A win for remembrance

Competition yields funds for Holocaust museum

The Holocaust Documentation and Education Center in Dania Beach took first place in this year’s basketball bracket challenge, which raised thousands of dollars for its new museum.

As in the annual college basketball tournament, 64 teams — in this case 64 nonprofits — entered the competition. Teams advanced on the Brackets For Good website by raising more money than their opponents. After six rounds, only one remained.

The Holocaust Center emerged victorious, generating $23,255. In addition, it reaped a $10,000 bonus for winning the entire challenge.

Susie Edelsburg, a second-generation Holocaust survivor, and her daughter Michelle Edelsburg traveled to Indianapolis to accept the award.

“It was such a wonderful challenge. I was particularly touched by how all the nonprofits took tremendous interest in each other,” Michelle Edelsburg said.

“It was ‘friend-raising,’ not only fundraising,” said Holo caust Center president Ro sit taKe ni gs berg.

Brackets for Good hosted tournaments in 11 cities nationwide. This was the first year it operated in Miami.

Erin Cohen, the center’s assistant to the president, used email and social media as well as word of mouth to drive awareness.

“Our goal is to create ‘A Living Memorial Through Education,’ and every dollar raised gives us the opportunity to teach the lessons of the Holocaust,” Cohen said.

Last July, the museum moved into a 26,000-square-foot building at 303 N. Federal Highway in Dania Beach. Completion of its $10 million buildout isn’t expected in 2020, but tour groups are already in steady rotation.

“It’s going to be extraordinary and multimedia focused to present the story. It’s the first in North America to tell it in English and Spanish,” Kenigsberg said.

The center, founded in 1980, has gathered the largest standardized collection of survivor and liberator oral histories, she said. Artifacts and thousands of photographs and documents support the narrative.

Two gripping artifacts add a palpable element. A Polish rail car used to transport prisoners to the death camps kind les a vision of horror. The wooden boxcar looks just as it did during thewar.

Illustrating another chapter of history is a Sherman tank used in the liberation of Dachau.

“Within these walls are stories that have to be told. The story is unique but the lessons are universal,” Kenigsberg said. “Now it’smore important than ever to remember the Holocaust.”