The St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum has announced the appointment of Myron Freedman as its new executive director. Freedman currently serves as administrator of Nevada’s Division of Museums and History, a position he was appointed to while directing the Nevada State Museum in Carson City, one of the seven museums overseen by the Division.
Since the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum’s grand opening in November 2022, Dr. Frances Levine has led the Museum through several successful months of operation as Interim Executive Director.
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“After a lengthy and comprehensive nationwide search, we are proud to have selected Myron Freedman as the next Executive Director for the Museum,” said Carol Staenberg, Museum Board Chair. “We thank Dr. Levine for her tireless work for this Museum – there is no doubt that we wouldn’t be where we are without her. The future of the Museum looks bright. We look forward to introducing Myron to the community officially later this fall.”
Upon the announcement, Freedman said, “It is a tremendous honor and I look forward to joining the team at the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman St. Louis Holocaust Museum. The volunteers, board members, and staff have built an important resource for the region and our country. Holocaust Survivors who made St. Louis their home have bravely shared their experiences, ensuring their stories are not lost, but rather put to the critically important use of fulfilling the Museum’s mission to reject hatred, promote understanding, and inspire change. As the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, ‘Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that.’ In my view, Holocaust museums bring this light, and their efforts today have never been more relevant as they work to actively connect their audiences and communities to this message during a time when hatred, its rhetoric, and its deadly activities, surge once again.”
Myron Freedman’s museum career began with the Chicago History Museum as an exhibit designer and media producer where his video productions won recognition from the American Alliance of Museums, and where he was eventually promoted to Director of Exhibit Design. The expansion plans of the Missouri History Museum brought him to St. Louis in 1995, where he oversaw the development of all new exhibitions for the museum’s reopening in 2000. In 2002, he took over as Exhibits Curator at the Gateway Arch National Park. While there, he produced an exhibit on the life and work of Eero Saarinen for the Arch’s 40th anniversary that garnered the National Park Service’s Freeman Tilden Award for excellence in interpretation. From St. Louis, he and his wife, Susan, and their two daughters moved West to be close to family. In California, he served as Executive Director for several history museums before heading up the Nevada State Museum. Originally trained in the theater arts, Freedman directed, performed, and designed scenery for a number of Chicago theaters, a practice he continued in St. Louis where he was frequently seen on local stages in the 2000s.
“It has been such a powerful experience for me to lead the St Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum in the opening year. I have learned so much from the Board, the volunteers, the staff, and most importantly, the survivors and descendants, who have bravely shared their stories with us and future generations” said Interim Executive Director, Dr. Frances Levine. “The work we have done has already had a profound impact in the St. Louis region and beyond. We have reached far beyond the borders of Missouri to share the history and lessons of the Holocaust, and the story of how survivors were welcomed in St. Louis. I look forward to remaining a part of this community and supporting the museum as it continues to grow.”
Freedman is expected to start in mid-October.
