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Expanded museum plans big schedule of events

“To teach the lessons of the Holocaust to inspire action against bigotry, hatred and violence.”
by Jeff Lytle
oday The Holocaust Museum and Janet engage visitors with both the lessons of the past and their crucial
G. and Harvey D. Cohen Education importance now, especially given the current atmosphere of unrest
T Center is meeting that mission like and hate in the world in general.”
never before. The refurbished museum has already hosted programs and
The facility, in a shopping center east of exhibits including how to spot fake Holocaust artifacts such as
U.S. 41 at Imperial Golf Course Boulevard, has yellow stars, armbands, caps, tools from the Warsaw Ghetto and
completed a $2 million expansion for exhibits, medals. That exhibit runs through March.
galleries, class space and a catering kitchen, for a From April through October, the museum will feature “Lawyers
total of 9,600 square feet. without Rights: The Fate of Jewish Lawyers in Berlin after 1933,”
The museum has come a long way since launching as a 1998 about what happened to the rule of law under Germany's Third
Golden Gate Middle School class project and opening in 2001 on Reich.
U.S. 41 south of Pine Ridge Road. It "systematically undermined fair and just law through
“When students and visitors come to the museum, they are humiliation, degradation and legislation leading to expulsion of
immersed in the history of the Holocaust,” says Susan Suarez, Jewish lawyers and jurists from the legal profession,” says a museum
president and CEO of the museum. “Our expansion provides space exhibit preview.
for new exhibits to go more in depth on important topics. Visitors “As the rule of law comes under attack today in both developed
see actual artifacts from local Holocaust survivors and learn their and Third World countries, ‘Lawyers Without Rights’ tragically
personal stories. This makes history come alive. They learn the portrays what can happen when the just rule of law disappears --
dangers of where hatred can lead and are inspired to stand against replaced by an arbitrary rule by law that sweeps aside the rights and
prejudice.” dignity of selected populations.”
The founding class project was dedicated to the horrible example On March 6, Ruth Bielska will be the guest speaker at the
of man’s inhumanity to man. museum’s annual Triumph fundraiser – honoring triumph over
Even at their young age, the students realized “we each have the bigotry, hatred or personal challenges -- at the Arthrex Conference
responsibility to stand up to hate and bigotry.” Center in Naples.
The classroom will allow larger student field trips and tours, and Previous honorees are from around the world and include a
provides meeting space for community organizations. Rwandan genocide resistance soldier and Dr. Ruth Westheimer,
Overall, the museum says the expansion “will help connect and who as a child survived the Holocaust.

60 Life in Naples | February 2024