Jewish Holocaust Centre

What Jewish Holocaust Centre does

The Melbourne Holocaust Museum (formerly Jewish Holocaust Centre) is a Victorian non-profit museum and educational institution founded in 1984 in Elsternwick, Melbourne, Australia, dedicated to Holocaust remembrance, education, and the preservation of survivor testimony. It serves a diversified audience spanning Years 5-12 school groups, tertiary students, teachers, corporate teams, survivors and their descendants, Jewish youth preparing for Bnei Mitzvah, and general public visitors. The institution completed a major redevelopment with a new purpose-built building opened mid-2023, designed by Kerstin Thompson Architects, featuring a dedicated Memorial Room housing over 5,000 memorial stars and artefacts.

Its core offerings comprise three physical exhibitions (Everybody Had a Name, Hidden: Seven Children Saved, and the upcoming What They Carried from July 2026 to January 2027), a 360-degree VR experience (Walk with Me, built with Jumpgate VR and Identity Films), a multimedia survivor-testimony system (In the Footsteps), and a Digital Memorial kiosk platform. Educational programming includes an 8-step Teacher Professional Learning Program co-developed with the Victorian Department of Education, age-banded school programs aligned to the Victorian Curriculum, a Bnei Mitzvah program, adult group tours, and The Space Between corporate workplace experience. The technology stack integrates VR, 360-degree film, and digital kiosk systems but contains no public API, no proprietary software platform, and no disclosed AI/ML capabilities; commercial functions run on Shopify for e-commerce and HubSpot for bookings.

Revenue is generated through a hybrid model combining ticketed admissions ($10-$18), membership subscriptions ($140 duo / $180 family), $1,800 memorial star dedications, bookstore sales, group tours ($26/adult), teacher professional learning ($150 for independent schools, free for government schools), corporate programming, and philanthropic grants from foundations including the Gandel Foundation, Claims Conference, German Federal Ministry of Finance, EVZ, and the Victorian Government. Operations are entirely Victoria-based, supported by approximately 10 paid employees and 183+ volunteers, predominantly survivors and community members, under CEO and Museum Director Jayne Josem and Head of Education Dr Simon Holloway.

Name

Jewish Holocaust Centre

Legal name

Melbourne Holocaust Museum

Website

https://mhm.org.au

Company type

Private

Founded year

1984

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Melbourne Holocaust Museum (formerly Jewish Holocaust Centre) is a Victorian non-profit museum and educational institution founded in 1984, serving school groups, teachers, corporate teams, survivors, and the public with Holocaust exhibitions, survivor testimonies, VR experiences, and curriculum-aligned education programs.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Museum and Cultural Education

NAICS

Museums (712110), Historical Sites (712120)

akta.pro primary industry

History Museums (THAJADAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Museums & Heritage Sites (History, Science, Specialty) (BPAGAHAA)

Keywords

• Holocaust education
• Museum exhibitions
• Survivor testimonies
• Memorial services
• Holocaust remembrance

Headquarters

HQ city

Elsternwick

HQ country

Australia

HQ region

Oceania

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Museum Admission Tickets: Revenue from sale of tickets to Holocaust Exhibition, Hidden exhibition, VR experience, and special exhibitions. Tickets valid for unlimited entry for a full week from first entry.
2. Bookstore Sales: Sale of Holocaust survivor memoirs, books, and related merchandise through the on-site bookstore and online shop.
3. Memorial Star Dedications: Donation-based program where individuals dedicate Star-of-David memorial plaques at $1,800 each, permanently installed in the Memorial Room.
4. Donations and Fundraising: General donations, fundraising campaigns, and support through the MHM Foundation and bequests.
5. Membership Program: Family membership at $180/year and Duo membership at $140/year providing ongoing support and benefits.
6. Group Tours: Private guided tours of the Everybody Had a Name exhibition for groups of 4 or more at $26 per adult.
7. Teacher Professional Learning: Free for government schools; $150 per participant for independent schools to attend the 8-step Holocaust education training program.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Melbourne Holocaust Museum (formerly Jewish Holocaust Centre) operates a Holocaust museum and education centre in Elsternwick, Melbourne, presenting immersive exhibitions on the Jewish experience of the Holocaust, recording and sharing survivor testimonies, and delivering age-appropriate Holocaust education programs for school groups, teachers, corporate groups, and the general public. Core paid offerings include exhibition admission tickets, a virtual reality film experience, guided group tours, professional learning for educators, and Memorial Star dedications, supported by donations, memberships, and bookstore sales.

