5 minute read
At the Museum
Susan Suarez President & CEO
It is hard to believe that this will be my last column as president & CEO of the Holocaust Museum & Cohen Education Center. Serving in this role for the past seven-plus years has been an honor. Together, our team of staff, volunteers and donors have created a worldclass Holocaust Museum with a nearly 10,000-square-foot facility. We developed all new exhibits, served more than 30,000 people annually, presented programs such as the Violins of Hope, hosted speakers ranging from Dr. Ruth to historian Timothy Snyder as well as this year’s honoree, Holocaust survivor Sam Harris. We also survived multiple hurricanes and COVID.
Survival stories
The greatest privilege of working at the Museum has been meeting Holocaust survivors. Hearing personal stories makes this history come to life. Many of them are no longer with us, yet their stories live on in the memories of the thousands of students who met them and heard their stories. The stories of Abe Price, Renee Beddouk, Lorie Mayer, Sabine and Jaques van Dam, and many others are the foundation of memory and lessons which will not be forgotten.
On Jan. 27, Heinz Wartski shared his story at the Museum. He was born in 1929 in the free state of Danzig. His father was arrested, but eventually the family escaped to Italy where they lived with the partisans. Wartski knows firsthand where hatred can lead and the importance of mutual respect
Holocaust survivor Rob Nossen also continues to share his story at schools and communities. He explains ho his family was saved by the brave actions of the El Salvadoran Consul, Col. Castellanos, who gave the Nossen family El Salvadoran citizenship papers. Both Wartski and Nossen recognize the importance of upstanders in their family’s survival. Upstanders, as opposed to bystanders, are those who do the right thing when they see bullying or hatred. These are the important lessons the Holocaust Museum & Cohen Education Center shares with students.
Museum mission and vision
Our new mission statement, “teach the lessons of the Holocaust to inspire action against hatred and to promote mutual respect,” and our vision to “live in a world that values mutual respect, free of antisemitism and hatred” guide our work.
The readers of this publication understand the terrible problem of antisemitism and the importance of Holocaust education. With your support and involvement, the Holocaust Museum & Cohen Education Center reaches 20,000 students and teachers each year throughout all of Southwest Florida. This year, our field trip schedule is completely booked with students from fifth, eighth and tenth grades coming to the Museum for a tour and age-appropriate reflective lessons. Teachers are also grateful for the resources we bring to schools, including the Boxcar Exhibit, mobile displays, books and lesson plans.
Our current special exhibit
“Convincing the Masses: Propaganda at Home and Abroad” runs through mid-June. Our curator, Cody Rademacher, included items from the Museum archives, some of which have never been displayed, to create a narrative about the various ways propaganda was used by the Nazis to foment hatred against Jews and build support for their Aryan ideals. The exhibit also includes examples of how the U.S. used propaganda against Japanese Americans.
We are counting on your continued support to keep our education programs strong and to join us in the fight against hatred. In the words of Holocaust survivor and Museum volunteer Heinz Wartski, who is now 95 years old, the most important thing is to love one another.
I look forward to seeing the Museum continue to grow and thrive with our new CEO, Erin Blankenship. I know you will all give her a warm welcome!
Upcoming programs
Thank you to all who have supported our sold-out March 4th Triumph of Resilience event honoring Sam Harris. Please join us for these upcoming events in March at the Museum:
• Wednesday, March 12 – “Ravensbruck and The White Buses Rescue” presented by Richard Ohlsson, 2 p.m. at the Museum. RSVP at hmcec.org.
• Wednesday, March 19 – "The Holocaust in Salonika, the Jerusalem of the Balkans" presented by GenShoah SWFL Member Sam Varsano, 2:30 p.m. at the Museum. RSVP at hmcec.org.
Private group tours are available to book in advance. They can be scheduled in the mornings or late afternoon. Clubs, neighborhoods, retirement communities and more enjoy private group tours as an interesting educational and social activity that can easily be paired with breakfast, lunch or wine and cheese. If you already love the Holocaust Museum, you can help spread awareness by inviting a group for a tour or scheduling a speaker to come to your community. For more information, contact Julie@hmcec.org.
