Imperial War Museum reveals plans for major transformation of Holocaust Exhibition

This article originally appeared on Culture24.

A £5m donation kick starts IWM's renewal of its world renowned Holocaust Exhibition

A £5million grant from Pears Foundation will enable work to begin on the renewal of the Holocaust Exhibition at Imperial War Museum London, it has been announced today.

The world-renowned exhibition, built in 2000, attracts around one million visitors a year. Under the new plans an increase in personal stories and direct survivor testimonies will become the heart of the exhibition, along with a breadth of objects and original material that will help audiences consider the cause, course and consequences of this seminal period in world history.

In addition, IWM will now put forward a bid to also become the site of the proposed new national Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre, a Government initiative led by the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation, chaired by Sir Peter Bazalgette.

The Nazi genocide during the Second World War saw approximately six million Jews and five million non Jewish people killed by Adolf Hitler's regime and its collaborators.

“We are hugely supportive of the initiatives laid out by the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation and wish to play our part to ensure that Britain has a permanent fitting memorial and meaningful educational resources for generations to come,” said IWM Director General Diane Lees.

“IWM provides the right context, expertise and place for this work.”

The new and expanded Holocaust Exhibition at IWM London will be part of a project, which will also see the development of new Second World War Galleries. The gift of £5 million from Pears Foundation has enabled the project specifically to renew the Holocaust Exhibition, which will cost £15 million in total, to begin.

Scoping work is now underway with the exhibition due to open to the public from 2021.

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Source: http://www.culture24.org.uk/history-and-heritage/military-history/world-war-two/art536510