May 15, 2001
UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM WELCOMES 16 MILLIONTH VISITOR
April 2001 Busiest Month in Museum History
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum welcomed its 16 millionth visitor on Thursday, May 10, 2001. Additionally, April 2001, was the Museum’s busiest month on record, with 276,654 persons visiting the institution.
“We are especially pleased that so many young people have visited, but the Museum is much more than impressive statistics,” states Sara J. Bloomfield, Museum Director. “It is a dynamic institution whose multifaceted programs reach a broad array of audiences, such as inner city students, African-American churches, military academies, and law enforcement professionals. Our mission is to make a difference, and we feel that in our first eight years, we have made great strides in that regard.”
Of the 16 million visitors, 4.8 million (30%) were under age 18, 2.1 million (13%) were minorities and 11.6 million (73%) were non-Jewish. In addition to the American public, the Museum has hosted 65 heads of state - including President George W. Bush on April 18 - and more then 2,000 dignitaries from 130 countries.
During his visit to the Museum, on the eve of Yom Hashoah, the commemoration of Days of Remembrance of Holocaust victims, President Bush said, “I urge Americans planning a visit to Washington to come here, themselves, to see what we have just seen.” Video of the President’s visit to the Museum is available on our Web site, www.ushmm.org. The site also contains video of President Bush’s remarks at this year’s Days of Remembrance ceremony at the Capitol Rotunda.
Recognizing that most people will never visit Washington, DC, the Museum has developed an extensive outreach campaign to educate Americans across the country. More than 1 million people have visited the Museum’s three traveling exhibitions. The Museum’s teacher training workshops, public programs, scholarly programs, and Web site have reached millions more across the United States and throughout the world.
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is America’s national institution for the documentation, study and interpretation of Holocaust history, and serves as this country’s memorial to the millions of people murdered during the Holocaust. Since opening in April 1993, the Museum has welcomed more than 16 million visitors. The Museum’s primary mission is to advance and disseminate knowledge about this unprecedented tragedy; to preserve the memory of those who suffered; and to encourage its visitors to reflect upon the moral questions raised by the events of the Holocaust as well as their own responsibilities as citizens of a democracy.
