This was a somber experience. I didn’t know quite what to expect or how I was supposed to feel.
I took a public docent-led tour through the museum, available Tuesdays and Saturdays at 1:30 pm. I recommend taking one if your schedule allows. Otherwise, you can grab an audio wand that tells you about the exhibits.
The docent started by giving my group a historic overview of anti-Semitism, the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party, the Great Depression, propaganda and how all these elements made the Holocaust possible.
The deeper we walked into the museum halls the further we went into the Holocaust, step by step. In the below picture Nazi thugs stood in front of a Jewish owned business to intimidate would be customers.
The docent explained the process, of how it went from Step A to Step B to the “Final Solution” of the Jew problem. The museum wasn’t gruesome. It was filled with artifacts, models, and photos. It’s designed to be appropriate for middle school field trips, and it is, but one still can’t help feel the horrors that are conveyed.
The centerpiece of the museum is a boxcar from Poland that was used during the Holocaust to cart victims around to concentration camps. It sits on original railroad track from the Treblinka Killing Center.
The docent told us that when the boxcar first came to the museum they gave it a power wash and a child’s ring fell out. They don’t know who it belongs to. There are no initials on it, identifying marks, or anything like that. They just know it was hidden away undetected between the boards for many years by a victim of the Holocaust.
The tour, incredibly well-done, ended in front of the boxcar, lasting for about 90 minutes. Afterwards, my group was invited to explore the museum on our own. There are three floors and the tour only explored the first. I spent about another two hours wandering the museum on my own, contemplating what I saw.
On the top floor were wooden carvings of child Holocaust victims. The carvings were displayed next to photos of the youth. It has been said a single death is a tragedy and a million deaths a statistic. The artist, in a video next to the exhibit, explains that creating these carvings is his way of combating this.
I was certainly moved by this museum. It makes one think about human nature. It makes one think about how to confront our own current issues and events. The museum was founded in 1992 as the Holocaust Center and moved to its current location in 1998. In 1999, it changed its name to the Florida Holocaust Museum.
The museum is active in the community, sending speakers to local schools, offering learning materials, raising awareness of human rights and living out its founding mission of “teaching the members of all races and cultures the inherent worth and dignity of human life in order to prevent future genocides.”
Doing it on the cheap…
There are a few ways to visit the Florida Holocaust Museum on the cheap:
- Attend for free via Bank of America’s “Museums On Us” program, which I wrote about here.
- Free admission with USF student ID
- The museum frequently participates in the Blue Star Museum program, providing free admission to active duty military members and their families, usually from the beginning of summer through Labor Day.
- Children 6 and under are free
- The museum periodically offers discounted tickets via Groupon.
- Discounted $9 rate for adult group tours (minimum of 15 people).
- In the past, there was free admission for veterans on Veterans Day (with ID). But I have not seen this advertised recently.
Location: 55 5th St. S, St. Petersburg, FL 33701
Admission: Adult $16.00 | Students under 18 $8.00| College Students $10.00 | Seniors (Ages 65+) $14.00 | Free Parking
Hours: Open daily 10:00am – 5:00pm (last admission is 4:00pm) | Closed on major holidays (including Jewish holidays)
Phone: 727-820-0100
Website: https://www.flholocaustmuseum.org/
Photo Credits: Florida Holocaust Museum by Ebyabe | All other photos by The Florida Explorer
(updated 08/25/2019)
