Holocaust museum staffers say institution censoring itself to avoid Trump wrath

Two former employees at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., have revealed that the institution preemptively changed its programming to avoid the Trump administration's criticism, according to a Politico report on Monday.

As President Donald Trump returned to his second term in office, the museum cut a workshop titled the "fragility of democracy" and scrubbed educational resources about racism in the United States from its website. The moves came as Trump's administration focused on "corrosive ideology," a crackdown and attack on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and educational content it views as promoting what it considers anti-American values, including lessons about racism and democracy's fragility.

Following Trump's demands that the Smithsonian Institution change "to more closely align its content with his worldview," the administration pushed to remove mentions of DEI initiatives from government websites. He has not commented on USHMM's educational content or website. However, two former staff members spoke under condition of anonymity over fear of retaliation, saying that the museum made several of the changes to try "to not draw unwanted negative attention from the Trump administration."

"It seems like they were trying to proactively fall in line as not to be forced to change," one staffer told Politico.

The museum apparently pulled several items from its online resources, including "Teaching Materials on Nazism and Jim Crow," along with links and other tools centered on "African American Soldiers during World War II" and "Afro-Germans during the Holocaust."

"Since taking office, Trump has tightened his grip on the USHMM, an independent museum that relies on both private donations and federal appropriations and is not affiliated with the Smithsonian," Politico reported. "In an unprecedented move last year, the president purged from its board several of President Joe Biden’s appointees before the end of their terms. And in the months since, he has installed his own loyalists on the board — most notably replacing Stuart Eizenstat, who helped found the museum, with GOP megalobbyist Jeffrey Miller as chair last month."

The museum has denied, in "an unsolicited statement," any pressure from the Trump administration and denied the accusations made by the former employees.

"The Trump administration has not requested any changes to the Museum’s content or programming," a museum spokesperson told Politico.