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Wassmuth Center to break ground on $4 million human rights education center in Boise

The new building will be located next to the Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial.

BOISE, Idaho — The Wassmuth Center for Human Rights in downtown Boise will break ground on Thursday, November 17, on a one-of-a-kind human rights education center.

The $4 million project is slated to break ground this coming fall. Half of the money has already been raised through a silent campaign, and the center is hoping generous Idahoans will help contribute the remaining $1.5 million.

"Over the years our work has grown and as we deliver programming not only on-site in the memorial off-site, we are in classrooms, companies, communities throughout the state of Idaho but online we are reaching national and international audiences, for the first time in our history, all aspects of our work will come into one building," said the center's Executive Director, Dan Prinzing.

The new education center will be located next to the Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial on 8th Street in downtown Boise. it will include large office space for staff and volunteers, spaces for classroom and training, and a new exhibit. 

 "Literally visitors will be able to step into the room, ask a question, and a holocaust survivor will respond," Prinzing said. "It's how we keep the stories alive, it's how we keep the faces of the survivors and liberators alive, creating that one-on-one interaction."

The groundbreaking comes almost a year after the memorial was defaced with stickers bearing the Nazi swastika symbol and the words "we are everywhere."

"What we have witnessed in the past year, as we recall it was December of 2020 when the memorial was vandalized with swastikas bearing the threat, 'we are everywhere.' Well, what have we learned in a year's time? People of goodness are everywhere."

Shortly after the vandalism, the Wassmuth Center held a virtual vigil aimed at showing that Idaho is a place of kindness and compassion. In the week leading up to the vigil, nearly $65,000 in donations were made to the center.

Weeks later, 60 banners were put up on Capitol Boulevard and Myrtle Street in downtown Boise. Several of the banners surrounded the Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial.

The banners were placed by the Downtown Boise Association and the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights to spread a message of love and inclusivity, following the Dec. 8 vandalism.

"As we've seen with billboards throughout the valley, yard signs distributed throughout the state, banners hanging in downtown Boise, it is that proclamation that people of good, people of compassion, people of justice, people that believe in equality and respect for human dignity and diversity are, in fact, everywhere," Prinzing said.

The new education center is expected to open in December of 2023 if supply-chain issues ease.

The Wassmuth Center has raised about 90 percent of the funding needed to complete the project. If you would like to contribute, visit the Wassmuth Center's website.

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