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.
mankind by other humans, so that the stories of Holocaust
survivors, liberators and rescuers will not be lost to future
generations.
Founded in 1992, the museum began as the Holocaust
Center on the grounds of the former Kapok Tree Restaurant
in Madeira Beach, led by Walter and Edith Lobenberg and
others whom they encouraged to assist in their efforts. One
of the first artifacts acquired was a boxcar from Poland that
had been used during the Holocaust. The first exhibit was
“Anne Frank in the World.” By 1998, they had outgrown the
center’s small space within the Jewish Community Center
of Pinellas County, and they bought, remodeled and moved
into a former bank building in downtown St. Petersburg.
In 1999, the name was changed to the Florida Holocaust
Museum, where the organization’s library, archives and
programs continued to expand.
For almost 6,000 years, the Jews survived many attempts
from others to annihilate them, from the Babylonians to
the Inquisition and Polish pogroms, but it was Hitler and
the Nazi government that came closest in succeeding. The
62 TAMPA BAY MAGAZINE | MAY/JUNE 2018
lessons taught at the Florida Holocaust Museum are not just
about the Jewish people, however. The goal is rather for all
mankind to value others in this world.
Elizabeth Gelman, the executive director of the Florida
Holocaust Museum, is particularly proud of the museum’s
Teaching Trunks program that has produced dynamic
literature-based lessons about the Holocaust, genocide
and character education with curriculum guides that are
specifically created to reach young people from first grade
through high school throughout the country. The museum
also has an area called “Lessons for Today,” where visitors
can learn about other genocides and acts of hatred that are
currently occurring in the world. 9
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Florida Holocaust Museum is at 55 First
St. S. in St. Petersburg. For further information or to become
a donor or member, call (727) 820-0100 ext. 251, or visit
flholocaustmuseum.org.
FLORIDA HOLOCAUST MUSEUM