Children's Holocaust Memorial and Exhibition

A memorial, exhibition and reflective space honouring the 1.5 million children killed during the Holocaust.

The Children’s Holocaust Memorial provides an enduring lesson for New Zealanders: the importance of standing up to discrimination and prejudice and the violation of human rights… in essence, being prepared to be an Upstander not a bystander.

The Children’s Holocaust Memorial was officially launched at the National Library of New Zealand in Wellington on 15 November, 2018.

The Memorial honours the 1.5 million children killed during the Holocaust (including children related to New Zealand’s own Holocaust survivors and refugees).

The Memorial is the first of its kind in the world, combining the simple everyday button as icon within a unique contemporary design-installation. The button was chosen by the then Principal of the Moriah College, Jewish day school in Wellington in an effort to communicate to her students the enormity of the number of children killed. Over 1.5 million buttons were collected from around New Zealand and internationally to symbolise the 1.5 million innocent lives lost.

Buttons - Each one unique, as indeed a child is unique. Each one circular, as is the circle of life.