Holocaust Exhibit Comes to Countryside Mall

It is not an accident a traveling exhibit honoring the Holocaust is on display at  in Clearwater.

Turns out one of the best places to get the most exposure is the commercial and retail mecca.

The whole point of the exhibit is to raise awareness, said Ted Gover, executive director of the Foundation for California, which helped bring the exhibit to Clearwater. Officials wanted to put it in a place where it would get the most traffic. 

“It turns out this was the best fit,” said “(Westfield) gave us some prime space.”

The exhibit is near the escalators directly across from the Cobb theater and near Sears.

More than 50 people attended the opening ceremony of the the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s “The Courage to Remember: the Holocaust 1933-1945” exhibit Wednesday. The exhibit is on display through Sept. 27.

Officials including Congressman Bill Young, Clearwater Mayor George Cretekos and St. Petersburg city council member Karl Nurse spoke at the opening, often competing with the mall’s overhead music which is piped in by satellite.

The 42 vinyl storyboard panels vividly outline Adolph Hitler’s Final Solution through for themes titled: Nazi Germany, 1933-1938; Moving Toward the “Final Solution,” 1939-1941; Annihilation in Nazi-occupied Europe, 1941-1945; and Liberation, Building New Lives.

Many of the 200 photos incorporated in the display have never been seen before, officials said.

Already the exhibit attracted eyes.

Noemi Gonzalez' interest in learning about the Holocaust and what happened to the Jewish people in Nazi-occupied Europe started in middle school.

Gonzalez, 16, a student at , took time combing through the exhibit Wednesday afternoon and called the display powerful.

And what about the venue it?

“A lot of people go to the mall,” she said.

If you go:

What: Courage to Remember

When: During regular mall hours through Sept. 27

Where: Near escalators outside of Sears at , 27001 US Highway 19 N

Cost: Free