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Albuquerque’s Holocaust and Intolerance Museum has added a new feature in its basement: a holocaust library.
The library, which boasts a collection of more than 5,000 books, was the three-year project of museum volunteer Jerry Smith. He said he had the idea after the museum moved from its previous location next to the KiMo Theatre and he saw just how many books the nonprofit organization had accumulated.
Smith organized the effort by having carpeting, electricity and a handicap lift installed in the lower level of the building, as well as by gathering other volunteers to help catalogue the many books.
“What’s interesting is, if you just walk and look at the titles — and never pick up a book — you will have a history lesson because it covers not just the holocaust, but black history, the Armenian genocide, Rwanda,” he said. “It’s everything.”
Senior political science major Glenna Matteson, who interns at the museum, said she applied for the internship because of the library project.
“I want to go into librarianship, so I was fascinated with the fact that they were opening up a library,” she said. “I had never heard of the holocaust museum until it was on the list for internships, so I was really interested in what they were doing and what it was all about.”
Museum docent Wille Peters said the museum was opened about 15 years ago by a holocaust survivor and his wife who settled in Albuquerque after the war, as a way to educate the public about holocausts and genocide.
“People are growing away from the Jewish Holocaust and they have to understand that this is an ongoing thing,” she said. “Hate and intolerance precede genocide — not the other way around.”
As a way to combat hate and intolerance, the museum hosts tours for local middle- and high schools. Each year, several thousand schoolchildren attend guided tours during which guides represent holocausts and genocides as extreme versions of bullying.
“We try to encourage them to understand how it feels to be hated and persecuted and how they can make the world better,” she said.
The museum includes exhibits on slavery, the Jewish Holocaust, the cultural genocide of the Native Americans and the Rwandan, Armenian and Greek genocides.
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The library is only partially open until full-time staffing is sorted out. Until then, museum patrons are asked to call ahead if they wish to see the library.
Smith said he hopes to hold a special opening invitational for academics in mid-November.
The Holocaust and Intolerance Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. There is no entry fee, but donations are accepted.
