The memorial was inaugurated on 30 December 1949 by the Ministry of Religion and its Director-General, Rabbi Dr. Samuel Zangvil Kahane, whose purview included Mount Zion. 

That same year, Kahane oversaw the on-site burial of ashes of victims from the Oranienburg concentration camp together with desecrated Torah scrolls recovered from Nazi Europe.

The Chief Rabbinate chose Mount Zion as the site for the Chamber of the Holocaust because of its proximity to David's Tomb, which symbolically connotes ancient Jewish history and the promise of messianic redemption

The purpose of the Chamber of the Holocaust is to commemorate Jewish communities destroyed during the Holocaust and to honor the memory of individuals who perished.

The name, "Chamber of the Holocaust" reflects a somber, almost tomb-like atmosphere.

The museum is quite modest and somber, located in a series of dark stone chambers that feel almost like crypts. It focuses heavily on the religious and cultural loss experienced by Jewish communities across Europe. Some notable elements include:

Memorial plaques for hundreds of destroyed Jewish communities.

Personal items, including Torah scrolls desecrated during the Holocaust.

Stone tablets engraved with names and epitaphs, many written by survivors in memory of their families.

Symbolic tombstones—resembling traditional Jewish gravestones—marking places where entire communities were wiped out.

Unlike Yad Vashem, which has a broader, more educational focus and a modern museum layout, the Chamber of the Holocaust has a deeply intimate, religious, and mournful tone. 

It feels more like a mausoleum or sacred site than a museum.

Photos: Use according to Section 27 A