The impressive South African museum supported by more billionaires than any other
The Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre is supported by more billionaires than any other local museum or historical centre.
The Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre was founded in 2008 and officially opened to the public in March 2019.
Tali Nates is the founder and executive director of the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre.
She was born to a family of Holocaust survivors, with her father and uncle having been rescued by Oskar Schindler.
As the centre’s chief historian, she lectures internationally on Holocaust and genocide education, memory, reconciliation, and human rights.
The centre, based in Forest Town, Johannesburg, was developed as a public-private partnership with the City of Johannesburg.
The Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, together with its sister Centres in Cape Town and Durban, is part of the South African Holocaust & Genocide Foundation.
The centre explores the history of genocide in the 20th century with a focus on the case studies of the Holocaust and the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
The Permanent Exhibition includes collections of photographs, testimonies, poetry, art, multimedia and artefacts.
The centre examines the connections between genocide and contemporary human rights issues in South Africa.
Through its extensive exhibitions, it urges visitors to understand the consequences of prejudice and discrimination.
“The centre uses education and memory of the Holocaust and genocide as powerful tools for encouraging activism and empathy,” it explained.
Most visitors describe it as an eye-opening and emotionally powerful space that connects historical atrocities to modern human rights.
To make it easy for visitors, the facility is well-equipped with free parking, a gift shop and bookstore, an archive, and a quiet garden area for reflection.
The Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre building is fully accessible, featuring wheelchair-friendly entrances, parking, and restrooms.
The Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre board and supporters
The Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre’s board includes many well-known business and community leaders.
The board is chaired by Professor Michael Katz, who is also the chairman of ENSafrica and specialises in corporate and commercial law.
Other board members include former Investec CEO Stephen Koseff, Discovery co-founder Barry Swartzberg, and former JSE CEO Nicky Newton-King.
There is also Vantage Capital Executive Chairman, Luc Albinski, McKinsey & Company senior partner, David Fine, and former Standard Bank executive David Munro.
Other board members are Dis-Chem co-founder Lynette Saltzman, Investment Solutions CIO Glenn Silverman, and Investec Bank’s Avrom Krengel.
The centre is supported by the who’s who of the business world, including the Kirsh Foundation, Brett and Mark Levy, and the Saltzman Family.
Other well-known funders are Brian and Lee Joffe, Investec, Discovery Health, the Donald Gordon Foundation, and Barry and Stacey Swartzberg.
Sasfin Securities, Adrian Gore and family, David Frankel, Sol Kerzner and family, Dora Seeff and family, and many others contributed to the centre.
A visit to the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre
Newsday visited the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, and it is, undoubtedly, one of the best museums in South Africa.
The building is an award-winning architectural achievement designed by South African architect Lewis Levin.
Rather than relying on abstract forms, Levin developed the design through extensive consultation with survivors.
The result is a highly crafted, industrial-style building that uses specific, raw materials to ground the history in physical reality.
The photographs, testimonies, poetry, art, multimedia and artefacts are impossible to just stroll by. It draws visitors in and educates them on the horrors of the Holocaust.
It tells the story which many people have heard about, but the additional information and photos provide an immersive experience.
It leaves you with a clear understanding of the horrors of the Holocaust and why it should never happen again.
The photos below come from Newsday’s recent visit to the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre.
Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre photos
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It is a wonder this Hamas orientated racist government does not deny it and are not forcing it to shut down. But then they are slow in the uptake so it might be coming.