Florida Holocaust Museum
The Florida Holocaust Museum emerged from a small museum in the "Jewish Community Center" in Madeira Beach and has been located in St. Petersburg , Florida since 1998 . Today the Florida Holocaust Museum is the fifth largest Holocaust museum in the United States and the most important in the southeast of the country.
The founder of the museum, Walter Lobenberg , a Holocaust survivor from Frankfurt / Main , was able to purchase an original railway wagon from Poland . This artefact is now the center of the exhibition. The proof that this wagon was actually used in the Holocaust to transport civilians to the concentration camps was provided by a European girl's ring from the 1930s between the wooden planks of the wagon was found.
The Florida Holocaust Museum has three floors:
The ground floor forms the permanent exhibition dealing with the history of the Holocaust. It is structured chronologically and in principle covers the entire period from the Weimar Republic to the Nuremberg Trials . The part of the exhibition at the beginning deals with the history of anti-Semitism and at the end of the exhibition, today's racism is addressed.
The first and second floors host numerous temporary exhibitions. Most of these works consist of art exhibitions that deal with the Holocaust or Holocaust-related topics. Sometimes there are also historical exhibitions, such as the exhibition “Humanity beyond barbed wire”, which deals with the life of German prisoners of war who lived in Florida. Most of this exhibition was put together by Gerold Meininger from the Austrian Memorial Service .
Another important pillar of the museum is the educational program. Florida is one of the few US states to have the Holocaust anchored in their curriculum. The Florida Holocaust Museum plays a very important role in this. Cases of teaching materials are lent free to schools across the country ( excluding Alaska and Hawaii ), and numerous school groups are welcomed at the museum. Teachers are also given regular training evenings. A summer institute rounds off this offer.
The Florida Holocaust Museum is also notable for its close contact with Holocaust survivors and World War II veterans. Every time a school group visits, a Holocaust survivor speaks to the students. As Holocaust survivors get older, more and more second generation Holocaust survivors are used.
Since 1999 an Austrian memorial service can be done in the museum.
Web links
- Florida Holocaust Museum (English)
Coordinates: 27 ° 46 ′ 15 " N , 82 ° 38 ′ 27" W.