— In a historic home near Dubai Creek, a small gallery honoring the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust sits alongside collections devoted to Islamic civilization, Emirati heritage, and the history of Palestine and the Holy Land.
The Holocaust exhibition at the privately operated Crossroads of Civilizations Museum is one of the Arab world’s earliest permanent displays of its kind. It opened in May 2021, fewer than 12 months after the UAE established diplomatic relations with Israel under the Abraham Accords, and has since become a symbol of the Emirates’ emphasis on religious coexistence.
During a recent visit, News Media viewed exhibits documenting Nazi persecution, including a life-size image of the young boy from the iconic Warsaw Ghetto photograph, standing with his hands raised in surrender.
The gallery also highlights Muslims who helped save Jews during the Holocaust, among them Egyptian physician Mohammed Helmy, who sheltered Jews fleeing Nazi persecution in Berlin.
An image of a young Jewish boy raising his hands as armed German soldiers round up civilians in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943 is displayed in the Holocaust gallery at the Crossroads of Civilizations Museum in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The photograph is among the most recognizable images of the Holocaust. (Efrat Lachter/News Media)
But the exhibition’s origins are as personal as the artifacts it preserves.
In an exclusive interview with News Media, museum founder Ahmed Obaid Al Mansoori, a former member of the UAE’s Federal National Council, said his interest in collecting history began during childhood, when he inherited manuscripts and other objects from his grandparents.
A sign identifies the Multifaith Gallery at the Crossroads of Civilizations Museum in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where exhibits examine the shared history and heritage of different religious communities. (Efrat Lachter/News Media)
He began collecting in earnest in 1989 and eventually created a private museum in his home in 2006. As the collection expanded, Dubai authorities provided a historic building, which opened to the public in 2014.
The Holocaust gallery was added years later.
Ahmed Obaid Al Mansoori (right), founder of Dubai’s Crossroads of Civilizations Museum, stands with a rabbi. Al Mansoori established one of the Arab world’s first permanent Holocaust memorial exhibitions to encourage interfaith understanding and coexistence. (News Media)
Al Mansoori said two experiences shaped his decision to create it. The first was a visit to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington during the 1990s, where he was moved by the idea that the Holocaust was a tragedy whose lessons applied to all humanity.
The second came through a conversation with an American Jewish acquaintance who worried about rising antisemitism in the United States. He initially brushed aside her concerns. But after seeing antisemitic imagery circulating during a period of unrest in the U.S., he changed his view. “I realized I was wrong,” he said.
He then worked with Jewish friends and colleagues to organize a Holocaust remembrance event in Dubai in 2021.
A shofar, a traditional Jewish ceremonial horn, is displayed at the Crossroads of Civilizations Museum in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The instrument is sounded during Jewish observances, including Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. (Efrat Lachter/News Media)
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“The beauty about this Holocaust gallery was built by Arabs, by Jews, and by Christians,” he told News Media, referring to the international team involved in creating the exhibition.
What started as a memorial initiative soon grew into something broader.
At the opening, Al Mansoori said he was surprised by the favorable reaction from visitors, including UAE residents and people from across the region. Although the gallery also faced criticism, he decided it belonged permanently in the museum.
“I thought it was very beautiful, very important. And it must stay,” he recalled.
The exhibition officially opened on May 26, 2021, with the Israeli and German ambassadors to the UAE in attendance, according to The National’s report at the time.
An ancient manuscript is displayed at the Crossroads of Civilizations Museum in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The museum’s collections showcase the region’s diverse cultural and religious heritage. (Efrat Lachter/News Media)
Al Mansoori’s vision, however, reaches beyond Holocaust remembrance.
Elsewhere in the museum, historical maps of Palestine are displayed beside Jewish manuscripts, photographs and documents that reflect the region’s intersecting histories.
“You have the maps from the Israeli perspective. You have the map from the Palestinian perspective,” he said, explaining his decision to present different historical narratives side by side.
He also recalled a visit by rabbis in August 2020, when Muslim, Jewish and Christian guests prayed together at the museum, each following their own traditions.
For Al Mansoori, the goal is not to eliminate religious or political differences. Instead, he wants people to learn how to respect one another while acknowledging them.
“It’s how to learn to be comfortable being yourself next to others. And others must be also comfortable to be next to you,” he said.
A World War II timeline and historical documents about the Holocaust are displayed at the Crossroads of Civilizations Museum in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The exhibition commemorates the six million Jews murdered by Nazi Germany and its collaborators. (Efrat Lachter/News Media)
As war and political tensions continue to divide the Middle East, Al Mansoori believes the museum provides another way to confront the region’s painful past: not by avoiding it, but by giving visitors the opportunity to encounter histories and experiences beyond their own.