23 Feb 6th-Feb 12th, 2025 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | FRI 2/7 SAT 2/8 TUES 2/11 WED 2/12 THURS 2/6 THE SOUTHBOUND RIDER BAND DOORS: 7:00PM / SHOW: 8:00PM CHUCK HALL BAND WITH SMOKESTACK LIGHTING DOORS: 7:00PM | SHOW: 8:00PM - EARLY SHOW - BUDDY REED & THE TH’RIP IT UPS WITH BOB CORRITORE DOORS: 2:00PM | SHOW: 3:00PM DON WILLIAMS & COMPANY DOORS: 7:00PM | SHOW: 8:00PM THE LUCKY DEVILS DOORS: 7:30PM | SHOW: 8:00PM THE BLACK HOLE WITH JUST ABOUT HALFWAY, BAND OF FOOLS & JAMES BOOTH & THE RETURN DOORS: 5:30PM | SHOW: 6:00PM Progress Report Phoenix Holocaust center raises $38M, expected to open in 2027. BY KATRINA MICHALAK | CRONKITE NEWS F unds for the future Hilton Family Holocaust Education Center in Phoenix are now up to $38 million, providing more resources ahead of the expected opening in April 2027. The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors allocated $2 million to the project in October 2024. Phoenix has given $2 million, and the state also authorized a $7 million appropriation in the fall. “This collaboration with the Arizona Jewish Historical Society will help preserve and embrace the rich heritage of our local Jewish communities, educate the public on the historical significance of the Holocaust and teach students to take responsibility for building a better and more just world,” Board of Supervisors Chairman Thomas Galvin said in an October news release. The $2 million from Maricopa County came from Galvin’s portion of the county’s Community Solutions Funding. Steve Hilton, whose father is a Holocaust survivor and whose family the center is named after, has also donated $4 million to the project. Donors have also included individuals, foundations and a small number of corporations. AZJHS, a Phoenix nonprofit organiza- tion, is building the center. The original vision, conceived in 2015, was an art museum commemorating Holocaust survivors. Over the last 10 years, the concept has evolved into a center housing comprehensive learning materials specific to Arizona. “The stories you will hear and see and witness when you go through this will be stories of survivors that have lived here and/or stories of family members of people that live here who didn’t survive,” says Frank Jacobson, the managing consultant and capital campaign director for the center. Despite previous government pauses in funding, AZJHS aims to collect $45 million by the center’s opening. Jacobson says $10 million will go toward an endowment, or a specific investment fund to be used for center operations. The remaining $35 million will go to construc- tion, exhibitions, security and more. The inside of the center will include two floors of galleries and exhibits. The exhibits will use virtual technology and answer questions about the Holocaust. Visitors will use headgear to walk through Holocaust concentration camps and other settings. “Hologram-like” tech- nology will use interviews from survivors to simulate conversations. Jacobson says the goal of the center is to arm students and visitors with knowledge so they can stand up to prejudiced behavior and prevent future acts of atrocity. “Every one of us can do something (so) that when we see the possibility of people being degraded, or dehumanized, or name called … that people will not just stand idly by,” Jacobson says. Center development comes during a time of increasing concern over students’ education related to the Holocaust. According to a Pew Research Center 2019 survey, almost three in 10 Americans were unsure of how many Jewish people died in the Holocaust. Teens answered fewer Holocaust-related questions correctly than adults did. Anthony Fusco Jr., associate director of education at AZJHS, says the presence of social media has affected Holocaust education. “Immersive technologies can help, but it’s so important … to make sure that what people are reading on social media is a fact and is a basis of reality,” Fusco says. Current Arizona law requires public schools to teach the Holocaust at least twice between seventh and 12th grade. The state Department of Education also has a webpage dedicated to lessons for teachers. A condition of the government appro- priation is that Arizona students can visit the center for free, Jacobson says. Jacobson says architects are now working on detailed drawings of the center to be submitted to Phoenix for permits. The society is planning to break ground on July 1. The center will be built on land at the Cutler-Plotkin Jewish Heritage Center, located in downtown Phoenix. The building, which is over 100 years old, was the home of the first synagogue in Phoenix, Congregation Beth Israel. As of 2023, there were over 38,000 Holocaust survivors in the United States, according to a demographic study by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference). Fusco says it’s important to learn from Arizona survivors. “The lessons of the Holocaust are still there for us to understand,” Fusco says . “And to realize that sometimes condi- tioning and complicity … having racist or prejudicial or stereotypical or implicit bias views can lead to such behavior that we saw back in the darkest days of human history.” For more stories from Cronkite News, visit cronkitenews.azpbs.org. The Hilton Family Holocaust Education Center in Phoenix will feature two floors of galleries and will encourage visitors to learn about the history of the Holocaust to prevent future genocide. (Rendering courtesy of Arizona Jewish Historical Society) The Hilton Family Holocaust Education Center is expected to open in Phoenix in 2027. (Rendering courtesy of Arizona Jewish Historical Society) ▼ Arts & Culture
