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Exhibit In Dania Beach Follows Capture And Famous Trial Of One Nazi Leader

The entire crowd inside the Holocaust Documentation & Education Center on Sunday joined in singing the national anthem of Israel. 

It was the opening of the exhibit: Operation Finale: The Capture and Trial of Adolf Eichmann

The Nazi official orchestrated much of the Holocaust. He was hanged in Israel in 1962. 

More than 500 people came to see the exhibit, which features original documents from when Eichmann was captured in Argentina, and artifacts from his trial. 

The exhibit will be in Dania Beach through the end of March, before it travels to the World War II Museum in New Orleans. 

Avner Avraham - a former officer of Israel's intelligence agency, Mossad, was one of the curators of the exhibit. 

"[This is] One of the most famous and important trials ever," he said. "Of course, it's related to the Holocaust and the Jewish people." 

More than 60 survivors of the Holocaust came to the opening, including Adele Besserman, 88. 

She was 9 years old when the Holocaust began and she was able to escape from Poland with some of her family to Siberia. 

Now, she lives in Hallandale Beach.  

"It reminds me of my friends," Besserman said of the exhibit. "Some of them are gone and some of them I still see, but it reminds me of them."

 

Credit Caitie Switalski / WLRN
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WLRN
Julius Eisenstein finds his picture that is featured in the exhibit. The ending of the traveling exhibit was customized to show local, South Florida Holocaust survivors.

The exhibit also brought back memories for Julius Eisenstein. He was 19 years old and living in Poland when the war started. He survived both Auschwitz and Dachau concentration camps.

Now he's 99 years old, and also lives in Hallandale Beach. He hopes the story of how Eichmann was captured will help people never forget what he and so many others went through. 

"People should recognize, should see actually what happened," Eisenstein said. "Here they can get some idea of what happened, and they should fight for the rest of their life not to let that happen again."

Correction: The original version of this story identified Adolf Eichmann as Adolf Eichman. We regret the error. 

Caitie Muñoz, formerly Switalski, leads the WLRN Newsroom as Director of Daily News & Original Live Programming. Previously she reported on news and stories concerning quality of life in Broward County and its municipalities for WLRN News.
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