The Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg is home to one of the few
remaining railroad boxcars used by the Nazis to transport Jews and other
prisoners to places like Auschwitz and Treblinka.
On display through July 15th at the
St. Petersburg museum is “Operation
Finale: The Capture and Trial of Adolf
Eichmann.” As head of the Nazis’
homicidal Jewish Department, Eichmann
zealously managed the transportation
and movement of millions of people
to death camps before vanishing at the
end of World War II, thus escaping the
Nuremberg Trials. The exhibit tells the
story of his mysterious disappearance
until he was discovered living under an
assumed name in Argentina in 1960, the
Israeli Mossad agents’ daring capture
of him, and the globally broadcast trial
that brought the death penalty to this
perpetrator for the so-called “Final
Solution.”
The museum’s exhibit includes
photographs, films and recently
declassified espionage artifacts from his
abduction and from his historic trial in
1961. To dispute Eichmann’s lawyers’
claims that he was only a bookkeeper
doing his job, more than 100 individuals
testified at his trial about their personal
knowledge of the mass murders that he
facilitated.
The Florida Holocaust Museum’s
permanent exhibit, “History, Heritage
and Hope” features original artifacts,
videos and photos that present the
history of the Holocaust, plus anti-
Semitism and life before World War II.
In addition to the rise of Hitler and the
Nazis and anti-Jewish legislation, the
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museum shares the histories of other
victims of the Holocaust.
The museum is one of three accredited
Holocaust museums in the United
States and hosts numerous national
and international exhibits that attract
tens of thousands of visitors each year.
Now marking its 26th year, the Florida
Holocaust Museum reaches more than
150,000 people a year from students
to law enforcement officers thorough
its programs and exhibits. It spreads
awareness about the Holocaust, genocide
and human rights in both historic and
cross-cultural context, as it aims to create
a better future for all people. It is also the
repository for the first-person testimony
of the atrocities that were inflicted upon
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