Zekelman Holocaust Center, Michigan, history
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Visiting the Zekelman Holocaust Center in Michigan

Amy French the Roaming Historian

This past Spring Break I took a long overdue trip to Farmington Hills, Michigan to visit the Zekelman Holocaust Center. As a professor, I’ve offered some of their virtual programs to our college community; I’ve even helped facilitate a trip for students to go there, but I had never roamed there myself—that changed on a March day in 2026.

Arriving in the parking lot, I could see railroad tracks configured into the Star of David; before stepping foot in the large building the center had started place-making. My husband and I were warmly greeted by the staff at the front desk. To our great fortune, we found out that my contact at the Holocaust Center, Traci, was willing to give us a tour. But don’t worry, you don’t need a personal contact to get a tour—the Zekelman Holocaust Center is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Holocaust while educating visitors about the dangers of hatred, antisemitism, and indifference. We saw other tour groups during our visit.

What makes the museum especially powerful is its emphasis on survivor testimony and personal stories, particularly those connected to Michigan. The exhibits focus heavily on first-person experiences rather than only statistics or military history. Here are some highlights of what we saw.

WWII Boxcar

The first artifact visitors see is an authentic German rail boxcar used during the Holocaust. The museum has designed the backdrop of the railcar to look like the Hannoverscher Bahnhof station in Hamburg, Germany. A powerful artifact, the railcar reminds us of the mass deportations that transported Jews and other victims to ghettos, concentration camps, and death camps. Visitors can walk around the car to better understand the cramped conditions in which prisoners were transported, often more than 100 people at a time without food or water.

Eternal Flame and Memorial Wall

Near the entrance, visitors encounter the Eternal Flame, which burns continuously in remembrance of Holocaust victims. The flame reflects a Jewish mourning tradition of lighting a candle for the deceased. Surrounding it is the Memorial Wall, engraved with the names of major concentration and death camps. Passing it on the way in and then again while leaving kept the memories of the individuals who were preyed upon at the forefront of my mind.

European Jewish Heritage and the Long History of Antisemitism

After a short historical video, visitors enter a series of galleries presented in a logical fashion so one can move throughout the exhibits without backtracking or getting confused. I noticed, too, that the narrative goes from light to darkness to lightness again. The design of the exhibitions seems to mimic that. The first area explores European Jewish heritage and Jewish life in Europe before the Holocaust, emphasizing culture, religion, and everyday life. Visitors get a real sense of the long history of Judaism, as well as persecution of Jews. Highlights include:

  • A timeline of Jewish history stretching back thousands of years—“Despite times of peace and prosperity in Jewish history, [antisemitism] was a recurrent threat that could sometimes lead to violence.”
  • Displays about Jewish communities across Europe (shows Jewish population in 1933 wide and varied across Europe)
  • Exhibits on the long history of antisemitism before World War II—antisemitism from church fathers in 386, restriction of Jewish rights by law in 438, attacks on Jews during the 1096 crusades, accusations that Jews kill Christian children in 1144, to the Black Plague, Martin Luther, and much more

Descent Into Nazism

After learning about Jewish heritage, how widespread Jewish communities were around Europe, and how anti-Semitism had over a millennia of history before the Holocaust, we learn how Germany transitioned from democracy to dictatorship and genocide. That basis of anti-Semitism, found not just in Germany but in the US and elsewhere was exploited by propaganda.

Displays include: Nazi propaganda and artifacts, explanations of discriminatory laws such as the Nuremberg Laws, information about Kristallnacht and escalating persecution of Jews and other groups. This area shows how prejudice became normalized and institutionalized. By showing how pervasive antisemitism was across various countries, it also provides understanding as to why help did not come sooner.

As one walks, you notice quotes projected on the floor, as well as on placards on the wall. Traci mentioned how the quotes projected on the floor literally light our way through the galleries; I found that so powerful. Those quotes bring alive the voices of those who had been persecuted. Here are a couple that I found especially poignant.

