The Holocaust Documentation & Education Center, the City of Hollywood, and the Hollywood Community Redevelopment Agency unveiled the authentic rail car from Poland on February, 13, 2007.

The Holocaust rail car from Poland is of the type used by the Nazis during the Holocaust to transport millions of Jews to concentration camps and their untimely deaths.  The rail car, destined to become a vital part of the education experience at the first South Florida Holocaust Museum scheduled to open in Fall 2008 at 2031 Harrison Street, Hollywood, Florida, will be permanently installed on "dead tracks" at the southwest corner of South 21st Avenue and Harrison Street, just 1/2 block from the new museum.

The rail is a powerful visual tool in the Center's mission to demonstrate the loss of dignity and freedom during the reign of the Nazi regime.  The car will remain in its "war transportation" state and will receive only minor treatments for preservation and visitor safety.

Few of these rail cars have survived.  Other similar rail cars may be found at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., in museums in Dallas, Houston, Chicago, and in Whitwell, Tennessee, as well as in Yad Vashem, Israel's National Museum.

The rail car has been secured through the dedicated fundraising efforts of Mel Dick, President, Wine Division, Southern Wine & Spirits of America, Inc., on behalf of the Holocaust Documentation & Education Center, of which he is also a board member.

Below are more photographs of the unveiling of the Holocaust rail car:

For more information about the rail car, please contact Rositta E. Kenigsberg at (954) 929-5690 or email rositta@hdec.org or visit www.hdec.org .