The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum was originally chartered by United States Congress in 1980 under the Carter administration as a governmental institution to document, study, and interpret the Holocaust. ¹

It receives large amounts of money from multiple sources including membership dues, government grants, and private donations including from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the William and Sheila Konar Foundation. ²³

The museum awarded the United States Justice Department the Elie Wiesel Award, its highest honor, in April 2021 for its work at prosecuting individuals involved with the crimes of Nazi Germany in World War II. ⁴

History

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) is the national governmental institution on the documentation, study, and interpretation of the Holocaust and is also the United States’ official memorial of the victims of the Holocaust. The USHMM was originally chartered by United States Congress in 1980 under the Carter administration, and the building itself, completed in 1993 under the Clinton administration, is located next to the National Mall in Washington, D.C. ⁵

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is overseen by the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. The council is comprised of 55 private citizens appointed by the President of the United States, five members of the Senate, five members of the House of Representatives, and three ex-officio members from the federal Departments of Interior, Education, and State. The museum itself is staffed by more than 400 individuals with over 300 volunteers, including 64 Holocaust survivors as of 2021. ⁶

The museum’s council created the Committee on Conscience in 1994 which would dedicate itself to “work to halt acts of genocide or related crimes against humanity.” It also sponsored and announced the Atrocities Prevention Board in 2012. ⁷

Funding

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, via its U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, receives large amounts of money from multiple sources including private grants and contributions, membership dues, and government grants.

The museum received a total revenue of just under $99 million in 2012 with just over $9 million coming from membership dues, $6.3 million from fundraising events, $48 million from government contributions, and $23.2 million from grants and contributions from private sources. In the same year, the USHMM had just under $96.5 million in total expenses. The museum spent a total of $34.6 million on salaries and wages, $1.7 million on compensation for its officers, directors, and trustees, and $21 million which was marked down in the “other” category. It also had a total asset amount of just under $364 million and a total liability amount of slightly under $36 million. ⁸

The USHMM’s total revenue increased to $124 million in 2013, $128 million in 2014, and then jumped to around $163 million in 2015 and 2016 before falling slightly to just under $159 million in 2017, and fell again to $148 million in 2018. The museum’s total functional expenses was $104 million in 2013, $101 million in 2014, $104 million in 2015, $116 million in 2016, $114 million in 2017. The institution’s total assets also grew majorly every year as the assets were valued at $403 million in 2013, $445 million in 2014, $474 million in 2015, $551 million in 2016, $648 million in 2017. ⁹

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum received $148.7 million in total revenue in 2018, $57.5 million from contributions and grants from private sources, $53.6 million from government contributions, $11.7 million from membership dues, and $9.2 million from fundraising. It also had a total expense amount of $121.5 million, $43 million of which was spent on salaries and wages, $3.8 million on compensation for officers, directors, and trustees, and $25.3 million which was marked down in the “other” category. The USHMM’s total asset amount was valued at $701.5 million with a total liability amount of $86.4 million. ¹⁰

The USHMM has also received large donations from private donations including $103,300 from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in 2012. ¹¹ The private grantmaking foundation is headquartered in New York City and manages over $6 billion in assets and distributes over $300 million in grants annually, making it the 26^th-largest foundation in the United States. ¹²

The William and Sheila Konar Foundation gifted $6.2 million to the museum in 2019 after joining the USHMM’s Chairman’s Circle. The donation was to support the museum’s Initiative on Holocaust Denial and State-Sponsored Antisemitism, but also created “an endowment to name the director.” ¹³

The Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation contributed a total grant of $10 million to the museum in 2014 to support the growth of Holocaust studies in the United States. ¹⁴ The Charles H. Revson Foundation, a private foundation associated with the late co-founder of Revlon cosmetics Charles Revson, contributed $450,000 to the museum in 2008. ¹⁵ The Righteous Persons Foundation granted the USHMM $150,000 in 2015. ¹⁶

The USHMM also notes that its “propaganda” studies on its website were funded by grants from The David Berg Foundation, Shelly and Michael Kassen, the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, and Katharine M. and Leo S. Ullman. ¹⁷

Statements on Public Holocaust Analogies

The United States Holocaust Museum released a press release titled “Holocaust Analogies are Dangerous” in 2018. The statement noted that politicians, people with influence in the media, and individuals on social media “casually use Holocaust terminology to bash anyone or any policy with which they disagree.” ¹⁸

The press release added that the “Holocaust has become shorthand for good vs. evil,” due to it being used as an oversimplified comparison by “American politicians from across the ideological spectrum.” It ended by warning that “careless Holocaust analogies may demonize, demean, and intimidate” targets but are a “cost for us all” as they shut down productive, thoughtful discourse.” ¹⁹

Self-identified democratic socialist and member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), as well as a group of radical-left-aligned U.S. Representatives called “The Squad,” Representative Alexander Occasio-Cortez (D-NY), claimed that the Trump Administration was “running concentration camps on our southern border,” in 2019, and “that ‘never again’ means something,” referring to a phrase used by Jews about the Holocaust. ²⁰

A few days after her comments, the USHMM issued another press release stating it “unequivocally rejects efforts to create analogies between the Holocaust and other events,” adding that “recent attempts to analogize the situation on the United States southern border to concentration camps” was not a position with which the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum agreed. ²¹

