Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center

The Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow. We are right in front of it. You can hardly believe your eyes. But we are not going to spend our time in front of it. We are going to explore it from the inside to the outside. And trust me, it is a very interesting place. It’s not what you would expect at all. The Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center opened in Moscow in November 2012, and it’s been a cultural hub for the city ever since. The museum is located in the Bakhmetevsky Bus Garage. It was designed by architect Konstantin Melnikov and structural engineer Vladimir Shukhov in 1926. It has vaulted ceilings and clean architectural angles, which are a kind of symbol of the early Soviet era. The Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center occupies the restored Bakhmetevsky Bus Garage, an avant-garde landmark from the 1920s. This museum is devoted to the complicated history of Jewish people in Russia. It uses personal testimony, archival video footage and interactive displays, which are all translated into Russian and English. The exhibitions in the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center are divided chronologically. They help visitors understand the lives of Jewish communities as they travelled across medieval Europe, settled in shtetls before moving to the cities. The role of Russian Jewry in public life in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries is presented. The fate of Soviet Jews and the role of Jewish soldiers during World War II are presented as well. Visitors learn about what it meant to be a “Soviet Jew” and find out how and why so many left the USSR. You’re going to learn what happened in the Jewish community during the persecution of the Holocaust. Visitors can also learn how the museum is a place of remembrance for the Holocaust. But it depicts the history of Russian Jews as something more complex, filled with both struggles and achievements. The Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center focuses on the events of the Holocaust on Soviet soil, which is a significant revision of the Soviet-era discourse. One of the museum’s most interesting exhibits is the Schneerson Library, a collection of ancient Jewish books and manuscripts. The Schneerson Library was originally owned by generations of Lubavitch rabbis. After being nationalized by the Soviets in the 1920s, it was finally moved to the Jewish Museum in 2013. Today, the museum offers visitors a unique opportunity to explore Jewish history and culture in Russia. It’s a must-see for anyone visiting the city.