Holocaust Museum commemorates Kristallnacht, plans the future

Construction on the first phase of the “re-imagining” of the Florida Holocaust Museum, in downtown St. Petersburg, is well underway.

According to Interim CEO and Chair Emeritus Michael Igel, a few weeks were lost in the hurricane maelstrom, but things are on track for an early spring dedication (mid-March is tentatively circled on the calendar).

With the facility closed for the time being, the annual commemoration of Kristallnacht will take place Sunday at 2 p.m. at Congregation Beth Shalom in Clearwater. The keynote speaker is Sheryl Ochayon of the International Institute for Holocaust Education at Yad Vashem, Israel’s World Holocaust Remembrance Center. There will also be a candle lighting by Holocaust survivors and their descendants.

In November 1938, Nazi forces raided and destroyed German Jewish homes, businesses and schools in what is considered the prelude to the Holocaust. Kristallnacht (“Night of Broken Glass”) resulted in the damage or destruction of 7,000 businesses; 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and incarcerated in concentration camps.

The commemoration and lecture are free, but reservations (click here) are required.

Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it, goes the old saying, and that’s a core reason the Florida Holocaust Museum continues to thrive, adapt and grow.

“The visitor needs to learn a lot of things when they come to the museum,” Igel said. “Arguably the core point of their experience is the reminder that they have a decision to make, every day. We all do.”

A centerpiece of the Phase One expansion will be the display of a 10-ton Danish fishing vessel, Thor, recently obtained and currently in storage.

During World War II, the 34-foot wooden boat was used (by non-Jews) to smuggle Danish Jews to neutral Sweden.

Igel recently watched crews cut into the museum’s concrete floor, to create a slightly lower level for Thor – it will be displayed as if it’s actually in the water, and ready for its important mission.

The boat will be on view close to the museum’s railroad boxcar, a vehicle that transported Jews to their deaths in concentration camps. “This gives you the most vivid visual expression – which one of those kinds of people do you want to be?,” Igel said.

“Antisemitism’s never been worse, statistically, in two generations, since the Holocaust, yet we’re still moving forward. These legacies are still living on. And that’s victory, also.”

Igel, the board and museum staff are most excited about the upcoming installation of the Elie Wiesel Collection. The Nobel Prize-winning humanitarian, author and educator – and Holocaust survivor – passed away in 2016.

The Wiesel family chose the Florida Holocaust Museum to house his papers and artifacts, including the contents of his personal office and library. Including his Nobel Prize.

“Society has only scratched the surface of Professor Wiesel,” Igel said. “There is so much there. And it’s going to be in St. Pete – it’s going to be in Tampa Bay, it’s going to be in Florida. There’s nobody else in the world that can say that. And there’s really no ceiling for where we’re going to go with this. I say that without an ounce of exaggeration.

“As I’ve been diving more and more into his writings and his lectures, and being taught about the nuances of them, I keep coming back to that idea – there’s no ceiling to what we can do with this. And whenever we see an opportunity that has no ceiling, we go for it.

“Professor Wiesel’s legacy will live on – and the millions he touched will now touch millions more.”