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Elly Kleinman on the Amud Aish Memorial Museum

· Holocaust,Museum,Elly Kleinman

The children of people who survived the Holocaust are known as second generation survivors, and Elly Kleinman, the founder of the Kleinman Family Holocaust Education Center (currently renamed to Amud Aish Memorial Museum) is one of them. There are around 500,000 Holocaust survivors worldwide, 200,000 of which are located in Israel alone. The average age of a survivor is 79, and as time goes survivors are only getting older and fewer in numbers. Realizing the urgency of sharing their stories, Elly Kleinman decided to establish a living memorial to all the victims of the Holocaust, with a mission to present the history of the Holocaust, with a main emphasis on faith and spiritual commitment.

The Amud Aish Memorial Museum first opened in 2008 as the Kleinman Family Holocaust Education Center. Living in Brooklyn, which is a close-knit community based on trust, Elly Kleinman had the privilege to get all kind of papers and documents donated from survivors or their families. After carefully selecting the collocation from the documents he had received, Kleinman decided to open a new center with galleries to display artifacts, a research library and an interview room where survivors can record their histories. This is the first and only museum of its kind, and it is conveniently located in Boro Park, Brooklyn, where the largest concentration of Holocaust survivors outside of Israel lives.

During this dark time of history, not only did Jews suffer immense difficulties, but also had their faith tested. One of the Holocaust consequences was its effect on the faith of observant Jews. Kleinman whose parents were both Holocaust survivors has explored these issues of faith with survivors, and in order to continue the legacy, he invested a lot of time and effort to ensure that their voices will be heard. Although some may ask how could one keep his faith in such inhuman circumstances, survivors tell that for most of them it was in fact one of the few things that gave them a reason to live. Emerging with a deeper commitment and understanding of all things spiritual gave Holocaust survivors an even deeper appreciation of their faith, and more reasons to praise it.