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Honoring the Past, Inspiring the Future: at the VHM

By Samuel H. Asher, President & Executive Director, Virginia Holocaust Museum

As the holiday season approaches, my thoughts turn to family, friendship, and gratitude. At the Virginia Holocaust Museum, this season carries special meaning. It is a time to reflect on the power of memory, the importance of education, and our shared responsibility to ensure that the lessons of the Holocaust are never forgotten.

I am deeply thankful for another year of serving our community and fulfilling our mission—to preserve the history of the Holocaust and honor its victims, survivors, and upstanders through innovative exhibits, educational programming, and community outreach. Your support makes our work possible. Together, we ensure that remembrance leads to understanding, and understanding inspires action.

A Special Invitation: Annual Meeting & Exhibit Opening

This December, we will bring history to life in a particularly meaningful way. On December 8 at 5:30 p.m., the Museum will host its Annual Meeting and the Grand Opening of the reimagined Hyde Farmlands exhibit—a story that beautifully intertwines resilience, compassion, and Virginia’s own legacy of refuge.

The evening will feature a keynote address and book signing by educator and author Robert H. Gillette, whose acclaimed book Escape to Virginia: From Nazi Germany to Thalhimer’s Farm tells the remarkable true story of Jewish refugees who found safe haven and purpose on a Virginia farm during World War II.

Guests will enjoy:

  • Opening remarks from Museum leadership
  • A keynote address and book signing with Robert H. Gillette
  • A sneak preview of the updated Hyde Farmlands exhibit
  • A festive reception featuring light hors d’oeuvres inspired by Jewish recipes from the late 1930s

If you plan to attend, kindly RSVP by clicking HERE.

Stories That Endure: Anita Lasker-Wallfisch in the Dimensions in Testimony Theater

Throughout December, visitors can experience the extraordinary story of Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, a Holocaust survivor whose courage and music quite literally saved her life. As a young cellist, Anita survived Auschwitz by playing in the women’s orchestra and later endured imprisonment at Bergen-Belsen before liberation in 1945. Today, at age 100, she continues to share her story from her home in London.

Through the Museum’s groundbreaking Dimensions in Testimony exhibit—developed by the USC Shoah Foundation—visitors can have interactive conversations with Anita’s recorded image, asking questions and hearing her responses in real time.

The exhibit is open daily, with showings every hour from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Continuing the Mission

The Virginia Holocaust Museum relies on community support to preserve history, inspire understanding, and promote empathy across generations. When you follow the Museum on social media, share our posts, or bring a friend to visit, you help us extend our mission and keep Holocaust education alive for generations to come.

Together, we can honor the past, inspire understanding, and build a more compassionate future.

From all of us at the Virginia Holocaust Museum—wishing you and your loved ones a season of peace, gratitude, and hope.