Holocaust Documentation & Education Center facts for kids

The Holocaust Documentation & Education Center is a special place in Dania Beach, Florida. It was started in 1980 to teach people about the Holocaust. The Center is working to build the first Holocaust Museum in South Florida that will help both Spanish and English speakers learn about this important history. In 2016, the Center moved to its current, larger building.

Stories from Survivors

The Center has collected over 2,500 interviews for its Oral History collection. These are video recordings of people who lived through the Holocaust. They keep adding more interviews. The Center writes down every word from these interviews on special paper that lasts a long time. They are also working to make these interviews digital and easy to search.

Future Museum Plans

Plans for the new museum are ready, and they are raising money to build it. The museum will cost about $10 million and will be built in stages. The goal is to finish it soon.

When the museum is ready, it will have many exhibits to explore:

• Life before the Holocaust: What life was like for Jewish people before the terrible events.
• How the Holocaust started: The steps that led to the Holocaust.
• The rise of the Nazi Party: How the Nazis gained power and started persecuting people, including the Nuremberg Laws.
• Ghettos: How Jewish people were forced to live in crowded areas like the Warsaw ghetto and Lodz ghetto.
• The "Final Solution": This section will cover the concentration and extermination camps, and will include a real, restored rail car.
• Resistance: Stories of brave people who fought back.
• Rescuers: Stories of individuals and countries that helped save lives.
• Liberation: What happened when the camps were freed, including Displaced Persons camps and the search for justice.
• Reflection, Remembrance, and Responsibility: Thinking about the past and what we can learn.
• Traveling gallery: A special exhibit that will change over time, starting with the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

Important Items at the Center

Even though the museum isn't fully open yet, the Center has some very important items:

• A real, restored rail car from Poland. This car was used to transport victims during the Holocaust.
• A U.S. Army M-4A 3E8 Sherman tank. This tank helped free the Dachau Concentration Camp in Germany. The U.S. Army has loaned it to the Center permanently.

You can arrange a visit to see the 30-ton tank and the rail car by making an appointment.

Learning Programs

The Center has programs to teach students and the public about the Holocaust. They often host "Student Awareness Day" events.

Important Law

The Center helped create a very important law in Florida. It's called Florida statute 1003.42(g). Governor Lawton Chiles signed this law. It means that all schools in Florida must teach about the history of the Holocaust. The Center also helps organize "prejudice reduction symposia" for students in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties. These are special events to help reduce prejudice.

Research Library

The Center has a library with over 6,000 books, journals, DVDs, and videos about the Holocaust. It's a great place for research and learning more.