Awards

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum awarded the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) its highest honor, the Elie Wiesel Award, in April 2021. The award was conferred to the DOJ for the success of its program to identify, investigate, and prosecute individuals that participated in the crimes of World War II-era Nazi officials. The program began as part of the Office of Special Investigations (OSI) but was then transferred to the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section (HRSP). The former OSI Director Eli Rosenbaum, who was in charge of the program during most of its successful prosecutions, accepted the award. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland noted it was “deeply gratifying” that the USHMM recognized the “Justice Department’s extraordinary work in pursuing justice on behalf of the victims of Nazi genocide.” ²²

Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat, former Chief White House Domestic Affairs Advisor under President Jimmy Carter, was also granted the Elie Wiesel Award for his participation in creating the legislation that led to the museum’s creation. The USHMM Chairman Howard M. Lorber stated the museum was “honored to recognize” the efforts both Eizenstat and the Department of Justice had made towards the achievements recognized. ²³

1. “United States Holocaust Memorial Museum,” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum), accessed June 6, 2021, https://www.ushmm.org/information/about-the-museum/mission-and-history.
2. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, “Advanced Search – USHMM,” The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, accessed June 6, 2021, https://mellon.org/grants/grants-database/advanced-search/?p=114&amount-low=&amount-high=&year-start=&year-end=&city=&state=&country=&q=United%2BStates%2BHolocaust%2BMemorial%2BMuseum&per_page=100.
3. “United States Holocaust Memorial Museum,” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum), accessed June 6, 2021, https://www.ushmm.org/information/press/press-releases/william-and-sheila-konar-foundation-join-museums-chairman-circle.
4. “U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Honors DOJ with Elie Wiesel Award,” The United States Department of Justice, April 23, 2021, https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/us-holocaust-memorial-museum-honors-doj-elie-wiesel-award.
5. “United States Holocaust Memorial Museum,” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum), accessed June 6, 2021, https://www.ushmm.org/information/about-the-museum/mission-and-history.
6. “Holocaust Museums & Memorials,” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, accessed June 6, 2021, https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/united-states-holocaust-memorial-museum.
7. “United States Holocaust Memorial Museum,” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum), accessed June 6, 2021, https://www.ushmm.org/information/about-the-museum/mission-and-history.
8. Sisi Wei Mike Tigas, “UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL COUNCIL – Form Form 990 for Period Ending Sep 2012 – Nonprofit Explorer,” ProPublica, May 9, 2013, https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/521309391/2013_12_EO%2F52-1309391_990_201209.
9. Sisi Wei Mike Tigas, “United States Holocaust Memorial Council – Nonprofit Explorer,” ProPublica, May 9, 2013, https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/521309391.
10. Sisi Wei Mike Tigas, “UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL COUNCIL – Form Form 990 for Period Ending Sep 2018 – Nonprofit Explorer,” ProPublica, May 9, 2013, https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/521309391/10_2019_prefixes_51-54%2F521309391_201809_990_2019100416720459.
11. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, “Advanced Search – USHMM,” The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, accessed June 6, 2021, https://mellon.org/grants/grants-database/advanced-search/?p=114&amount-low=&amount-high=&year-start=&year-end=&city=&state=&country=&q=United%2BStates%2BHolocaust%2BMemorial%2BMuseum&per_page=100.
12. “Foundation Stats: Guide to the Foundation Center’s Research Database – Foundation Center,” Foundation Stats: Guide to the Foundation Center’s Research Database – Foundation Center, accessed June 6, 2021, http://data.foundationcenter.org/#/foundations/all/nationwide/top:giving/list/2014.
13. “United States Holocaust Memorial Museum,” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum), accessed June 6, 2021, https://www.ushmm.org/information/press/press-releases/william-and-sheila-konar-foundation-join-museums-chairman-circle.
14. “Mandel Foundation Awards $10 Million to U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum ,” Philanthropy News Digest, March 17, 2014, https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/mandel-foundation-awards-10-million-to-u.s.-holocaust-memorial-museum.
15. “The Charles H. Revson Foundation,” The Charles H. Revson Foundation, accessed June 6, 2021, https://revsonfoundation.org/grants/category/jewish-life/.
16. Righteous Persons Foundation, “Grants Archive,” RPF, October 4, 2016, https://www.righteouspersons.org/grants-archive/page/10/.
17. “United States Holocaust Memorial Museum – Propaganda,” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum), accessed June 6, 2021, https://www.ushmm.org/propaganda/.
18. Edna Friedberg, “Why Holocaust Analogies Are Dangerous,” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, December 12, 2018), https://www.ushmm.org/information/press/press-releases/why-holocaust-analogies-are-dangerous.
19. Edna Friedberg, “Why Holocaust Analogies Are Dangerous,” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, December 12, 2018), https://www.ushmm.org/information/press/press-releases/why-holocaust-analogies-are-dangerous.
20. Caroline Kelly, “Ocasio-Cortez Compares Migrant Detention Facilities to Concentration Camps,” CNN (Cable News Network, June 18, 2019), https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/18/politics/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-concentration-camps-migrants-detention/index.html.
21. “Statement Regarding the Museum’s Position on Holocaust Analogies,” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, June 24, 2019), https://www.ushmm.org/information/press/press-releases/statement-regarding-the-museums-position-on-holocaust-analogies.
22. “U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Honors DOJ with Elie Wiesel Award,” The United States Department of Justice, April 23, 2021, https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/us-holocaust-memorial-museum-honors-doj-elie-wiesel-award.
23. “U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Honors DOJ with Elie Wiesel Award,” The United States Department of Justice, April 23, 2021, https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/us-holocaust-memorial-museum-honors-doj-elie-wiesel-award.