What are the opening hours?

Monday 9am - 5pm Tuesday 9am - 5pm Wednesday 9am - 5pm Thursday 9am - 5pm

Holocaust Awareness Museum and Education Center

Name: Holocaust Awareness Museum and Education Center
Address: 8339 Old York Road, Suite 203/205, Elkins Park, PA, 19027, US
Telephone: +12154644701
Price range: Not Applicable

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Holocaust Awareness Museum and Education Center

The Holocaust Awareness Museum and Education Center is America's first Holocaust Museum. Initially, the museum was housed in the basement of Riz's home.

It was founded by Holocaust survivor Yaakov Riz in 1961 and currently operates at Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel in Elkins Park. The Holocaust Awareness Museum and Education Center, America's first Holocaust museum, was founded in 1961 by survivor Yaakov Riz, who lost 83 members of his family in Hitler's death camps. Riz vowed that if he survived he would dedicate his life to establishing a m

useum that would memorialize the millions of Jews and Non-Jews who perished at the hands of N**i barbarism. The museum's genesis, its growth and its struggle against intolerance are the realization of his dream, his courage and his commitment. In the five-county area that we serve, the museum's educational and community outreach is ecumenical and comprises a population that ranges from elementary school school (grade 5) to senior citizens. Many of the students we work with come from disadvantaged homes. Some of our students are newcomers who have fled countries such as Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Serbia. During the last 50 years, tens of thousands of students have visited the museum. We, in turn, have presented thousands of Holocaust programs in schools and to community groups and organizations. Our efforts are designed to emphasize the message that racial, ethnic, and religious hatred are the social poisons that weaken the American democracy.

06/17/2026

📅 Save the Date! 📅
Mark your calendars for Saturday, November 15 as the Holocaust Awareness Museum and Education Center (HAMEC) celebrates our annual Gala at our new host location, Keneseth Israel!
✨ This year's evening will feature:
🏛️ Exclusive access to the museum throughout the event
🕯️ The premiere of a special joint exhibition presented by HAMEC and Temple Judea
🎉 An inspiring evening celebrating Holocaust education, remembrance, and our shared commitment to preserving history for future generations.
Stay tuned for:
🎟️ Early ticket sales
🌟 More info of this year's honorees
🤝 Sponsorship opportunities and event details
We look forward to welcoming you for an unforgettable evening of remembrance, education, and community.
Save the Date: Saturday, November 15!

06/05/2026

As we have reached the end of another amazing year of school programming I am proud to report that our heroes have done 249 events reaching another 20,000 students. Other Holocaust organizations, who also do wonderful work, would be proud to have our numbers! Once again, over the last 15 years we have educated 400,000 young people across the entire United States and around the world. We are proud of our Survivors and their family members, who have changed the lives of thousands of young people.
Somewhere Yaakov and Sheila Riz are smiling!
And we should be grateful for the amazing work that our hard working and effective staff and volunteers are doing on a daily basis.
Our unfortunately increasingly important job continues. In these increasingly challenging times, what we do has never been more difficult and important.
So we must continue and even increase our efforts. Whatever you can do to make our mission more successful will be appreciated.
Continue to help us raise awareness of what we do. Continue to support our efforts by asking friends, associates and educators to join our team by setting up additional presentations for the next school year and contributing needed funds.
Stay well and energized!

Chuck Feldman
President HAMEC

06/01/2026

HAMEC survivor speaker, Michael Fryd, author "My Mother's War" wins Telly Award for film by MainLineTV.org
A bronze Telly award was awarded to Main Line Television, a non-profit: arts, culture & educational multi-media organization on the Main Line.

Michael Fryd, author of the book "My Mother's War" wins Telly Award for a film interview by MainLineTV.org in the 2025 social impact category. Michael was 3 years old when Germany invaded Poland and hid in a root cellar for 3 years. He was not formally educated until the age of 11 but despite his lack of formative education earned a PhD and became a multi patented scientist. He works with The Holocaust Awareness Museum and Education Center to tell his life story in hopes of preventing hatred and prejudice. The film was directed by Jill Frechie, a long-time adjunct faculty member at Montgomery County Community College in the STEM department and John Ricciutti, a teacher at Villanova University. Michael is available to speak to children of all ages and adults. If interested - reach out to [email protected] or Lise Marlowe at [email protected].

