The Museum of Tolerance (MOT), a multimedia museum in Los Angeles, California, United States, is designed to examine racism and prejudice around the world with a strong focus on the history of the Holocaust. Established in 1993, as the educational arm of human rights organization, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, MOT also deals with atrocities in Cambodia and Latin America, along with issues like bullying and hate crimes. The MOT has an associated museum and professional development multi-media training facility in New York City.
Los Angeles
Freedom Writers - visit to the Museum of Tolerance (Simon Wiesenthal Center), Los Angeles - Two scenes from the film Freedom Writers (2007 - dir. Richard LaGravenese) - the visit to the Museum of Tolerance, Simon Wiesenthal Center, Los Angeles and the meal with 3 Holocaust survivors.The...
The original museum in Los Angeles, California opened in 1993, built at a cost of $50 million by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, named after Simon Wiesenthal, Holocaust survivor. The museum receives 350,000 visitors annually, about a third of which are school-age children. The museum's most talked-about exhibit is "The Holocaust Section", where visitors are divided into groups to take their own place in some of the events of World War II. These experiences are then discussed afterwards. The museum also features testimonies of Holocaust survivors, often from live volunteers who tell their stories and answer questions. People also get cards with pictures of Jewish children on them and at the end of the museum trip, it is revealed whether the child on the card survived or died in the Holocaust.
In addition, the museum features a "Tolerancenter" that discusses issues of prejudice in everyday life, a Multimedia Learning Center, Finding Our Families â€" Finding Ourselves, a collection of archives and documents, various temporary exhibits such as Los Angeles visual artist Bill Cormalis Jr's "A" Game In The B Leagues," which documents through paintings, the Civil Rights movement during the segregation of colored people in Major League Baseball, and an Arts and Lectures Program.
A classroom visit to the museum is featured in the 2007 movie Freedom Writers, based on the real-life story of high school teacher Erin Gruwell and her students. The museum was parodied in an episode of South Park called "The Death Camp of Tolerance".
Criticism
One of the primary criticisms of the Museum of Tolerance is that its exhibits use excessive multimedia technology to appeal to and manipulate the emotions of children. The museum uses fast-paced skits, dioramas, films, and interactive computer-controlled exhibits in an effort to make an emotional impact on visitors. For most of the tour, actual historical artifacts are absent, and a select few are shown at the end.
See also
- Museum of Tolerance and Human Dignity in Jerusalem
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
References
External links
- Official website
- "Experiencing the Jewish Holocaust in Los Angeles: The Beit Hashoah â€" Museum of Tolerance", review essay by Harold Marcuse, Other Voices, v2.1, Feb. 2000.
- Museum of Tolerance: More detailed information
- "Museum of Tolerance: The Story of a Hate Crime", TIME
