Cape Town Holocaust Centre
- One more dark site in Cape Town, one that may come as a bit of a surprise in this location (it certainly was a surprise find for me!), is its Holocaust museum (officially called the Holocaust Centre – but primarily it is a museum).
It's actually the only such institution in Africa – and given that the continent had very little to do with the Holocaust (especially not the south), that's no surprise.
What is surprising is that despite its odd locale it's actually remarkably good, even though it's comparatively small. It covers the usual topics of anti-Semitic and racial discrimination in the Third Reich, ghettos, deportations and the death camps, resistance, and survivors' testimonies as well as a section about the ever popular Anne Frank.
If you are already quite familiar with the subject(s), then the museum won't tell you much that's new (except perhaps the small section about anti-Semitism in Africa), but it's certainly worth a visit when in Cape Town as a dark tourist. There are now also Holocaust centres in Durban and Johannesburg (see South Africa).
Opening times: Sunday to Thursday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Fridays only to 2 p.m. (closed Saturdays and Jewish holidays).
Admission free.
Location: quite convenient, near all the other big museums and galleries of Cape Town's city centre, address: 88 Hatfield Street Gardens.
Google maps locator: [-33.9316.18.4153]