By Staff ReportFlorida Governor Ron DeSantis unveiled the Florida Holocaust Memorial in Memorial Park, remembering the over six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust and honoring the survivors who later made their homes in the Sunshine State, March 25. The Governor was joined by First Lady Casey DeSantis, Holocaust Survivor David Schaecter, and Israeli Consul General Maor Elbaz-Starinsky.
The memorial, constructed in iron and limestone, displays faces and names of Holocaust survivors who made their homes in Florida after the war. Florida-based Jewish groups assisted the Florida Department of Management Services in sourcing survivors’ names and images. The unveiling comes on the date in 1942 when the first Jews were deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp.
“First Lady Casey DeSantis and I were honored to unveil the Florida Holocaust Memorial in the Florida Capitol Complex’s new Memorial Park today,” stated DeSantis. “This memorial serves as a powerful symbol of our commitment to never forget the atrocities of the Holocaust and to recognize the survivors who later moved to our state – including David Schaecter, whose dedication to educating generations of Floridians about the Holocaust has earned the Governor’s Medal of Freedom. Florida is a better place because of the Holocaust survivors who have called our state home. We’re grateful for their contributions, and we’re proud to stand with the Jewish community.”
During the unveiling, Governor DeSantis awarded the Governor’s Medal of Freedom to David Schaecter, a 95-year-old Holocaust survivor who moved to Miami in 1957. Schaecter’s family was taken from their home in Czechoslovakia, and he spent time in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps before escaping during the Nazis’ retreat from allied forces. His brother was killed in Buchenwald, and he never saw his parents or two sisters again after the war.
Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles Executive Director Dave Kerner, Senator Tina Polsky, and former Senator Eleanor Sobel spoke alongside Governor DeSantis.
The Florida Holocaust Memorial is the first memorial placed in Memorial Park, which was established by Senate Bill 2506 in 2023.
Hannah Collins