WHY HAVE A PEACE MUSEUM?

We all need inspiration to counter the increasing violence of modern life and to help build what UNESCO has called a ‘culture of peace'.

By learning from the peacemakers of the past—at home, in our local community and internationally—we can more readily understand the present and build the future for which all humanity yearns.

http://www.bradford.gov.uk/tourism/museums/peacemuseum.htm

Amongst the others are:

US Museum of Tolerance, Los Angeles, California

The $50 million US Museum of Tolerance (left) is an imposing block-like structure housing a compelling Holocaust section and much more.

L.A.'s Museum of Tolerance goes beyond its Holocaust mandate to force visitors of all racial and ethnic background to confront their prejudices.  During your tour, you finally reach a point where you are confronted by two doorways.  One is marked "Prejudiced" and the other "Unprejudiced".  Try to pass through the second doorway and you'll find it locked.  The message is implicit:  nobody is totally free of prejudice and intolerance.

And when you reach the Holocaust section of the museum, the full horrifying consequences of intolerance are laid bare.  As you enter, you are given a photo "passport" of a Jewish child trapped in the Holocaust; as you leave, you insert the passport into a computer and learn the fate of that child.

Called the Museum of Tolerance, and although the Holocaust forms its dreadful centrepiece, it also seeks a wider mandate -- to challenge visitors to confront bigotry of every kind and to examine their own consciences and actions.  The Museum of Tolerance is located at 9786 West Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles, and is open every day except Saturday and certain secular and Jewish holidays.  There is an admission charge.   Its phone number is (310) 553-8403.  View their website here.