Construction near for Holocaust Memorial education center

Construction of the much-anticipated Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach Education Center is expected to begin in spring.

“We anticipate that it will take a leap year to build the building, so we’re breaking ground in May of ’23, hoping the construction will be complete in the late spring or summer of 2024,” said Josh Sayles, director of Jewish community relations and government affairs of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation.

The education center, also known as the learning center, will rise on the city-owned parking lot across the street from the Holocaust Memorial of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, which was built in 1990 at 1933-1945 Meridian Ave.

The new center is expected to feature high-level technology.

“Dimensions in Testimony – generated through the University of Southern California Shoah Foundation – has spearheaded this project to interview the survivors and provide this interactive video technology,” said Jessica Katz, chairwoman of Yom HaShoah Committee at the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach.

Visitors will be able to ask holograms of individuals informative questions about their past experiences.

“You can basically ask a hologram a question and they hear this algorithm that they can answer the question based on key words,” Ms. Katz said. “This is the first time that the Dimensions in Testimony will be featured in Miami, which is great.”

The learning innovative interactive feature can help preserve history, said Mr. Sayles, adding that the new center may devote two or three theaters to the project.

“Pretty soon we are not going to have our survivors to talk to anymore and tell their story, so in these theaters there is going to be holograms of these survivors,” Mr. Sayles said.

“We just found that it was important to bring our message to the next generation, and unfortunately things have evolved in our country that leads to antisemitism and bigotry in general,” Ms. Katz said. “The way that students learn in school settings have changed, and we are keeping all that in mind as we finalize the contents of the education center.”

South Florida has one of the highest populations of Holocaust survivors.

“This is about ensuring a top-tier Holocaust education for the next several generations,” Mr. Sayles said. “This is about giving our students in South Florida a state-of-the-art place to go and learn about the worst possible outcome when civic, civil society breaks down.”

In November 2021 Miami Beach residents agreed on expansion of the Holocaust Memorial and extension of the current 99-year lease. Nearly 80% of voters gave the project a green light.

Donors who currently would like to remain anonymous are funding the education center, and the project is at no cost to taxpayers, Mr. Sayles said.

Initially, the center had plans to include a classroom that opened to the outdoors. However, Ms. Katz said she is not sure if there will still be such a classroom. The structure is still expected to be single story and consist of an exhibition room and multiple classrooms for student groups.

“They are in the process of doing the full-blown design documents so they can move forward with the construction of the learning center,” said Miami Beach Deputy City Manager Eric Carpenter.

The Holocaust Memorial, with its 40-foot-tall outstretched sculpted hand and memorial wall that includes the names of Holocaust survivors, is a popular and culturally significant historical landmark, but visitors rarely visit more than once, said Jacob Solomon, president and CEO of the Miami Jewish Federation. The new education center is being designed to help improve the reach of the memorial, he said.

With Miami Beach being a premiere tourist location, the education center also is expected to attract visitors.

“This is about giving Miami Beach’s tourists a top-tier experience when they come to the city and want to have not only the beach experience, but the arts and culture experience,” Mr. Sayles said.

The education center is anticipated to be just as historic as the Holocaust Memorial.

Mr. Carpenter said, “It is an opportunity to educate the future leaders of our city, our county, even our region.”