2023 Elie Wiesel Award

Museum Partners

On the occasion of its 30th anniversary, the Museum presented its highest honor, the Elie Wiesel Award, to the many US and international partners who have been key to extending its reach beyond our walls into communities across the nation and around the world.

“Institutions alone can’t change the world. From our founding, the power of partnership has been central to our ability to bring the history and lessons of the Holocaust to people from all walks of life. Our partners share our conviction that the Holocaust is a story of humanity. It shows us who we have been and challenges us to be more,” said Sara J. Bloomfield, Museum director.

America’s most distinguished documentary filmmaker, Ken Burns, was the keynote speaker at the 30th Anniversary National Tribute Dinner. His recent film, The U.S. and the Holocaust, was inspired by the Museum’s exhibition Americans and the Holocaust, which, in partnership with the American Library Association, is currently touring 50 public and college campus libraries nationwide. Museum partners Charles Ramsey and James Brewster added their voices on the power of partnership with the Museum. Ramsey, formerly chief of the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, DC, worked with the Museum in 1999 to create a leadership development program for law enforcement that has since trained more than 158,000 officers nationwide. Brewster, a high school teacher from Austin, Texas, is one of more than 420 Museum Teacher Fellows, representing 49 states, the District of Columbia, and 11 countries, trained since the program began in 1996. Auschwitz survivor and Museum volunteer Irene Weiss opened the evening with a call to action to keep Holocaust memory alive. Singer, songwriter, and social media influencer Montana Tucker, who is using her platform to raise awareness of the Holocaust and the dangers of antisemitism, led the audience in a closing pledge to the future to educate new generations.