05/06/2026

Incredible school visits to HAMEC! Today Riverside Jr. High from Taylor, PA visited our museum for a tour and then listened to survivor Raymond Polak’s story of survival. The school also participated in a special stick figure project to show how many victims were murdered. Each section shown is one age group. This collection represents only the children, students understand the magnitude of the number of victims. Yesterday we hosted Valley Forge Baptist Academy from Springford who had a tour and listened to 2G speaker Shari Glauser share her dad’s story of being in the only Kindertransport to America, to Philadelphia. This week, 5 HAMEC speakers went to Scranton for their annual Holocaust symposium, including survivors Ruth Hartz and Pete Stern, 2G Dina Smith, Sandy Berenbaum and Linda Jaffe. Also this week, 2G speaker Steve Weiner started our annual programming in Abington School District where every 5th grader in all 7 Elementary schools hear a speaker. Steve also spoke to 9th graders today at Pennbrook Middle School. Jewish War Veterans hosted 2G speaker Jerry Gross, who shares his dad’s story and liberation in Dachau. Last week, Barrack school hosted survivor Pete Stern. We are so grateful to all the schools who reach out for programs. Contact us if you’d like your school to have a tour or host a speaker.

05/03/2026

One day away!

HAMEC's 2G Webinar series will be returning On Monday, May 4th at 7:00 PM with 2G Peter Weisner, who will share his mother's story of escaping on the Kindertransport and rebuilding her life in Germany and the United States while navigating Bipolar Disorder and social inequality. Don't forget to register using this flyer or our website.

05/01/2026

HAMEC survivor, Dr. Jack Wetter, is speaking virtually to Downingtown School District on Monday, May 11th at 6:00 pm. Jack lives in Los Angeles and has the most incredible story of survival . Dr. Jack Wetter was born in 1943 in Brussels Belgium. He was born while in hiding with his parents in the basement of a rented apartment building. He lived there for two years, never leaving during the time that Hitler’s regime had occupied Belgium.

Once Jack came United States, he first lived in New York, then moved to Los Angeles in 1960. He obtained his doctorate in clinical psychology at UCLA and subsequently was an associate clinical professor at the UCLA School of Medicine and was appointed as Chief of pediatric psychology for 20 years.

He subsequently went into private practice and retired in 2018. Since that time he has been lecturer at the Museum of Tolerance speaking of his holocaust experience to the visiting public, students, educators, and law-enforcement. He has been married for 56 years and has two children a son, who is a clinical psychologist and a daughter who is an educator. He and his wife have three grandchildren. If you would like the link for this program, please email Education Director, Lise Marlowe. [email protected]

04/30/2026

Thank you to Holicong Middle School for hosting 2G speaker, Dr. Steve Weiner. Holicong students recently completed a Writer’s Workshop project where they could choose any aspect of WWII, the Holocaust, or Anne Frank and create a piece of writing based on a genre of interest. Teachers expressed how their students love a narrative because they can follow it. During Steve’s presentation , he paused at different parts of the story to teach students words, locations, and important figures of the time. Steve also asked students questions throughout the presentation, which they loved as it kept them involved and part of the learning experience. So many students shared as a follow up with teachers all the connections they made between Steve’s presentation and their Anne Frank unit. We are so appreciative to Steve for engaging students in such a meaningful way and to all the teachers for their continued support and dedication in Holocaust education.

04/28/2026

One week away!

HAMEC's 2G Webinar series will be returning On Monday, May 4th at 7:00 PM with 2G Peter Weisner, who will share his mother's story of escaping on the Kindertransport and rebuilding her life in Germany and the United States while navigating Bipolar Disorder and social inequality. Don't forget to register using this flyer or our website.

04/27/2026

We at the Holocaust Awareness Museum mourn the passing of our dear friend and wonderful colleague and supporter Hal Kessler. After decades as a dedicated teacher at Northeast High School Hal joined us as our Education Director in 2003 serving in that capacity for five years. During his tenure the number and quality of our school programs grew dramatically. Through his leadership we were launched on the trajectory of doing hundreds of programs reaching tens of thousands of students every year. We will miss his professionalism, dedication and friendship.

04/26/2026

HAMEC 2G speaker Micky Blask spoke to students from Nashoba Brooks School at The Weitzman on Friday. Micky Blask is the daughter of two Holocaust survivors. Her father, Hans Nemenoff, grew up in Königsberg, Germany. He and his immediate family survived the war by escaping to British Mandate Palestine. Hans was the last to leave in August of 1935, and spent the war years in Tel Aviv.

Micky’s mother, Imy Rothmüller, grew up in Transylvania, now Romania. Imy married her first husband, Istvan Halmos, and moved with him to Cluj, now Cluj-Napoca, Romania. From there, Imy and her husband were deported to Auschwitz in May of 1944. Imy was transferred to Pdettinghoffen/Lenzing, a subcamp of the Austrian concentration camp Mauthausen where she was liberated on May 5, 1945 by US military troops. She survived, but her husband was murdered.

Address

8339 Old York Road, Suite 203/205
Elkins Park, PA
19027

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm

Telephone

+12154644701

Website

https://hamec.org/

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