This article is part of our latest special report on Museums, which focuses on the intersection of art and politics.

“Symbols of Hate” at the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust had an unexpected beginning.

A group of high school students partying in Newport Beach, Calif., used red paper cups to create a swastika. They then saluted it, took selfies and circulated them on social media. The episode last March enraged some members of the community and inspired a torrent of news stories.

Concerned that the students knew little about the history of Nazism, a Holocaust scholar subsequently arranged for them to visit the museum, where they met Beth Kean, its chief executive. The show was prompted by her impression that their knowledge of Nazism was limited.

Ms. Kean is not alone in her efforts.

Deeply worried by the surge in episodes of anti-Semitism — the number more than doubled in the United States in 2018 over 2015, according to the Anti-Defamation League — Holocaust and Jewish museums are working to develop programs and exhibitions that underscore the insidious nature of prejudice, whether toward Jews, blacks, Muslims or other minority groups.