Exhibitions and experiences
Walk through history with our permanent exhibitions, which feature testimonies, artefacts, photographs and documents from our Melbourne survivor community. Through these exhibitions, you’ll learn about the Holocaust from a uniquely Melbourne perspective – and be inspired by our survivors’ personal testimonies.
EXHIBITION
Recommended age 15+; allow up to 90 minutes
Everybody Had a Name breaks the expansive and tragic events of the Holocaust into small stories, illustrated by powerful photographs and evocative artefacts.
This exhibition, for ages 15+, honours the survivors who migrated to Melbourne – and built a strong, beautiful community from the ashes of the Holocaust.
EXHIBITION
Recommended age 10+; allow 45 minutes
This modern new space is designed for younger visitors 10+.
Presented in an engaging format, the award-winning Hidden exhibition introduces concepts of prejudice and the importance of standing up for others.
Visitors learn about the experiences of seven child survivors of the Holocaust, who all attributed their survival to the kindness of others.
The instances of people risking their lives to save Jewish people were the shining beacons during this dark period – serving as a point of inspiration for the audience.
VIRTUAL REALITY EXPERIENCE
Recommended age 15+; allow 30 minutes
Experience the story of a survivor like never before. As Holocaust survivor John Szaja Chaskiel z”l takes us to the sites of his incarceration and the streets of his hometown, it’s like you’re walking right there beside him.
VR headsets are not permitted for children under the age of 13.
SPECIAL EXHIBITION
Exhibition open from 31 July 2026 – 31 January 2027
What They Carried explores the relationship between Holocaust survivors and the objects that sustained them. Drawn from the Melbourne Holocaust Museum’s collection, this exhibition features many items on public display for the first time, foregrounding personal stories from survivors who made Melbourne home.
Through everyday belongings, handmade objects and acts of ingenuity, What They Carried reveals how material things carry memory, hope, meaning, and emotional weight across time and place. From treasured keepsakes to practical tools, these objects supported physical survival, preserved identity, maintained vital relationships and carried hope in the face of persecution.
These objects are more than remnants of the past; they are witnesses. They reveal how people anchored memory, sustained hope and dignity, and navigated extreme conditions, illuminating the human capacity to survive when humanity itself is under threat.
Learn about the experiences of our Melbourne-based survivors and explore artefacts from your home or classroom through our online exhibitions.
Through this interactive experience, you’ll get to ask Holocaust survivors one of 18 commonly posed questions.
Explore a family’s story of fortitude, luck and remembrance through personal artefacts and testimony, in this interactive module.
It is recommended to view this module on a desktop device.
Meet survivors Bono Wiener and Abram Goldberg through curated testimony and artefacts and learn how they resisted the Nazis.
Meet 26 of our Melbourne survivors – and understand the events of history through firsthand accounts and individual voices.
Have a look at some of our past exhibitions that made an impact.
SPECIAL EXHIBITION
Exhibition open from 20 March – 12 July 2026
Recommended all ages; allow 45 minutes
Location: Alter Family Special Exhibitions Gallery, Melbourne Holocaust Museum
Tickets: Adults $15, Concessions $12
For the first time, the Melbourne Holocaust Museum presents an exhibition of Kathy Temin’s Remembrance works, bringing together over twenty years of artistic inquiry in the exhibition titled Marking Memory throughout the museum.
The daughter of a Holocaust survivor, Temin uses faux fur to create monumental sculptures that challenge traditional forms of memorialisation. Her work explores memory, loss and intergenerational dialogues, and includes sound and shared testimonies, inviting the audience to reflect on both private and collective acts of remembrance.
Recommended for all ages; allow 45 minutes
Exhibition was open from 29 October 2025 – 18 January 2026
This series of intimate portraits by Anita Lester honours 16 Holocaust survivors from Melbourne, whose lives were rebuilt through family, community and culture. Through these paintings, their faces and stories embody resilience, vitality, and the ongoing responsibility to remember. This exhibition invites visitors to encounter these survivors not just as subjects of history, but as living witnesses.
Recommended age 15+; allow 45 minutes
Exhibition was open from 2 May – 2 August 2025
Melbourne-born artist Sidney Nolan is one of Australia’s most celebrated painters, known for his evocative depictions of the Australian landscape and the iconic Ned Kelly series. Nolan’s haunting depictions of the Holocaust reveal a deeply personal and largely unseen chapter of his artistic journey, one shaped by his encounter with the Adolf Eichmann trial, a visit to Auschwitz, and a profound reckoning with humanity’s darkest history.
A comprehensive overview of the Nazi program, known as T4, to murder mentally ill and disabled people between 1939 and 1945.
A special exhibition that combined the historical and contemporary aspects of life within the Jewish community in Germany.
A 9-minute documentary film created and directed by Vivian Parry – former Board Director of Melbourne Holocaust Museum and Chairperson of Child Survivors of the Holocaust.
A travelling exhibition from Yad Vashem that tells the stories of non-Jews who, at great risk to their own lives, saved Jews during the Holocaust.
This exhibition shows the lives of child survivors through the medium of a painted portrait and a sketch of the sitter as a young child.
