Melbourne Holocaust Museum relocates amid Elsternwick redevelopment

Melbourne Holocaust Museum (formerly the Jewish Holocaust Centre) is temporarily moving to a nearby location, as its Elsternwick home is redeveloped into a new, larger centre.

Located in Selwyn St, in the heart of the Elsternwick Village precinct, the Melbourne Holocaust Museum is being redeveloped to accommodate the growing number of visitors to the centre each year.

While the centre was initially built to accommodate 18,000 visitors a year, some 33,000 people visited the museum in 2018.

The Selwyn St site closed its doors in March, and the organisation is relocating to a temporary site opposite Monash University Caulfield campus on Dandenong Rd for at least two years.

The move will allow the museum to continue running its educational programs for schools, as the new centre is built.

The centre welcomed 23,000 students to its Schools Education program in 2018, while hosting 100 public events and two special exhibitions.

As part of the redevelopment, the new centre will include a purpose-built children’s museum to help boost Holocaust education for younger students.

The new centre will feature a larger foyer and permanent exhibition spaces, as well as flexible learning spaces.

It will also host enhanced contemplation and memorial spaces, an expanded library and research facilities, and a dedicated special exhibition gallery.

The children’s museum is a priority for the redeveloped centre after the centre’s ‘Hide and Seek: Stories of Survival’ program received the Victorian Multicultural Commission award for education in 2015.

In addition to its new temporary home, the Melbourne Holocaust Museum is rolling out programs that will allow the public to view its collections and hear survivor testimonies online. The centre is also creating a virtual walk-through of the museum.

The public can participate in the Survivor Connect program, where people can write to survivors to lift their spirits during social isolation. The program has already received more than 150 letters from children and the wider community.

The Holocaust Museum was opened in 1984 following a generous donation from the late Mina Fink in memory of her late husband, Leo Fink.

The centre has grown through new extensions to the site over the years and in 2001 it achieved accreditation by Museums Australia.

Learn more about the Melbourne Holocaust Museum here.