Product overview

The Melbourne Holocaust Museum (formerly Jewish Holocaust Centre) operates as a museum and educational institution rather than a technology product company. Its portfolio consists of physical and digital experiences centred on Holocaust education and remembrance: three core exhibitions (Everybody Had a Name, Hidden: Seven Children Saved, and the special exhibition What They Carried: Objects of Survival); a virtual reality experience (Walk with Me); a multimedia experience (In the Footsteps); and educational programs including Teacher Professional Learning, School Programs, Bnei Mitzvah Program, Adult Groups Programs, and Tertiary Groups Programs. Additional services include Group Tours, a Digital Memorial platform, and Memorial Star physical tributes. The museum does not offer a software product, platform, or API.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 100,000 students educated by single survivor volunteer over 25+ years
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles6 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Department of Education VictoriacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered with MHM to develop 8-Step Teacher Professional Learning Program ensuring government school teachers can meet mandatory Holocaust education requirements in Victoria.
• Monash UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborated with MHM on The Space Between workplace experience creation and academic support for Holocaust education programs.
• University of Melbourne Centre for Wellbeing SciencecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWorked with MHM to scientifically ground the Learning Framework development, providing learning design tools and workshops with experts Rachel Colla, Bianca Venuti-Hughes and Erica Frydenberg.
• Yad Vashem Gandel Holocaust Studies CourseminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMHM educators graduate from this program and share teaching ideas implemented in Victorian classrooms as part of the 8-step professional learning program.
• Kerstin Thompson ArchitectscoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerDesigned the new museum building completed in 2023 with visual representations of MHM mission and values, including reflective surfaces and contemplative spaces.
• Jolson ArchitecturecoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerDesigned the Memorial Room as a gift in honour of grandparents who survived the Holocaust. Principal Architect Stephen Jolson is a third-generation survivor.
• McCorkell ConstructioncoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerConstructed the new MHM building completed in 2023, delivering the major redevelopment project.
• Jumpgate VRcoreTechnology or IntegrationCollaborated with MHM and Identity Films to deliver the Walk with Me virtual reality film experience.
• Identity FilmscoreTechnology or IntegrationAward-winning producer and director Danny Ben-Moshe established Identity Films in 2006 to produce the Walk with Me VR film for MHM.
• Andrew RogerscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternationally renowned Australian sculptor who created Pillars of Witness for MHM in 1999. Sculpture recently reinstalled in new garden space featuring 70 panels depicting Holocaust stages.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews: Warsaw's core exhibition museum on 1,000 years of Polish Jewish history with strong Holocaust-era programming. Comparable in immersive exhibition design, school curriculum integration, and survivor/descendant testimony collection.
• Sydney Jewish Museum: Australia's other major Holocaust museum, located in Sydney. Direct peer offering Holocaust exhibitions, survivor testimony programs, school education, and memorial services for the Australian Jewish community with a similar survivor-led model.
• Holocaust Museum Houston: U.S. community-based Holocaust museum offering exhibitions, survivor testimony programming, and teacher professional development. Closely comparable in scale and operating model to MHM.
• Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum: Official memorial and museum at the largest Nazi concentration and extermination camp. Direct peer in Holocaust memorialisation, education, and survivor testimony preservation, with globally significant visitor traffic.
• Wiener Holocaust Library: London's oldest Holocaust documentation archive and exhibition institution. Directly comparable in archival collection, research support, exhibitions, and educational programming for schools and adult learners.
• Anne Frank House: Amsterdam museum at the site of Anne Frank's hiding place. Direct peer combining a preserved historical site with school education programs, exhibitions, and survivor-testimony content for international visitors.

Broad incumbents

• Yad Vashem – The World Holocaust Remembrance Center: Israel's official Holocaust memorial and the global benchmark for Holocaust museums. Comparable in mission (education, testimony archive, memorialisation) and an MHM partner via the Gandel Holocaust Studies Course, though operating at vastly larger scale and scope.
• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM): United States federal Holocaust memorial in Washington, D.C. Operates permanent exhibitions, survivor testimony programs, and teacher professional learning at national scale — the global standard MHM is benchmarked against for pedagogy and exhibitions.
• Jewish Museum Berlin: Germany's central Jewish history museum. Comparable in immersive exhibition design, school programming, and integration of multimedia survivor testimony, though with broader Jewish-history scope beyond the Holocaust period.

Others

• USC Shoah Foundation / Visual History Archive: Steven Spielberg-founded testimony archive holding the largest collection of Holocaust survivor video testimonies globally. Functions as an enabling peer — supplies testimony content, training, and tools (IWitness) that museums like MHM integrate into education programming.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@MelbourneHolocaustMuseum/videos
• Facebookfacebook.com/MelbourneHolocaustMuseum
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/jewish-holocaust-centre-melbourne
• Instagraminstagram.com/melbourneholocaustmuseum
• TikToktiktok.com/@melbholocaustmuseum?lang=en-GB

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Jewish Holocaust Centre