At the Holocaust Museum

Susan Suarez, President & CEO

Last month’s “Triumph of Courage” annual fundraising event was a great success! Thank you to all our event sponsors and guests for your support of this special evening benefiting our Holocaust education programs.

Our special guest, General Roméo Dallaire, spoke movingly of his experiences protecting Tutsi citizens during the genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994. He is a true hero who, after being ordered to leave the country, stayed behind with some of his soldiers because they felt morally responsible to those who sought the protection of U.N. troops as the genocide was underway. He also spoke about his work to prevent children from being taken as soldiers as well as other humanitarian issues around the world.

Susan Suarez and speakers on stage

We had another special guest join us for Triumph — Kizito Kalima, a survivor of the genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda. His organization, the Peace Center for Forgiveness and Reconciliation, provided us with the current special exhibit, “The History of Rwanda in Ten Pictures” (see the description on page 18).

When he heard General Roméo Dallaire was our event guest speaker, he decided to attend. Mr. Kalima spoke for a few minutes before General Dallaire took the stage. Following the General’s remarks, they joined together to answer questions from the audience.

We were privileged to witness this powerful event with both a genocide survivor and upstander present. These remarkable individuals truly embodied the event’s “Triumph of Courage” theme.

Rwandan blue basket and carved cane

Rwandan tall basket

Doctors’ tour and lecture

The Museum recently hosted Collier County Medical Society members for a tour and a lecture presented by Stuart Mest, M.D. Dr. Mest is a Museum Board member, docent and educator. He was a pulmonary and critical care physician who served as chairman, department of medicine, and chief of critical care at a southern New Jersey hospital.

His lecture was on the “Physicians’ Role during the Period of the Holocaust.” Some topics covered included the physicians’ trial at Nuremberg and Nazi physicians’ experiments in concentration camps, the Tokyo war crimes trial and Japanese physicians’ experiments on POWs, the U.S. medical experiments involving humans around WWII and a discussion of contemporary medical ethics in a challenging world

Special exhibition

April is Genocide Awareness Month, and the Museum has a special exhibit highlighting the genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda. We invite you to visit the Estelle and Stuart Price Gallery where you’ll find “The History of Rwanda in Ten Pictures,” a collection of photographs, documents and artifacts about this event.

Rwandan Census ID Card

This exhibit is on loan from the Peace Center for Forgiveness and Reconciliation, and was created by Kizito Kalima, a survivor of the genocide against the Tutsis. It uses cultural artifacts and panels to show how the society of Rwanda was divided while under colonial rule, how those colonial divisions continued after independence and eventually led to the genocide against the Tutsis.

Several items in the exhibit are on loan from Museum supporter Howard Isaacson, CEO of Emmanuel Communities, Inc. and Emmanuel Academies, Inc. Isaacson has worked with ministers in Rwanda for many years.

Yom HaShoah commemoration service

This year, Temple Shalom will host an in-person Yom HaShoah commemoration service on Sunday, April 10, at 10 a.m. The service will also be livestreamed on the Temple’s website. Check our website, www.HMCEC.org, or the Temple’s website, www.naplestemple.org, for details.

Short story “portraits”

For the past several months, members of GenShoah of SWFL have been submitting short story “portraits” of family members who experienced the Holocaust. These stories form the core of the “Portraits of Remembrance” project, designed to be used in our Holocaust education classes with middle and high school students in Southwest Florida. The stories will provide students with a rare, personal view of the Holocaust they won’t find in textbooks.

We recently met with the authors to discuss their work. They were gratified that the memory of their family member(s) will live on and be shared with future generations through our program. GenShoah also honored former GenShoah Program Chair Steve Brazina for his long-time contributions.

We invite other 2G’s to share a story with us. It can be about a parent, grandparent, aunts, uncles — any family member who survived or didn’t survive the Holocaust. For more information, please contact me at Susan@HMCEC.org.

Book a tour

Now that spring is here, it is a great time to book a Museum tour with your friends, club or family. The Museum offers private tours with a docent for groups of 12 to 20 people. Call 239-263-9200 or e-mail David@HMCEC.org for more information and to schedule your tour.

On behalf of the Museum’s Board of Directors and staff, I wish you and your family a Happy Passover.

Hope to see you soon at the Museum or one of our programs!