La Jolla-born Holocaust exhibit opens Sept. 29 downtown

The traveling Holocaust exhibit that drew visitors to the La Jolla/Riford Library through June 15 opens Tuesday, Sept. 29, at the San Diego Central Library downtown.

Organizers of Remember Us The Holocaust (RUTH) also plan to announce the location of San Diego's first permanent Holocaust museum at the opening, according to Times of San Diego.

San Diego remains one of the largest metropolitan areas in the country without a permanent Holocaust museum, Fox 5 San Diego reported in April.

The exhibit's La Jolla run

The free exhibit was on display at the La Jolla/Riford Library's Joan and Irwin Jacobs Annex, where founder Sandra Scheller was present for guided tours every Tuesday. Before La Jolla, RUTH was exhibited in Chula Vista and Rancho San Diego.

Scheller, RUTH's founder and board president, created the exhibit in 2000 in memory of her mother, Holocaust survivor Ruth Goldschmiedova Sax, who died in 2018. Scheller grew up in Chula Vista as the daughter of survivors Ruth and Kurt Sax.

"My mom said, 'When I die, either bury me in my mother's dress or make a museum,'" Scheller said, according to Times of San Diego.

One artifact on display is the dress Scheller's grandmother Erna wore inside Auschwitz. The black wool gabardine garment is marked with a white "X" on the back. A life-size cardboard cutout of Ruth Sax stands beside it.

The exhibit features 16 life-size cardboard cutouts of Holocaust survivors. Fourteen lived in San Diego during their lifetimes.

Permanent museum plans

Dr. Moisés Salinas Fleitman, RUTH's executive director, said the Central Library will house the exhibit for two years while the nonprofit secures a permanent site. San Diego needs a dedicated place where Holocaust history can be preserved and passed to the next generation, he said.

In late March, more than 70 civic, educational and cultural leaders gathered at the La Jolla home of entrepreneur Irwin Jacobs to advance the museum effort, Fox 5 reported. San Diego County Assessor Jordan Z. Marks emceed the event.

RUTH's website projects 8,000 to 10,000 school-aged visitors in the permanent museum's first year, with two to three rotating exhibitions annually and bilingual English-Spanish access as a core goal.