LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — A Holocaust exhibit at the Clark County Government Center will close Wednesday after teaching visitors about both tragedy and triumph during its months-long run.
“The Choices of Man Through the Lens of the Holocaust” has been on display in the rotunda of the county government center since October. Clark County chose Monday — International Holocaust Remembrance Day — to recognize the impact the exhibit has had on the community.
The exhibit chronicles the persecution of Jewish people during World War II while also celebrating those who helped survivors. Curators say they hope visitors remember the faces and stories of the helpers most.
“We want our students that come in here to learn those examples that you don’t have to be powerful to save life. That they, too, have an agency. They, too, are capable,” said Heidi Straus, president of the Nevada Holocaust Museum by the Nevada Center for Humanity. “In the course of their days, they might come across opportunities to be a bystander, or to make a choice to do nothing, or to get out of their comfort zone, do the hard work, and stop something from happening.”
Straus said the exhibit emphasizes the power of individual choice over the horrors of persecution.
“That’s why I do this work. I want the young people to understand the power of choice,” Straus said. “Yes, we show prisoner uniforms and other examples of how man can diminish and dehumanize other man. That’s not what the Holocaust is about. It’s about our ability to choose and we can be. You can be a perpetrator then move to an upstander in the next day. We can change.”
Straus said the exhibit’s lessons extend beyond historical education to contemporary relevance.
“They need to understand, we are here to help one another this way,” Straus said. “And the lessons of the Holocaust are as relevant today, based on that. And it’s not a Jewish issue. It’s a human issue.”
Personal connections to history
Stephanie Tussman spoke about her family’s connection to the Holocaust during the recognition ceremony.
“My grandparents survived the Holocaust, but survival did not mean that their story ended,” Tussman said. “It lived on in our family, sometimes in words, but most often in silence. From a young age, I learned that remembering isn’t passive. It’s something we choose to do, and something we’re responsible for carrying forward.”
Tussman said the exhibit’s impact extends beyond the recognition ceremony.
“The impact of this exhibit will extend far beyond today,” Tussman said. “And as we close this exhibit, sadly, on Holocaust Remembrance Day, I hope that we all recommit ourselves not only to remembering, but to bearing witness through education, through conversation, and through our actions in the world.”
Special recognition for county leadership
Straus presented Commission Chair Michael Naft with a very special keepsake during Monday’s recognition.
“I have a little gift for you,” Straus said. “Now, I also show this in my collection. It is an artifact. These are lead. They are dreidels that were excavated under Warsaw. Warsaw was flattened. Dreidels are… represent a miracle and light and hope. And you have children and you are a historian yourself. You are a carrier of history and a champion of this work. And so this is for your children to always remember.”
The exhibit’s final day in the rotunda will be January 29. Straus said she plans future exhibits and hopes one day the Las Vegas Valley will have its own permanent Holocaust museum.
“I’ve learned that the appetite for more Holocaust education and further understanding of our common humanity is very strong, and it has emboldened me to take the next steps,” Straus said.
Straus said she is working toward the day when the Las Vegas Valley has its own permanent Holocaust museum to hold items in the collection and educate future generations of Southern Nevadans.
Copyright 2026 KVVU. All rights reserved.
