A La Jolla library exhibit that started as a traveling Holocaust display is now at the center of a much bigger vision, as organizers work to turn a temporary show into a full-scale San Diego Holocaust museum with a permanent address.
The group, RUTH: Remember Us The Holocaust, says its growing collection of artifacts and survivor testimony has outgrown pop-up status and needs a dedicated home. Among the rarities: a concentration camp uniform marked with a pink triangle, related documents, and recorded stories from people who lived through the genocide. As survivors age and public memory fades, organizers say, the clock is ticking on preserving both the objects and the voices that give them meaning.
Right now, the fundraising is starting small. Sandra Scheller, RUTH’s founder and curator, has launched a short online campaign to pay for a climate-controlled, security-grade display case for that uniform and its accompanying materials. The drive shows about $7,600 raised toward a $10,000 goal, according to GoFundMe. The page highlights the uniform, a postwar photograph and a document organizers describe as a castration record, and frames their conservation as one early step in a much larger plan.
Behind that modest appeal sits an eight-figure dream. RUTH leaders say they are preparing a major capital campaign to buy land, construct a building and seed programming, a project they estimate could run between $40 million and $60 million. As reported by The San Diego Union-Tribune, organizers gathered potential donors at philanthropist Irwin Jacobs’ La Jolla home in late March, where “some checks were written” at the kickoff event. At that gathering, Moisés Salinas Fleitman put the pitch in stark terms: memory needs an address. The paper also noted that organizers hope to open a downtown iteration at the San Diego Central Library in September and that the final price tag could drop if a benefactor contributes land or building services.
From Library Pop-Up to a Permanent Home
For now, the exhibit lives upstairs at the La Jolla/Riford Library, where its run has been extended through late June 2026. The show includes a speaker series and scheduled guided tours for schools and community groups. According to the San Diego Public Library, RUTH’s team hosts visitors on select weekdays and can be booked for group visits.
A Pink Triangle and a Painful Provenance
In late June, organizers accepted a pink-triangle fragment identified as belonging to “Prisoner No. 20266,” Christian Prager, a transfer marked with a ceremony covered by the Jewish Federation of San Diego. RUTH’s fundraising and exhibit materials describe the uniform, the postwar photograph and the document they call a castration record. The small online drive is meant to ensure those pieces are properly conserved and displayed for the public, according to GoFundMe.
Organizers frame the entire push as a corrective. With the number of living survivors shrinking, they argue that San Diego needs a permanent institution dedicated to collecting testimony and teaching future generations. The San Diego Jewish World has chronicled the exhibit’s tours and guest speakers, and the San Diego Museum Council lists RUTH among the region’s museum partners and exhibits.
Until any bricks-and-mortar museum becomes reality, the current display remains free and open to walk-in visitors at the La Jolla/Riford Library. Groups can arrange visits through the curator, with contact and booking details posted on the library’s event page. RUTH organizers say they plan to keep running small conservation fundraisers even as they seek major gifts, land donations and in-kind support to meet their long-term goal of a permanent Holocaust museum in San Diego.
