Permanent
IWM London
Adults
Free exhibition
Personal stories are at the heart of IWM London’s Holocaust Galleries.
Individual stories from some of the six million Jewish people murdered in the Holocaust are told through over 2,000 photos, books, artworks, letters and personal objects ranging from jewellery and clothing to toys and musical instruments.
Dedicated to conserving, displaying and interpreting stories of the most devastating conflict in human history, IWM London is the first museum in the world to house Second World War Galleries and The Holocaust Galleries under the same roof. These new, award-winning galleries will change the way we understand the past for generations to come.
Spanning two floors, these vast new galleries bring together the stories of real people from diverse communities to examine the complex relationship between the Holocaust and the course and consequences of the Second World War.
2022 winner of the 'Museum + Heritage' Permanent Exhibition of the Year.
Please note, the Holocaust Galleries are not recommended for children under the age of 14. A section of the gallery features film footage of a highly graphic nature which some visitors may find distressing. School groups can only access the gallery as part of a pre-booked Holocaust Learning Session.
Eyewitnesses
The Second World War and the Holocaust will soon pass out of living memory, leaving us without the first-hand testimony of veterans, eyewitnesses and survivors. IWM’s new galleries preserve their stories and ensure the world never forgets what they experienced.
The new galleries bring together significant new acquisitions and loans, alongside items from IWM’s collections, including extraordinary historical documents such as the rare birth certificate of living Holocaust Survivor Eva Clarke, one of very few people to be born in a concentration camp who survived past liberation.
Holocaust education
IWM is the UK’s leading authority on the public understanding of war and conflict, and custodian of the national collection for the Holocaust. The Holocaust Galleries incorporate the most up to date research and evaluation, including archive material only available since the end of the Cold War, and reflect the latest developments in Holocaust education, academia and understanding.
Learn more
Based on IWM’s ground-breaking new Second World War and Holocaust Galleries, this book examines the development of the Holocaust as it appeared to those who witnessed it.
It includes the items that they used, cherished and – in some cases – hid, to ensure that their experiences are meaningfully remembered.
By telling the story of the Holocaust through objects and their owners, the book highlights the devastating human cost of the genocide and helps readers to understand one of the darkest periods in modern history.
