A group of doctors recently canceled a gathering at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., after critics called the planned action “offensive.”
The group, Doctors Against Genocide, had planned to meet at the museum on the morning of December 28, and then to gather at 3 p.m. outside the White House.
The group’s website says it is “a global coalition of healthcare workers dedicated to succeeding where global governments have failed in confronting and preventing genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Our mission includes identifying, opposing, preventing, and eradicating genocide by uniting Healthcare Professionals in action.” The group was formed in 2023 in response to Israel’s military operations in the Palestinian city of Gaza.
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A statement posted on the group’s Instagram page on December 26 said a visit had been planned to the Holocaust Memorial Museum, but the organization did not “aim to protest inside or outside the museum, nor is it our intent to to minimize the important work done by the Holocaust Memorial Museum.”
The initial announcement was denounced by the American advocacy organization StopAntisemitism.org early on December 26.
The museum’s statement, also posted on Instagram and X (formerly known as Twitter) on the afternoon of December 26, said “Our Museum is the national memorial to the six million Jews killed by Nazi Germany and its collaborators. It is deeply offensive to survivors and to the memory of the victims to exploit Holocaust history. Our long-standing policy against protests in our Museum preserves this space for the solemn memory of victims, the reflections of survivors, and its educational mission.”
In an additional email statement to ARTnews, museum spokesperson Raymund Flandez said the institution had not been in touch with the organizers of the protest, and reiterated that holding such an event at the museum “would have been extremely offensive, particularly to Holocaust survivors.”