A landmark institutional collaboration bringing authentic evidence of Auschwitz to one of the world’s leading Holocaust memorial and educational institutions — free to the public for the first time.

We are proud to announce that Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away. will be presented at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) in Washington, D.C., from January 2027 through spring 2029, in an exceptional two-and-a-half-year presentation.

This marks a special milestone in the exhibition’s international tour: for the first time ever, the exhibition will be free to the public, making this encounter with the history of Auschwitz accessible to school groups, families, and the millions of people who visit the nation’s capital each year.

A unique exhibition, at a unique moment

Created by Musealia and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum, Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away. brings together original artifacts from the Auschwitz Memorial itself and over 20 international  institutions and collections that have rarely been seen in the United States. It is the only exhibition in the world that concentrates such a volume of authentic objects connected to the largest Nazi concentration and extermination camp complex, located in German-occupied Poland and operating from 1940 to 1945, where more than 1.1 million people were murdered, including one million Jews. Its presentation at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum gives this body of evidence an exceptional institutional context, at a moment when Holocaust memory and understanding are more urgently needed than ever.

Holocaust survivor and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum volunteer Irene Weiss, who as a teenager was forced to sort through the belongings of people who had just been gassed, puts it with a clarity no text can match:

“What was once stolen from the dead can now teach the living. For the generations who will never meet a survivor, these objects will carry the memory forward when we are gone.”

A collaboration that crowns decades of shared work

For Musealia, this presentation at the USHMM represents far more than a new stop on the tour. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is America’s national memorial to the Holocaust and one of the world’s leading institutions dedicated to Holocaust memory, understanding, and education. That Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away. will be presented there — and will serve as the museum’s centerpiece exhibition while the museum creates a new permanent exhibition — makes this a truly exceptional institutional milestone. 

“Auschwitz confronts us with pain, loss, and the deepest human rupture. But memory cannot rest on emotion alone. It must also help us understand how such crimes became possible, because only that understanding allows memory to remain responsible, just, and meaningful. To bring this exhibition to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is, for Musealia, both an extraordinary honour and a profound responsibility.” said Luis Ferreiro, Director and CEO of Musealia.

The director of the Auschwitz Memorial, Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński, has also spoken to the particular significance of this collaboration:

“Having our exhibition on display at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum marks the culmination of our excellent cooperation over the past several decades. We are grateful to our colleagues in Washington DC, under the excellent leadership of  Sara Bloomfield.  I am delighted that the exhibition “Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away’ will help the Museum to continue fulfilling their important mission while their new exhibition is under construction. ”

An opportunity for Washington — and for the world

The exhibition’s arrival at the USHMM comes at a moment of growing urgency. A national study by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany found that 63% of U.S. millennials and Gen Z did not know that six million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust. Meanwhile, Holocaust denial and antisemitism are rising at unprecedented levels.

In this context, Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away. offers something no textbook or digital document can replace: a direct encounter with authentic evidence. Real objects. Real stories. The physical presence of the past — and the context that helps explain how such crimes became possible.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Director Sara J. Bloomfield puts it plainly:

“We can’t bring our visitors to Auschwitz, but through this exhibition, we are bringing a sense of Auschwitz to them in a very visceral way.”

During this exceptional two-and-a-half-year presentation, while the Museum creates a new permanent exhibition — a decade-long project designed to ensure the history’s relevance for new generations — Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away. will serve as the museum’s centerpiece exhibition.

Because memory travels too

Since its creation, Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away. has traveled to cities around the world, carrying with it the testimonies, objects, and stories of those who lived — and died — at Auschwitz. Its arrival in Washington, D.C. creates an extraordinary opportunity for visitors from across the United States and around the world to encounter this history directly — and, for the first time in the exhibition’s international tour, to do so free to the public. More information about dates, access, and related programming will be shared in the coming months.