In 2013, Craig and Barbara Weiner’s efforts led to the creation of the Craig and Barbara Weiner Holocaust Museum of South Florida at Nova Southeastern University’s Alvin Sherman Library. Through a significant gift, the Weiners are establishing another Holocaust museum, the Craig and Barbara Weiner Holocaust Museum of South Florida at Florida Atlantic University (FAU). The 2,000-square-foot museum will be located within the Kurt and Marilyn Wallach Holocaust and Jewish Studies Building in the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters on FAU’s Boca Raton campus. Construction is set to begin this fall with a planned opening for fall of 2025.
The gift includes the donation of authentic artifacts from the Holocaust, as well as funds to build the interior of the museum and construction of display cases. Items on display will include the tools used for a eugenics study in a Nazi run laboratory, as well as concentration camp uniforms from Mauthausen and Ravensbruck.
“The museum will be a legacy to the Weiners’ tireless work in educating future generations about the importance of standing up against all forms of hate, prejudice and bigotry through Holocaust education,” said Michael Horswell, Ph.D., dean of the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters. “The museum will also be a distinctive addition to the Wallach building’s prominence as an educational and cultural destination.”
Craig Weiner explained the similarities and differences between the NSU and FAU museums.
“This Craig and Barbara Weiner Holocaust Museum of South Florida at FAU will be similar in its theme and mission to the museum at NSU in that the objective of both Holocaust museums is to learn how critical it is for all of us to stand up against ALL forms of hate and prejudice. The museum itself, however, will be quite different from the museum at NSU in that the interior design, the exhibition space and the curated artifacts will differ significantly. Being a brand new facility allows us to create the design and environment of the museum from scratch as compared to adapting to existing space as we do at NSU. In this way, it will also encourage visitors to visit both museums as they will see substantially different artifacts at each museum.”
“Dimensions in Testimony: the interactive method of speaking to and asking questions of a pre-videoed Holocaust survivor created by the Shoah Foundation for all future generations to use will also be part of the overall museum presentation at FAU,” Weiner continued. “The building design includes a separate theater in which this presentation will be available to visitors and schools to use during their visit.”
Weiner shared the significance of creating the FAU museum.
“Our experience with FAU has been nothing short of fabulous. The university is very committed to this education and has been so welcoming and accommodating to the needs of the new Holocaust museum. All aspects of interior design, space needs, environmental considerations, preservation of artifacts, security needs and providing classroom space for Holocaust education instruction to our exact needs have been accommodated within the building plans. Additionally, FAU will be hiring a Museum Director that we will train to assure the continuation of all Holocaust education programs we currently conduct.”
“Being a part of a major university is something that is very important to a museum for several reasons,” Weiner continued. “Universities are here forever. University museums don’t close like so many museums do for lack of funds. The museum gains an immediate audience of 30,000 students and faculty, and the university itself is well known within the community as an important institution. The ability to have classroom space for Holocaust education programs, exhibit halls for special exhibits and support staff such as information technology right on hand, makes a university the ideal location on which to establish a permanent and prominent Holocaust Museum. Both of our museums at NSU and FAU have already been funded in perpetuity assuring that they will never, ever close. This was critical to us in establishing the Holocaust Museum of South Florida.”
Both museums service public and private schools for Holocaust education and there will be no charge to visitors.
For more information, visit www.fau.edu or holocausteducationfund.com.
For further information, contact Laurie Carney at lcarney@fau.edu
