Welcome to The FHM Blog!

 Elizabeth Gelman, Executive Director of The Florida Holocaust Museum

I write this inaugural blog post as I fly back to sunny St Pete from sunny California. The Florida Holocaust Museum (The FHM) Curator of Exhibitions & Collections, Erin Blankenship, and I have just finished spending the last few days in Los Angeles getting to know our new partners at USC Shoah Foundation’s Institute for Visual History.  We may not have been introduced to absolutely everyone at the Institute but it certainly felt like we met most of them – from their Executive Director Stephen Smith to interns working on the conversion of Survivor testimony. (Before you ask: no, we did not hang out with Steven Spielberg. Maybe next time!)

Getting a closer look at the individual departments and talking with a variety of people helped us to better understand the Institute as a whole as well as the role our partnership will play in both our institutions. (To read more about our partnership, click here.)

We hope that this blog will help you get to know The FHM in a similar way. You’ll hear from a variety of people – staff, volunteers, educators and special guests – on a variety of topics that highlight the work we do and the world we live in. The FHM is an amazing place – not simply because of the work we do but because of the commitment, knowledge and enthusiasm of our staff, volunteers and supporters. Holocaust education is where our mission begins, not where it ends.  

Our goal is to make you, our partners, understand the role you play as we work together to use the lessons of the past to create a better future for all.