Arizona’s first Holocaust education center opening in Phoenix

Earlier this summer, officials broke ground on what will be Arizona’s first Holocaust education center. The center will be located near I-10 and Central Avenue, just behind the Burton Barr Central Library.

The center’s mission is “to be a resource to teach about the Holocaust to inspire students and other visitors to become advocates that act to work toward a world without antisemitism, hatred, or bigotry.” It is expected to open by April 2027.

Talli Dippold, Executive Director at the Hilton Family Holocaust Education Center, joined “Arizona Horizon” to provide more on this new center opening in Phoenix.

According to Dippold, the dream started 10 years ago; however, the project’s development started 3 years ago. It started when Steve Hilton, whose father was a Holocaust survivor, donated $5 million to get the project moving. Now, the education center has a stream of financial support.

“We were very, very fortunate. We received $11 million in government funding, and that was to be able to allow Arizona students to come and visit the education center free of charge,” Dippold said.

The 30,000 square feet education center will focus on sharing the personal stories of Holocaust survivors to students. According to Dippold there will be holograms of survivors, which were actually recorded and not created with AI, that will be able to answer any questions students ask.

The ultimate goal of the education center is to inform students about the events of the Holocaust. Dippold said that we are living in a day and age where hatred is growing, and it is a necessity that people understand history.

“We believe that education is the antidote to this hate, and that we need to educate students about the past in order to create a better future,” Dippold said.

You can find images of the center below.

Images courtesy of The Hilton Family Holocaust Education Center