Founding of the Virginia Holocaust Museum

The Virginia Holocaust Museum was founded in 1997 by Mark Fetter, Al Rosenbaum, and one of Richmond’s youngest Holocaust survivors, Jay Ipson, in an effort to preserve and educate people on the atrocities of the Holocaust of World War II. The Museum had a singular mission, “Teaching Tolerance Through Education.”

The Virginia Holocaust Museum is a Virginia museum dedicated to depicting the Holocaust as experienced by its victims. The museum opened its doors at the current location (2000 E. Cary Street, Richmond, Virginia) in April 2003. There are currently 27 exhibits, with more in the planning.

In the first year of operation, over 10,000 visitors toured the museum. People came from almost every state in the U.S., as well as countries in Europe, Asia and South America. The museum has hundreds of school groups visit the museum each year.