Construction has begun on the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust, scheduled to open in 2010.
The $20 million (£11.5m) project will include a library and an archive in a 15,000 sq ft building, integrated with the six black granite columns of the existing Holocaust Martyrs' Memorial. Some 50,000 visitors are expected each year, with Holocaust survivors or their direct descendants serving as guides.
The new museum originated with a group of survivors in 1961, but has been located in a series of temporary quarters until now.
Some questions have been raised in the Jewish community whether money spent on Holocaust memorials and education would not be put to better use fighting poverty, disease and myriad other causes.