Our Story

As we look to the future of the National Museum of American Jewish Military History, it’s useful to look back at where we started and how far we have come. The story of the NMAJMH starts in 1951, when National Commander Paul Ginsburg spoke of a museum dedicated to Jewish participation in the US armed forces. At a meeting of JWV’s National Executive Committee at the then national headquarters on West 77th Street in New York City, Ginsburg described his vision for a permanent memorial to Jewish participation in our country’s defense. He stated that: I should like to move the National Headquarters to Washington…. It is my desire that we, at our new National Headquarters, establish a museum which would include a depository to serve as a suitable memorial to the contribution of the American Jew to our country. This central depository in Washington will serve as a sanctuary for the many valuable records which are now in the possession of others and which we can secure to be part of an historical depository. There can be no question but that the establishment of such a depository would serve as the living memorial to the patriotism of the American Jews and his contribution in war and in peace to our country. And so, the National Shrine to the Jewish War Dead was conceived. The search for a suitable home for the national headquarters and Shrine began, led by Meyer Neumann (Chairman of the Building Committee) and Joseph Barr (longtime leader of Washington’s Post 58). The JWV fundraising committee had an initial goal of $50,000, but later expanded that goal to $85,000 (nearly $1 million in today’s dollars). The success of the fundraising rested on the shoulders of JWV membership, who participated in countless dinners and sales and stood up

See Part 1 for a brief history of the origins of the Museum and its first few iterations – first the National Shrine to the Jewish War Dead and then the Jewish War Veterans National Memorial, Inc. In 1992, the National Memorial became known by name that we use today—the National Museum of American Jewish Military History. While it is certainly a mouthful, the new name better encompassed the mission of the Museum and its place as both a memorial to those who have served and a living monument to active servicemembers. The rebranding ushered in a new era for the Museum. There was an increased focus on exhibitions, both in-house and traveling. In the spring of 1993, the NMAJMH opened an exhibit on American Jewish liberators called GIs Remember: Liberating the Concentration Camps. The exhibition coincided with the opening of US Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the two museums worked together with other local Jewish organizations to create a Jewish Washington tourism program. The anniversary of the end of World War II helped to bolster interest in the exhibit, which received an unprecedented amount of publicity in both local and national press and was viewed by dozens of tour groups in the first few months after it opened. One of the focal points of the exhibition was oral histories recorded by liberators describing what they saw at the camps. These firsthand accounts are very impactful and are included in the Museum’s core exhibition today. The centennial celebration for JWV in 1996 included festivities across the nation and in Washington, and the Museum participated by opening an exhibition on the history and accomplishments of the veterans organization. Making a Difference! A History of the Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America told of the creation of a Jewish veterans