There are several compelling reasons to visit the The Florida Holocaust Museum on any given week, but today offers an especially valid one: It's Holocaust Remembrance Day, and the museum is concluding its observances of its Genocide and Human Rights Awareness Month this week with a worthwhile, free event, too.
Current exhibitions incude Fire In My Heart: The Story of Hannah Senesh, a retrospective on the life of a brave Hungarian poet and intelligence officer who penetrated concentration camps and later captured. The exhibition is the first ever of its kind, offering writings, photographs, possessions, and interviews by friends and colleagues. The museum is also showing images and artifacts that offer lessons on The Greatest Crime of the War The Armenian Genocide During World War I.
The Pardoll Family Lecture Series The Rwandan Genocide: 20 Years Later brings to Tampa Bay Rwandan survivor Clemantine Wamariya (pictured), who was 6 when genocide ravaged in her homeland. Wamariya endured painful losses as she and her older sister became separated from their parents, living in numerous refugee camps in seven different African countries before reuniting and moving to the U.S.
Wamariya now studies at Yale and tours to spread awareness. President Barack Obama appointed her to serve on the board of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Read more about her in Mitch Perry's thoughtful story. Hear her gripping story during a free presentation on Wed., April 30, 6:30 p.m. 55 Fifth St. S., St. Petersburg. flholocaustmuseum.org.
