NYC’s Museum of Jewish Heritage Laying off 40% of Staff Due to Financial Crisis Caused by Coronavirus

[additional-authors]

Marcy Oster, JTA

June 23, 2020

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MAY 02: A boxcar used for the deportation of jews to Auschwitz rests outside of the new exhibition at the Museum of Jewish Heritage entitled “Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away.” on on May 02, 2019 in New York City. The exhibition, which will open on the anniversary of the 1945 surrender of Nazi Germany in World War II, features more than 600 original objects that trace the history of both the Nazi movement and the infamous death camp Auschwitz. Of the approximately 1.3 million people who were deported to Auschwitz, 1 million were murdered or died there; the majority of them Jewish. The exhibition firm was first produced for a show in Madrid from December 2017 to February 2019. The exhibition will open to the public on May 8th and is being described as the largest-ever traveling exhibit on Auschwitz. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

(JTA) — The Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York is laying off about 40 percent of its staff in order to weather the financial crisis brought about by the coronavirus pandemic.

The museum’s president and CEO, Jack Kliger, made the announcement Monday in a call with the staff, the Forward reported, citing an audio recording of the call provided by a museum employee.

Some 34 employees will be laid off and other staff will face reduced hours, according to the report. Senior and executive staff will not take pay cuts.

The museum, subtitled A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, has been closed since March because of the pandemic. The downtown Manhattan site plans to reopen in September.

It received grants from the New York Community Trust and the federal Paycheck Protection Program, but those funds will be used up by the end of the month, a museum spokesperson told the Forward.

“This crisis has forced us to make some very difficult decisions to ensure the museum’s survival,” Kliger reportedly said, calling the current situation an “existential crisis.”

The museum has offered virtual experiences during its COVID-19 closure, and sponsored an online concert event commemorating the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II and the 77th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.