“I had a very happy childhood—loved, cared for. We were not very rich, but I don’t remember being deprived of anything until the year 1939 when the Second World War broke out, and that’s when my whole life turned into chaos.” Sophie Klisman

“It was the first time my mother didn’t light any candles.” Regina Weiss

By personalizing the victims, museum goers understand that the Holocaust destroyed vibrant communities. “Everything was rationed: bread, potatoes, a little sugar, a little oil. Just to get by.” Nancy Fordonski

The Camp System

After setting the basis for “how” the Holocaust came to be, we see exhibits showing what it was like—the brutal reality of concentration and death camps. There is film footage documenting life at the camps and what the conditions were like at liberation. Visitors see how the camps functioned, what they looked like, the deprivation in ghettos and camps (100 calories a day), the mass killings, and they learn about the “final solution” (the mass murder of all Jews). Through the displays, the visitor is shown the evil incarnate which existed in this genocide. The galleries also explore the role of regular Germans—they look at the dangers of not just complicity, but also indifference.

A particularly evocative message shows women lying on wooden platforms several levels high. They have no comforts—no pillows, no warm blankets, no mattresses—they are just piled, atop each other on wood. This is where they had to sleep. It is accompanied by a quote:

“I was only a few yards away from [the crematorium] and the smell was something else.” Zita Weber

One artifact I found particularly moving was a bullet of lipstick. Female victims had tried to keep a vestige of femininity through this precious piece of makeup. Traci told us a survivor story that occurred during the liberation of the camps. A US soldier came upon a female survivor and asked her where the other women were, and the female survivor was taken aback because no one had called her a woman in six years. For those who were not immediately killed, they went through a process of dehumanization that destroyed their spirit and attempted to eradicate their humanity.

There was also a drawing of Shoshana Rochlitz; she was 18 when she traded a bite of a cracker (a precious commodity) for a portrait of herself. She and the artist, Alice, had reached the Lichtenworth labor camp in Austria after a death march. As I remember the quote, Shoshana told Alice, “draw me like I was, not like I am.”

Resistance

As we neared the end of the galleries, we were met with pictures of those who had been honored with the title, “Righteous Among All Nations.” This is an honorary title awarded by Yad Vashem to non-Jews who risked their lives, freedom, or safety to save Jews from annihilation. Completely in the light now, we see exhibits detailing the Nuremberg trials and photographs and biographies of Holocaust survivors who later rebuilt their lives in Michigan. Their stories of survival and resilience reminded me that surviving itself is an act of resistance when someone is trying to slaughter you.

Anne Frank Tree Exhibit

Outside the museum is a sapling grown from the chestnut tree that stood outside the hiding place of Anne Frank in Amsterdam. From the window of her attic hiding place, Anne could see this tree, which she wrote about in her diary. The sapling symbolizes hope and remembrance.

The galleries end in a place where one can reflect. There are sheets of paper that on one side say, what can we do, and on the other—what can I do?

A child wrote, “we can work together and try not to turn on each other just because of different opinions. I myself can give people the benefit of the doubt and work to help the community.”

There were many similar quotes from students who had visited the center. The last piece of education are two models—one for peace and one for genocide. The focus of both is how powerful each individual person is in whether genocide or peace occurs. 

Our visit to the Zekelman Holocaust Center offered us a powerful look at one of history’s darkest chapters. Through survivor testimonies, personal artifacts, photographs, and immersive exhibits, the center tells the stories of those who endured unimaginable persecution—and the resilience that followed. Walking through the museum is both sobering and inspiring, a reminder that individual actions have a great deal of power and that we have a choice in whether we reflect good or evil.

Zekelman Holocaust Center website: https://holocaustcenter.org/

Amy French, Ph.D., is the voice behind Roaming Historian. A professional historian and seasoned traveler, she shares stories that blend history and travel to give readers a deeper understanding of the places they explore.

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