MOSCOW TOLERANCE MUSEUM TO OPEN IN 2011

UNCLAS MOSCOW 002700

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL RS
SUBJECT: MOSCOW TOLERANCE MUSEUM TO OPEN IN 2011


1. (U) Summary. The Federation of Jewish Communities in
Russia announced its plans for the opening of the world's
largest museum of Jewish history and culture in Moscow in

2011. Financed by Russian businessman Roman Abramovich and
Israeli diamond broker Lev Levaev, the museum evolved from
2004 discussions between Moscow Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov and Chief
Rabbi of Israel Iiona Metzger. End Summary.


2. (SBU) On September 8, Interfax news agency reported that
the Museum of Tolerance, the world's largest museum of Jewish
history and culture, would open in Moscow in 2011 under the
direction of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Russia
(FEOR),headed by FEOR President Aleksander Boroda.
According to Moscow Human Rights Bureau Executive Director
Natalya Rykova, a former assistant to Chief Rabbi of Russia
Berel Lazar, discussions about establishing the museum began
in September 2004 when Chief Rabbi of Israel Iona Metzger
visited with Moscow Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov. Rabbi Metzger
appealed to Luzhkov for the creation in Moscow of a
world-class museum to serve as a tourist center for Jews
around the world. Luzhkov, in turn, promised Rabbi Metzger
to found a museum, and received administrative support -- and
reportedly personal financial support -- from then President
Vladimir Putin for the project. Russian magnate Roman
Abramovich and Kremlin-connected Israeli businessman Lev
Levaev funded the museum. According to Rykova and Euro-Asian
Jewish Congress Vice President Roman Spektor, Abramovich also
financed the construction of the museum's exposition center
as a gift for his fiancee, Darya Zhukova.


3. (U) Construction on the museum will begin in 2009
incorporating the architecturally-unique Bakhmetev garage,
designed in 1927 Soviet avant-garde style to house English
automobiles, located on Obratsov Street in northwestern
Moscow. The museum will encompass 17,000 square meters,
4,500 meters of which is dedicated as an exposition to the
history of the Jewish people. In addition, the museum will
house a scientific center, a two-story educational center and
exhibition complex, a library, conference halls, and
galleries. German architects from Graft Labs and designers
from Ralph Appelbaum Associates, famous for their work on the
USA Holocaust Memorial in Washington D.C. and the William
Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Arkansas, have
been selected for the museum's design.


4. (U) The museum's goal will be to present the history of
Jewish life in the Russian empire and the Russian Federation
in order to educate visitors on Jewish life, religion, and
culture. According to Rykova, FEOR's goal is threefold:
demonstrate the characteristics of the Jewish national
identity through the museum's collections; attract attention
to the museum through its original architecture; and, discuss
the Holocaust in an empirical format with testimonials from
survivors. Museum organizers have already started receiving
documents and historical items as charitable donations,
including a silver pointing stick used for reading the Torah
and a 100 year-old Hannukah menorah.
BEYRLE