Community leaders and philanthropists are taking the first major steps toward establishing San Diego’s first permanent Holocaust museum, following a recent gathering aimed at building support for the effort.
The event, held last week at the La Jolla home of entrepreneur and philanthropist Irwin Jacobs, brought together more than 70 leaders from across San Diego’s civic, educational, and cultural communities. The meeting focused on advancing the initiative and highlighting the growing momentum behind the project.
San Diego remains one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United States without a permanent museum dedicated to the Holocaust. This new push seeks to change that, creating a dedicated space for remembrance, education, and the preservation of survivors' stories for future generations.
Remember Us The Holocaust
The driving force behind the museum is RUTH: Remember Us The Holocaust, a travelling, free educational exhibit founded by Sandra Scheller, the daughter of Holocaust survivors. For the past decade, the RUTH exhibit has toured Southern California, reaching tens of thousands of people.
The exhibit features life-size cutouts of local survivors alongside authentic artifacts, including an original concentration camp uniform. Its goal is to preserve the stories of those who experienced the Holocaust firsthand. The current installation is on display at the La Jolla/Riford Library through June 15, 2026, and is scheduled to move to the Central Library in downtown San Diego next.
Dr. Moisés Salinas Fleitman, the executive consultant for the RUTH initiative, said the recent gathering at Jacobs' home was a pivotal moment for the project. San Diego County Assessor Jordan Z. Marks emceed the event, which underscored the urgency of creating a permanent home for these stories as the generation of survivors dwindles.
A single uniform can speak. The artifacts carry the voices of the survivors. They are what remain: evidence, memory, truth.
A permanent home for memory
Organizers say the proposed museum would house hundreds of historical artifacts and provide extensive educational programming centred on survivor testimony. The goal is to build upon the success of the RUTH exhibit's educational outreach, which has already had a significant impact on students, educators, and families across the region.
The initiative comes at a critical time. As the number of living Holocaust survivors declines, the responsibility to preserve their memories for future generations becomes ever more pressing. A permanent museum would serve as a central repository for this history and a hub for ongoing education about the dangers of hatred and intolerance.
“Memory needs an address,” said Dr. Fleitman. “As the eyewitness generation of Holocaust survivors is leaving us, we have a responsibility to preserve their voices and testimony, and the physical evidence of what happened.” The cultural landscape of San Diego includes institutions like the San Diego Museum of Art, which is undergoing its own ambitious expansion. Proponents of the Holocaust museum believe such an institution would be a vital addition to the city's cultural and educational offerings, filling a significant gap. For context on the importance of such institutions, as reports indicate that Federal cuts strip Medi-Cal from over 200,000 LA County residents, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. serves as a national memorial to the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust.
Next steps for the museum
While a specific location for the proposed museum has not yet been announced, the next phase of the project is clear. Organizers will focus on a major fundraising campaign to secure the necessary capital. They will also concentrate on building a broad coalition of community partnerships and advancing the logistical plans to bring the museum to fruition.
The recent event demonstrated a strong base of support among San Diego’s philanthropic and civic leaders. The presence of figures like Irwin Jacobs, a co-founder of Qualcomm, lends significant weight to the effort, signalling a serious commitment from the community to see this project through.
The creation of a permanent Holocaust museum is seen by supporters as not just an addition to the city's infrastructure, but as a moral imperative. It represents a promise to survivors that their stories will not be forgotten and a commitment to educating future generations to ensure that such atrocities are never repeated. Similar discussions around cultural and historical preservation have arisen in the region, such as when a local tribe demanded a halt to development after ancestral remains were discovered.
The project continues to gain momentum, with organizers optimistic about the future. The focus remains on honouring the past while educating the future. As Dr. Fleitman emphasized, the museum will be a place where the voices of survivors can continue to be heard long after they are gone, providing a permanent address for memory in San Diego.
