Montreal to have new Holocaust Museum

A new Holocaust Museum is set to rise in Montreal, Canada.

One of the survivors, Eva Kuper, said she wants people to understand the power of hate and “how each of us is capable of unbelievable evil”.

Kuper supports the construction of a new Holocaust Museum to reach more people.

The construction has begun on Saint-Laurent Boulevard just north of Sherbrooke Street. The new building will replace the current museum on Cote-Sainte-Catherine Road and be larger – 55,000 square feet over three floors, plus a basement.

Gillian Sonin, Marketing and PR coordinator for the museum said the museum will have incredible educational offerings.

“There will be a permanent exhibit, there will be traveling exhibits, there will be classrooms, “she explained.

The new location is key, she noted, being more central and will make it easier for people to discover it, adding that Saint-Laurent Boulevard is also of historical significance.

“Not only for the Jewish community but for many immigrant communities who came to Montreal,” she said.

According to Parks Canada, several groups of newcomers have settled in the area since the 1800s. Museum officials aim to address hate in all its forms.

“What starts with antisemitism, what starts with Jews, never ends with Jews,” Sonin explained, “and so what we’re doing is trying to educate the public about hatred, about intolerance, about human rights.”

As such she adds, the new location will include information and education about genocides beyond the holocaust.

Kuper believes perhaps more than ever people need to be made aware of the consequences of hate.

“We can see by what’s happening in the world today with the rise in antisemitism and hatred, Islamophobia,” she noted.Visitors to the current space like Gabriel Blain support the plan for a new and bigger space. GLOBAL NEWS