Holocaust museums, by their very existence and content, are not for “sissies.” And particularly in these febrile times, when the millennia-long struggles of the Jewish people are yet again in a ghastly daily news cycle. For these reasons, I approach Kerstin Thompson Architects’ (KTA) recently opened and nationally awarded Melbourne Holocaust Museum (MHM) in Elsternwick apprehensive about the sensitive task of critiquing it. I wonder how the responsibility for such a profound commission weighed upon KTA when the practice won the 2014 competition for the project.
Partly self-funded by the Jewish community, which has had its locus in south-east Melbourne since World War II, the MHM absorbs and transforms the 1980s adaptation of a 1918 United Friendly Society Hall and allied site. With an ambitious brief to record testimonials, foster archival research and house a diverse collection, the museum aims to educate visitors and open history to the light. The result is a cultural repository that was generated by and is specific to its local
