Yad Vashem will establish its first Holocaust education center outside Israel in Munich, Germany, the institution said Thursday.
The center will be located at Karolinenplatz in central Munich and is expected to open within three years. Yad Vashem said the site was chosen after a nationwide review and field research, with support from the German government.
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Handout photos released by Yad Vashem show educational exhibits at Holocaust remembrance facilities ahead of the planned opening of a new education center in Munich
(Photo: Yad Vashem)
The Jerusalem-based World Holocaust Remembrance Center said Munich was selected because of its location, educational infrastructure, security needs, regional partnerships and historical significance as the birthplace of the Nazi Party.
The center is intended to serve as a national platform for audiences across Germany and neighboring countries. Yad Vashem also plans to offer an extension in Leipzig, in Saxony, with interactive learning spaces, and to expand its educational partnership with North Rhine-Westphalia.
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Handout photos released by Yad Vashem show educational exhibits at Holocaust remembrance facilities ahead of the planned opening of a new education center in Munich
(Photo: Yad Vashem)
“As we move further from the era of living survivor testimony, historically grounded Holocaust education is more important than ever,” Yad Vashem Chairman Dani Dayan said. “The choice of Munich, the birthplace of the Nazi Party, carries deep symbolic significance and reflects the importance of confronting this history where it began.”
German Federal Education Minister Karin Prien said the center would strengthen Holocaust education and the fight against antisemitism across Germany and Europe.
3 View gallery
Handout photos released by Yad Vashem show educational exhibits at Holocaust remembrance facilities ahead of the planned opening of a new education center in Munich
(Photo: Yad Vashem)
“Knowledge of the past is essential to preventing such evil in the future,” she said, adding that many young people in Germany still know too little about the Shoah, the Hebrew term for the Holocaust.
The idea was first raised in 2023 during a meeting between Dayan and then-German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. It has since been backed by Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Prien and federal and state officials.
Yad Vashem maintains educational agreements with all 16 German states and has trained thousands of German educators, students, civic leaders and professionals.