Grasping ‘horrors of Holocaust’: UNLV gets funding for new research center
Money from a spending package signed by President Donald Trump on Tuesday will go toward a permanent Holocaust and genocide research center at UNLV, a member of the governor’s Holocaust education advisory council said.
Elliot Malin made the announcement at a ceremony to remember and honor victims of the Holocaust at the King David Memorial Chapel &Cemetery in Las Vegas on Tuesday. He said $700,000 has been earmarked for the project, though there is no timeline as of yet for the build-out.
“We’ve been working with UNLV to partner to create a Holocaust and genocide research center,” said Malin, chair of Gov. Joe Lombardo’s Advisory Council on Education Relating to the Holocaust. “By getting this funded and built and established, we’re going to be able to reach more people. We’ll be able to honor the memory of our local survivors, the family of survivors and bring that history to UNLV.”
A UNLV spokesman Tuesday confirmed that the funding was secured.
“Eventually, this partnership will allow us to document, preserve and showcase the memory of the Holocaust for all Nevadans,” Malin said during a presentation to onlookers. “We will establish a museum where UNLV students will bring CCSD school children in to learn about the Holocaust. We’ll advance opportunities for Nevadans to understand the horrors of the Holocaust.”
A time to remember
Jan. 27 is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Part of Tuesday’s ceremony, which drew about 75 people, took place at the outdoor Holocaust memorial plaza, which opened outside the chapel in 2022.
Different speakers, including Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley and Clark County Commission Chair Michael Naft, lit candles in memory of the victims of six concentration camps in Poland — Belzec, Treblinka, Sobibor, Chelmno, Auschwitz and Majdanek.
About 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, were killed by the Nazis at Auschwitz alone. Over 6 million lost their lives during the Holocaust, including about 1.5 million children.
“I’ve had the occasion to tour a number of concentration camps throughout Poland and other areas of Europe,” Berkley said during a short address. “What strikes me the most is the millions of children that did not survive their childhood because of the Holocaust. When I think about that, I think to myself what could have been with those youngsters, the contributions they would have made to the world.”
Though more than eight decades have passed since the end of Holocaust, Las Vegas’ Jewish mayor said she’s been troubled in recent years about what she said has been a rising tide of antisemitism around the world.
“We are the victims of the greatest horror that has ever been perpetrated on mankind,” Berkley said. “But it’s incumbent on all of us to ensure that nobody, no group, nobody in this world and this country, is treated in that manner again.”
‘We were turned away everywhere we went’
One of the guests at Tuesday’s event was Thomas Jacobson, a Los Angeles resident who as a young child traveled aboard the MS St. Louis ship, which carried nearly 1,000 German-Jewish refugees who sought to avoid Nazi persecution in 1939.
Those on the ship were famously denied entry to the United States, Cuba and Canada before the vessel returned to Europe. Jacobson detailed his story in his book “Underdog: Against All Odds, The Fight for Justice.”
“We were turned away everywhere we went; nobody wanted the Jews in those days,” said Jacobson, now 87. “Being here today, for me, it’s about getting the word out. I wanted some Nevadans to be able to hear from a survivor because there’s not many of us left. I know there a lot of educators here today and I wanted to help send the message to never forget.”
Jacobson, who grew up to be a civil rights attorney, said he’s noticed similarities between what happened leading up to, and during, World War II and what’s happening in some parts of the world today.
“I’m an immigrant and I know you really have to fight for democracy,” Jacobson said. “You have to speak up and really fight for your liberty. For me, getting out and interacting with people, it gives me energy.”
Contact Bryan Horwath at bhorwath@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BryanHorwath on X.
