to both the artist and Holocaust Museum Houston. To combat the evils of hatred and prejudice, a bilingual curriculum on the Holocaust and social cruelty will teach children and adults to apply an understanding of the events of the Holocaust and other genocides in their own lives and respond to them successfully by developing social resiliency.

THE BONIUK CENTER FOR THE FUTURE OF HOLOCAUST, HUMAN RIGHTS AND GENOCIDE STUDIES

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NORTH ELEVATION

SOUTH ELEVATION

EAST ELEVATION

PROPOSED THIRD FLOOR

DRAFT

PROPOSED CAMPUS PLAN

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Campaign Co-Chairs HE I D I GERGER BENJAMI N WARREN Leadership Circle GI NGER BLANTON MART I N J . FE I N

EL I ZABETH L . GHR I ST GU I LLERMO GUEFEN WALTER HECHT GA I L KLE I N GARY MARKOWI TZ MARK MUCASEY ROY N I CHOL JUDY NYQU I ST JENN I FER B . STOCKEL I NNA WI Z I G ED WULFE FRED ZE I DMAN KELLY J . ZÚÑ I GA , Ed . D, CEO

Les ter and Sue Smith Campus 5401 Ca roline Street • Hous ton , Texas 77004 713-942- 8000 • www. hmh . org • info@hmh . org

Project Facility Team CHR I STENSEN BU I LD I NG GROUP MCCARTHY BUILDING COMPANIES, INC. MUCASEY & ASSOCIATES , ARCHITECTS PGAL RALPH APPELBAUM ASSOCI ATES

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