New Holocaust museum and education centre announced for Canberra

A memorial and education centre will be established in the nation’s capital to teach Australians about one of the darkest events in world history.

A new Holocaust museum will be established in Canberra to educate Australians about the mass murder of six million Jewish people.

The federal government will provide $750,000 towards the new memorial to help students, teachers and the wider community learn about the devastating event in world history.

Australia’s most prominent Jewish politician, Josh Frydenberg, said the Holocaust was not just a crime against the Jewish people but a crime against humanity.

“Remembering and honouring the past and the innocence we lost is so important,” Mr Frydenberg told ABC RN.

“If we were to observe a minutes silence for every victim, that silence would go for 11 years.

“Survivors are passing by, and with time memories fade and events are forgotten.”

International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2021 marks 76 years since the liberation of Auschwitz.
We must never allow the memories to fade of this terrible, dark time in human history.#WeRemember pic.twitter.com/FHSNLZhpPE

— Mark Dreyfus (@markdreyfusQCMP) January 26, 2021

The funding announcement marks the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp – where more than one million people were killed as part of the Nazi crusade to obliterate Europe’s Jewish population.

Education Minister Alan Tudge on Wednesday said: “We pay tribute to those who lost their lives and families.”

The ACT will now join Victoria, South Australia, Queensland and Western Australia; all which have received funding for the construction of similar centres.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said the government would work with the Jewish community to fund the project, which would be developed over the coming year.