News Article

Authentic Holocaust artifact on display at Charlotte Campus

Mar 21, 2011

Thanks to The Holocaust Museum of Southwest Florida an authentic German boxcar used during the Holocaust will be on display this week at Edison State College Charlotte Campus.

The boxcar is the centerpiece of Edison State’s annual Holocaust Remembrance Week and will be on display free to the public from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Friday, March 25. The week’s activities also feature guest speaker and Holocaust survivor Cesar Frustaci at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, March 23 in the auditorium and a pair of documentaries – “Paper Clips” and “Inside the Mind of Adolf Hitler” – will be shown to students.

“The boxcar has traveled to over 40 locations in six counties in Southwest Florida,” said Amy Snyder, Education Director for The Holocaust Museum of Southwest Florida. “Through the unique Boxcar Transportation & Education Project, students are able to experience history in a way not usually available in the classroom. Coupled with hearing the testimony of a Holocaust survivor or liberator, this opportunity is one that impacts students emotionally and will not be forgotten.”

The boxcar was manufactured in 1919 in Germany and was used by the German Railway System until 1945. After the war it was transferred to Austria, where it remained until it was dismissed from service in 1969. Although the boxcar cannot be linked to a certain concentration camp or rail line, it is the specific type used to transport victims to camps and was in service during World War II.

For more information about Edison State College Charlotte Campus please visit www.edison.edu/charlotte or call 941-637-5629.

Last Updated: March 21, 2011