City: Houston, TX

Category: Tours & Attractions

Telephone: (713) 942-8000

Address: 5401 Caroline St.

Insider Pick:

Description: Apathy stops at Holocaust Museum Houston. Exhibits here revolve around the Holocaust, but you may leave thinking about hatred and intolerance more broadly. The Holocaust Museum’s permanent exhibit, dubbed “Bearing Witness: A Community Remembers,” highlights the stories of Houston residents who survived the Holocaust. Using artifacts, photographs, art, written explanations, and a film, this exhibit follows local survivors’ lives before the Holocaust, during Hitler’s rise to power, and during their time in concentration camps. Also on permanent display are two examples of vehicles used to carry Holocaust victims and survivors. The 1942 World War II railcar is like those used to take millions of Jews and other outcasts to the concentration camps, and a 1942 Danish rescue boat is identical to those used to save more than 7,200 Jews from death. After seeing these exhibits, you may want some time to reflect, and the museum has several places where you can do just that: the Lack Family Memorial Room, a reflection room with a Wall of Remembrance, a Wall of Tears, a Wall of Hope, and a Memorial Wall for honoring friends and relatives lost in the Holocaust. Meditative types can step outside the Memorial Room and into the Eric Alexander Garden of Hope, a small but beautiful garden that celebrates the memory of the children killed by the Nazis. Want to learn even more about the Holocaust? Visit the Boniuk Library and Resource Center, which houses more than 4,000 books and 300 videos about World War II, the Holocaust, religion, and anti-­Semitism. The library’s archives also include thousands of original photographs, journals, letters, and other artifacts available for viewing. Admission is free, but there’s a suggested donation of $5. Guided tours are available on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Free parking is available in lots beside the museum’s Caroline Street entrance and alongside the building on Calumet Street.