Development of Holocaust museum in Phoenix receives $7 million from education department

PHOENIX – In an effort to educate the community on the Holocaust, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne presented a multi-million dollar check to help build a Holocaust education center in Phoenix.

On Tuesday, Horne gave the Arizona Jewish Historical Society a $7 million check from the Arizona Department of Education to aid in the development of the Hilton Family Holocaust Education Center.

Estimated to open in 2027 near the Arizona Jewish Historical Society building, the center is aimed at educating 50,000 students a year on the Holocaust and other genocides.

The creation of the museum comes after Horne and Arizona legislators have pushed for a more robust policy on educating students on the Holocaust. In April, legislation passed that required educators to teach students between seventh and 12th grade about the Holocaust and other genocides for at least three class periods on two separate occasions.

In light of recent protests regarding the Israel-Hamas war, Horne has showed concern over antisemitic messaging and hopes an education center can assist students in making informed decisions on current events.

“In the past year, we have seen the unbelievable and tragic targeting of the Jewish community with the horrific acts committed on innocent men, women and children by Hamas in Israel, the ignorant and misguided protests against Jews on college campuses and the endorsement of anti-Semitic literature in some Arizona classrooms,” Horne said in a press release.

“This cannot go unchallenged, and educating people is one of the most powerful tools to face this scourge. Developing the Hilton Family Holocaust Education Center is a needed step toward bridging understanding between people of all ethnicities and belief systems and I am grateful to be a part of this important cause.”

A unique approach to teaching history

During a press conference for the announcement of the funds, Steve Hilton, a Holocaust education advocate and whom the center is named, spoke on the plans for the museum and how it will find a unique way to educate children.

In order to approach a new generation of students who are less enthused about museums because they now have accessible information on their phones and social media, the plan is to create a new way to educate students that will create an impactful experience.

“We’re not going to build a building that has a lot of artifacts but we are going to create a two-hour immersive, highly technical … journey experience through the history of the Holocaust, how it happened, why it happened,” Hilton said.

With histories on other genocides the hope is that students will be taught how to stand up to hate, Hilton said.

Production on the design of the museum has already begun and construction is expected to begin next summer.

“Today Phoenix is the largest city in the country that doesn’t have a Holocaust museum or Holocaust education center,” Hilton said. “We’re going to change that, we’re going to have not the largest museum or largest education center in the country but the most unique. The place that’s going to teach it the best.”

A long road to creation

In November 2023, the Arizona Jewish Historical Society announced plans to build the center along with a campaign to raise money.

Initial funding was supplied by Hilton and the Phoenix GO Bond, which devoted $2 million to the project.

The $7 million donation came after came Democratic Rep. Alma Hernandez and Republican Rep. David Marshall co-sponsored legislation to provide money for the center through the state education department.

“I’m really proud to be able to work with my colleagues who made this possible,” Hernandez said. “I want to say that this was one of the most bipartisan bills that we’ve seen this year. We had almost every member both in the house and in the Senate sign on as co-sponsors to this legislation and I just really wanted to thank all of those who were involved to make this day possible.”

Hernandez and Marshall have both spearheaded the push to create comprehensive education on the Holocausts in Arizona schools.

“This project will be a tourist destination, not just that, but it’ll be an Arizonan destination, as well as field trips for our children to come and learn the true story about the Holocaust,” Marshall said.

Not just education, but a personal matter

Horne and Hilton both spoke about their own personal ties to the Holocaust in their press conference.

Horne and Hilton shared stories of how their fathers lived through the Holocaust and were faced with antisemitism. Hilton’s father grew up in Warsaw, Poland and was sent to five different concentration camps after being captured in 1943. He was the only survivor of his family.

The concern of anti-Semitism growing in the country was a focus for Horne, Hernandez and Marshall who all spoke of incidents occurring in schools and protests on college campuses.

Horne has opposed pro-Palestinian events that have taken place in Arizona schools. In 2023, Horne denounced an event at Desert Mountain High School that presented support for Palestine, calling it antisemitic and anti-American.

He shared a story of his Jewish father who lived in Warsaw in 1930. He tells of his father loving history and interpreting the current events of his time through a historical lens. Seeing the Nazi invasion was soon to come, he tried to convince his friends and family to escape the region but they refused.

Horne’s father was able to convince his wife to leave to the United States but the family that stayed behind did not survive the Holocaust.

“I know that my immediate family survived because of my father’s knowledge of history and ability to interpret current events. And I’ve been pushing very hard for the teaching of history in our schools because I believe the survival of the next generation will depend on their knowledge of history and their ability to interpret current events,” Horne said.