This Washington DC Museum Contains Soil From Nazi Concentration Camps – And 10 More Facts

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Beyond the powerful exhibits, the Holocaust Memorial Museum has some genuinely mind-blowing features that most people completely overlook.

Here are 11 of them, from hidden architectural symbolism to the volunteers.

The Groundbreaking Used Soil from Concentration Camps

President Jimmy Carter created the President’s Commission on the Holocaust in 1978.

The Commission suggested building a national Holocaust memorial museum in 1979 and they voted unanimously to create the museum in 1980.

Builders started construction in 1985 with a groundbreaking ceremony that included soil from concentration camps.

The dedication ceremony (in 1993) held speeches by President Bill Clinton and Elie Wiesel.

The Architecture Is Designed to Disorient

Architect James Ingo Freed designed the building to make visitors feel disoriented and cramped.

The Hall of Witness features plain brick walls and steel beams that remind visitors of Nazi-era factories. You’ll enter the permanent exhibition through industrial-style elevators resembling cattle cars.

Designers also made the Hall of Remembrance a hexagonal space with an eternal flame, representing the six million Jewish victims.

There’s an Extensive Collection of Holocaust Artifacts

The collection includes over 12,750 artifacts from the Holocaust era, including 49 million pages of archival documents related to the Holocaust.

The photo archives also include 85,000 historical photographs from that time.

Among the artifacts is a list of over 200,000 registered Holocaust survivors and their families, including 1,000 hours of archival footage from the Holocaust period.

The Permanent Exhibition Spans Several Floors

The exhibition starts on the fourth floor with the Nazi rise to power from 1933 to 1939.

The third floor covers the “Final Solution” and the creation of ghettos and camps while the second floor focuses on the Allied liberation of camps and the aftermath of the Holocaust.

You’ll also get identification cards of real Holocaust victims or survivors to make the experience more personal.

Part of the permanent exhibition is 900 artifacts and 70 video monitors showing historical footage related to the Holocaust.

There Are Special Training Programs for Different Groups

Special tours are available for professionals on medical ethics during the Holocaust, including guided tours designed specifically for law enforcement officers and judges. Military personnel can also take part in leadership programs focused on ethics.

It Has a Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum takes an active part in documenting and researching Holocaust history. This includes recording 42,500 Nazi ghettos and concentration camps across Europe.

The Holocaust Survivors and Victims Database with millions of records continues to be updated. The museum also helps surface new information about the Holocaust, such as previously unknown killing sites in Eastern Europe.

The Impact Goes Beyond the Museum Walls

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum also has regional offices all over the US, including NYC, Dallas, Boston, and LA.

Traveling exhibits bring Holocaust education to communities across the U.S., and their website gets millions of visits each year from people around the world.

The museum also works with organizations worldwide to promote Holocaust remembrance and education.

The Museum Helps Raise Awareness About Modern Genocides

The museum has a Committee on Conscience tasked with alerting the public about current genocides.

They’ve also created the Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide which tracks possible genocidal situations.

Aside from Holocaust-related exhibitions, they also have rotating exhibits that focus on modern-day crimes and human rights violations.

Museum Volunteers Include Real Holocaust Survivors

Over 650 volunteers support the museum, many of whom are Holocaust survivors.

They are happy to share their personal stories with museum visitors, so don’t be shy about approaching any of the volunteers.

If you’re interested, some of the volunteering jobs include assisting with visitor services, translation, research, and educational programs.

The Museum Has Welcomed Numerous World Leaders

Over 90 heads of state have visited the museum since it opened, along with 3,500 foreign officials from over 211 countries and territories. Many world leaders have used the museum as a platform to talk about genocide and human rights.

Admission and Tickets

It’s FREE to visit the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

• Hours: 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. ET 

You need timed-entry tickets (also free) for the Permanent Exhibition, but not for Daniel’s Story or other exhibits. To get a free-timed ticket, book online before you visit the museum.

Ticket release dates for 2025:

• Today until May 2025: Available Now
• April 7 at 8 a.m. ET: Summer tickets (June-August)
• July 7 at 8 a.m. ET: Fall tickets (September-November)
• October 6 at 8 a.m. ET: Winter tickets (December-February)

While the museum tickets are free, a $1 Etix processing fee is required for online reservations.