The Holocaust Museum Los Angeles (HMLA) has removed a social media post and issued a formal retraction following backlash over language that some critics say diluted the specific historical meaning of the phrase “Never Again.”
The now-deleted Instagram post by HMLA, part of a campaign promoting inclusivity, featured a graphic of hands and forearms of various skin tones, including one with a Holocaust tattoo, linked in a circle. The caption read: “‘Never Again’ can’t only mean Never Again for Jews.”
Additional slides in the carousel had the following statements:
“Jews were raised to say ‘Never Again.’ That means never again. For anyone.”
“Jews must not let the trauma of our past silence our conscience.”
“Standing with humanity does not betray our people. It honors them.”
On Sunday, HMLA responded with a full retraction.
“Holocaust Museum LA, the first survivor-founded and oldest Holocaust museum in the country, is committed to its core mission to educate, commemorate, and inspire,” the HMLA statement said. “We recently posted an item on social media that was part of a pre-planned social media campaign intended to promote inclusivity and community that was easily open to misinterpretation by some to be a political statement reflecting the ongoing situation in the Middle East. That was not our intent. It has been removed to avoid any further confusion. We promise to do better and we will ensure that posts in the future are more thoughtfully designed and thoroughly vetted. We have taken actions internally to ensure our message always remains clear and reflective of our mission to inspire humanity through truth.”
While the museum said the intent was to inspire a broader message of shared humanity, critics say the words echoed language often used to criticize Israel’s existence and compare the conflict in Gaza to the Holocaust. The now-deleted post came on the 700th day that hostages from Israel remain in Hamas captivity in Gaza, since Oct. 7, 2023.
Prominent Israel Information Influencers and nonprofits have been critical of the original post.
“Genocide against ANY group is wrong and we should all stand against it, but we can easily make this statement without All Lives Mattering of the phrase ‘never again,’ which was originally ‘Never Again Shall Masada Fall,’ from the 1927 poem ‘Masada’ by Yitzhak Lamdan,” said Israel information influencer and Jewish educator Debbie Lechtman, who runs the popular Instagram account @rootsmetals. “After the Allies liberated Buchenwald in 1945, Jewish survivors referenced the poem in various languages and it became a rallying cry of Jewish resilience. At a time when Holocaust distortion and denial are on the rise largely due to the universalization of the Holocaust, this is disappointing to see.”
As of press time, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) in Washington, D.C., had not issued any public statement on the Los Angeles controversy. The institution, however, has faced its own internal dispute this past week.
ABC News reported that USHMM leadership emailed staff in June to announce changes to the museum’s ‘Americans and the Holocaust’ exhibit. Since 2018, the exhibit has presented a critical examination of the U.S. government’s response to Nazi Germany during World War II. The USHMM temporarily closed on Sept. 2, officially for gallery upgrades and infrastructure repairs. While the email to USHMM described the work as logistical (citing HVAC repairs, audiovisual upgrades, and expiring copyrights) some staff have privately expressed concern about potential changes to the USHMM exhibit’s content.
Before closing, the ‘Americans and the Holocaust’ exhibit at USHMM was divided into four main chapters:
“Fear Itself, 1933–1937: In the 1930s, Americans across the country could read, see, and hear news about Nazi persecution of Jews.”
“Desperate Times, Limited Measures, 1938–1941: Despite a growing refugee crisis, public opinion polls show that most Americans did not want to accept more immigrants into the country.”
“Storm Clouds Gather, 1939–1941: The United States remained neutral during the first two years of World War II. Americans debated whether to join the Allied war effort.”
“America at War, 1942–1945: The United States and other Allied forces prioritized military victory over humanitarian aid during World War II.”
The internal unease amongst DC staff at USHMM follows President Donald Trump’s March 27 executive order directing federally funded museums and national parks to eliminate what he called ‘anti-American’ content. In April, Trump fired five Biden-appointed members from the museum’s board of trustees, including former Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff.
Los Angeles’ Holocaust Museum was founded in 1961 and is the first survivor-founded and oldest Holocaust museum in the United States. HMLA’s building on The Grove Drive just south of Beverly Boulevard is currently closed for construction, with a grand reopening slated for June 2026.
