[MSN] Museum fire. El Paso Holocaust Museum reopens seven years after damaging fire

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El Paso Holocaust Museum reopens seven years after damaging fire 
By Stephanie Sanchez/For the Sun-News
Article Launched: 02/01/2008 05:14:23 PM MST

EL PASO - At the reopening of the El Paso Holocaust Museum and Study Center,
90-year-old Sara Hauptman became teary-eyed as she recalled her painful
experience during the Holocaust.

"I'm doing OK ... I am alive," said Hauptman, who was taken to several
concentration camps and became a sterilization victim of Nazi doctor Josef
Mengele, also known as the "Nazis' Auschwitz Angel of Death."

Hauptman, her husband, Nathan, and their son moved to El Paso in 1951. The
couple were part of 75 survivors to relocate in El Paso after World War II -
only 15 remain.

Last Sunday most of the 15 survivors were at the reopening of the museum at
715 N. Oregon. The museum was paid for by $2 million worth of donations,
said Leslie Novick, museum director.

The museum was first founded by Henry Kellen, a Holocaust survivor who
resided in El Paso, in 1984. But in October 2001, an electrical malfunction
caused a fire that destroyed artifacts, exhibits and glass displays.

"Over 80 percent of the artifacts were lost, but we've replaced all of
them," Novick said. "All the money (for the museum), except $150,000, came
from El Paso. That meant a lot because it meant people wanted this museum to
succeed."

Jan Wolfe, a museum educator,said the purpose of the museum is to remember,
honor and educate.

"There are only 12 free-standing Holocaust museums in the country and this
is one of them here in this community," she said. "This is to help people
remember and to learn - to honor those who have saved the lives and who
lived through it."

For Hauptman, whose mother and three brothers died during the Holocaust, her
experience is one she tells when she speaks at high schools and colleges.

"I tell them what I went through in the camps and I show them my number,"
she said as she looked at the blurred tattooed number on her left arm.

Stephanie Sanchez writes for the El Paso Times, a member of the Texas-New
Mexico Newspapers Partnership, and can be reached at
ssanchez at elpasotimes.com

Make plans

What: El Paso Holocaust Museum and Study Center

Where: 715 N. Oregon

Cost: Free.

Hours: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday; 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday and
Sunday

Information: (915) 351-0048 or visit www.elpasoholocaustmuseum.org

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