Holocaust Museum in Odesa
The Holocaust Museum in Odesa is in Ukraine and is the first museum in the country dedicated to the Holocaust. It focuses on the murder of Jews in the Transnistria region during 1941–1943, when parts of Ukraine were under Romanian control and Odesa, Mykolaiv, and part of Vinnytsia were occupied.
The idea to create the museum began in 1995, proposed by two former prisoners: Dmitry Gutakhov, president of the Ukraine–Israel association, and Nilva Efim. After many years of work, the museum opened on June 22, 2009. The date is symbolic: on June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union, marking a day of memory for the horrors of that time.
The museum was established by the Odesa regional association of Jews—former prisoners of ghettos and Nazi camps, with Roman Markovich Shvartsman serving as its chairman. The first director was Sabulis Victor Franzevich. At the start, two halls displayed about 1,500 exhibits, including photos, documents, tablets, and items from private collectors. Some exhibits came from Chicago, donated by Lev Dumer, a former Odesa resident.
Today the museum is a two-story complex with a research library, a training center, and a memorial space. The permanent exhibition covers five halls and includes audio and video interviews, a library, and a memorial room. In addition to the permanent display, the museum hosts traveling exhibitions.
Over the years, the museum has presented several notable exhibitions. Around the 75th anniversary of the occupation, it showed “Documents of the Romanian occupation of Odesa 1941–1944.” In January 2012, it opened “Holocaust in granite,” a photography exhibition about the tragedy of the Jews of Odesa, Bessarabia, and Bukovina under Romanian rule. In 2017, a miniature diorama called “Ghetto in Transnistria” by Evgeniy Kapuka joined the collection, showing a 90-figure scene at 1/35 scale. In 2018, the exhibition “Priests and Holocaust” highlighted those who opposed totalitarian crimes.
The museum’s main goal is to preserve memory, educate future generations, and help prevent fascism in the 21st century. Leaders have stressed that the museum should be a place for learning and reflection about moral and spiritual questions raised by the Holocaust. Since opening, more than 20,000 people from around the world have visited, including diplomats, students, and local residents.
The museum’s modern concept was created with input from Pavel Kozlenko and the Odesa regional Jewish association, with collaboration from the Institute for the Study of the Holocaust. The work continues to collect, preserve, and share the history so that future generations remember the victims and learn to stand against hatred.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 17:51 (CET).