Unearthed in Lublin, Poland, near the Majdanek concentration camp, an authentic boxcar was placed by crane on the roof of Holocaust Museum Los Angeles as a permanent exhibit and memorial. Believed to have carried thousands of victims to their deaths, the boxcar will be the only one at an institution on the West Coast and one of only 13 in the U.S.
Unlike other institutions that have boxcars, Holocaust Museum LA‘s forthcoming boxcar exhibit will encompass both Jewish life before the war and an examination of the Nazis’ use of the railroad system to execute “the final solution.” Components will include survivor testimonies and spoken names of murdered Holocaust victims.
Photo by Gary Leonard, Holocaust Museum LA
The finished exhibit, featuring the boxcar encased in a glass pavilion next to a reflective garden, will be open to the public in March 2026 when the museum completes the expansion of the Jona Goldrich Campus, named in honor of Andrea Goldrich Cayton and Melinda Goldrich’s father, survivor and museum co-founder Jona Goldrich.
The boxcar was donated to the museum by the Stanley and Joyce Black Family Foundation and the foundation has also provided the gift to name the pavilion that will house the boxcar. With the help of a friend in Poland, Stanley Black learned about the boxcar left in a forest. He wanted the boxcar to serve as a memorial in Los Angeles and ultimately found its permanent home at Holocaust Museum LA, in memory of his dear friend, Goldrich.
On Nov. 8, Holocaust survivors, dignitaries and government officials, including Los Angeles City Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky and California State Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino), gathered at the museum for the arrival of the rare boxcar.
After being closed since June to prepare the roof for the boxcar, Holocaust Museum LA reopened to the public on Nov. 10.
Providing a template for how faith communities and the government can partner in addressing urgent community needs, U.S. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Los Angeles) recently presented progressive congregation IKAR with a $500,000 check to support the development of the new IKAR Center and Supportive Housing Center.
This project will build at least 60 units of permanent supportive housing for unhoused people, including seniors, atop IKAR’s campus on South La Cienega Boulevard. It will also include space for supportive services and indoor and outdoor common areas for residents, according to a statement from Kamlager-Dove.
“Ensuring that all Angelenos have a place to call home isn’t just good policy — it is a moral obligation, often informed by faith. By incorporating permanent supportive housing into their new community space, IKAR is upholding its values and following in the long tradition of Los Angeles faith communities working to combat social and economic injustices,” Kamlager-Dove said.
The U.S. representative recently secured $12.4 million in federal funding for 15 respective community projects across her district, which includes Culver City, Ladera Heights and Beverlywood. The IKAR project is one of those.
During an Oct. 29 press conference announcing the gift from Kamlager-Dove’s office, IKAR Founder and CEO Melissa Balaban said the funding would go a long way toward providing needed support for the city’s unhoused population.
“We are honored to accept this federal funding award that will help us realize IKAR’s mission to build affordable housing as part of our new IKAR Center,” Balaban said. “Our community is tremendously grateful to Representative Kamlager-Dove for embracing our vision that faith communities can meet the need of the broader community for more low-income affordable housing by building those new homes on faith organization-owned land.”
Temple of the Arts Rabbi David Baron, JNF-USA leader Frances Bilak, Oz Davidian, Cantor Ilysia Pierce and Yossi Eli attended a recent screening of “Oz’s List,” a film about a heroic Oct. 7 rescue effort.
