Opening of US Holocaust Memorial Museum

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum opens.

Dedication ceremonies for the Museum took place on April 22, 1993, and included speeches by President Bill Clinton; Chaim Herzog, president of Israel; Harvey Meyerhoff, chairman of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council; and Elie Wiesel, who had been awarded Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. Several days later, on April 26, the Museum officially opened to the public—with its first visitor being His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet.

Soon after the opening, the Museum's Council—which remains as the Museum's governing body—adopted a mission statement that defined the work and the goals the Museum was committed to achieving and maintaining. In 1994, the Museum dedicated the plaza on Raoul Wallenberg Place to General Dwight David Eisenhower and the soldiers who fought under his command.