Holocaust Museum Houston

(713) 942-8000
Lester and Sue Smith Campus | Houston, TX 77004
Museum District

Charged with educating students and the public about the dangers of prejudice and hatred in society, The Holocaust Museum Houston is dedicated to remembering the 6 million Jews and other innocent victims of the Holocaust and honoring the legacy of the survivors. Using the lessons of the Holocaust and other genocides, they teach the dangers of hatred, prejudice and apathy.

FIRST FLOOR

Bearing Witness: A Community Remembers

The permanent Holocaust Gallery is personalized with testimony of Holocaust Survivors who later settled in the Houston area, featuring artifacts donated by the Survivors, their descendants, liberators, and other collectors. The exhibit also educates visitors about Jewish and non-Jewish resistance efforts, including the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, prisoner revolts, sabotage, the partisan movement, displaced persons camps and life after the Holocaust. The gallery includes the World War II era railcar and the 1940's Danish rescue boat.

Human Rights Gallery

The new Lester and Sue Smith Human Rights Gallery features educational displays of all UN-recognized genocides as well as tributes to international human rights leaders including Malala Yousafzai and Martin Luther King, Jr. among others. The exhibition encourages visitors to engage with one another, and the outside world, to understand their calling relative to these social ills and the choices that one single person can make to turn the tide and combat hatred and prejudice. This beautiful, tranquil space lends itself to meditation and reflection, encouraging visitors to take the time to quietly think through the challenges that face us, as well as the solutions we can compassionately reach.

The Rhona and Bruce Caress Gallery – And Still I Write: Young Diarists on War and Genocide

And Still I Write: Young Diarists on War and Genocide highlights the diaries of young people who wrote during war and genocide. The Gallery features six interactive diaries stations with 12 diarist stories rotating between them to educate visitors about the very personal stories of the Holocaust, as well as the existing dangers of hatred, prejudice and apathy. Visitors will be able to access and utilize these electronic diaries, providing them with the unique use of interactive, experiential technology. In addition, the Gallery includes a historical exhibit on Anne Frank.

SECOND FLOOR

The Boniuk Center for the Future of Holocaust, Human Rights, and Genocide Studies – Second Floor

The Boniuk Center for the Future of Holocaust, Human Rights and Genocide Studies provides a research and scholarly forum to consider how to best educate our community and others around the world about the history and memories of the Holocaust. In light of ongoing genocides and issues of human rights, the Center provides a venue in which to consider values and how our work shapes society’s citizenry. The Center will explicate questions of morality and coexistence as these pertain to human behavior and decision-making.

Samuel Bak Gallery

The museum hosts the nation's largest gallery of artwork by Holocaust survivor and painter Samuel Bak, with more than 130 works in exhibition rotation in a 1,923 square-foot center. The gallery itself is circular, continuously displaying the exceptional work of the artist while teaching children and adults to apply an understanding of the events of the Holocaust and other genocides to their own lives and respond to them successfully by developing social resiliency.

Moral Choices Hall

The new Moral Choices Hall serves as the heart of HMH. Located on the second floor, programs based here remind visitors of the choices they remain free to make and the lives that they can successfully impact. 

The Jerold B. Katz Family Butterfly Loft

Suspended as if in flight, the Butterfly Loft sculpture is a kaleidoscope of 1,500 butterflies that connects all three floors of the Museum in an organically shaped swarm. Each butterfly represents 1,000 children and together are a memorial to the 1.5 million children who perished in the Holocaust.

The Albert and Ethel Herzstein Theater

The theater seats 195 and is equipped to provide a state-of-the-art experience for visitors. The theater features a professional performance-sized stage, including an artist dressing room, which allows the museum to expand the variety of presentations offered on-site, along with films and musical performances. 

THIRD FLOOR

The Boniuk Library

The expansion of The Boniuk Library, with more than 10,000 volumes and numerous resources for in-house research and education, allows for enhanced public access to its 285 oral testimonies for research purposes and genealogical searches. The Boniuk Library is one of the largest sources of data in the U.S. for communities that were destroyed occurred during the Holocaust.

Hotels
Museums and Attractions
Venues
General
  • Senior Rate
  • Military Rate
  • Student Friendly
General
  • Hours: Mondays – Closed Tuesday-Saturday 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Sunday 12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. The Museum is closed New Years’ Day, Easter Sunday, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day
  • Admission: General $19, Seniors 65+; AARP Members and active duty military $15; Children Free; The Museum is free every Thursday from 2-5 p.m. and on International Holocaust Remembrance Day (Jan. 27), Yom HaShoah, Veterans’ Day ( Nov. 11 for active duty military and veterans), and Human Rights Day (Dec. 10).
  • Senior Rates
  • Child Rates
  • Student Rates
  • Gift Shop
  • Accessible Via Light Rail
  • No. Blocks from Light Rail: 2
  • Private Room for Special Events
  • ADA Accessible
  • Requirement for Chaperone/Student Ratio: 1/15
  • Motorcoach Parking
  • Advance Notice Required for Groups
General
  • ADA Accessible
Meeting Facility
  • Number of Rooms: 4
  • Banquet Capacity: 60
  • Reception Capacity: 60
  • Audio/Visual
Meeting Facility Rooms
Room Name SqFt. Dimensions Ceiling Theater Classroom Banquet Reception
The Avrohm I. Wisenberg Classrooms X 60
The Conference Room X 10
The Albert and Ethel Herzstein Theater X 120
Museum Lobby X 200
Top