The Holocaust Museum & Cohen Education Center in Naples, Florida opened two new permanent galleries in June tracing antisemitism from ancient times to today, weaving together century-old propaganda and a 2025 hate crime at a local Chabad into a single narrative about how hatred spreads. One wall centers on “The International Jew,” a collection of articles funded and distributed by Henry Ford in the 1920s. Another display shows modern examples of antisemitism, including that local incident from last year.
“There is a shocking rise in anti-Semitism. So, we felt that we could not ignore it,” said Erin Blankenship, the museum's president and CEO, according to WGCU. Blankenship wants visitors to walk away able to recognize antisemitism in their own communities and to speak out when they see it, the station reports. The galleries, which opened in June 2026, are built to walk visitors through that arc step by step — from ancient demonization to the murder of more than 6 million Jews during the Holocaust.
Ford's Propaganda Gets a Dedicated Wall
The exhibit's wall of illustrations and text built around “The International Jew” traces back to a specific moment in American publishing history. Henry Ford began distributing the antisemitic series in 1920 through his newspaper, The Dearborn Independent, which advanced conspiracy theories alleging Jewish control of the United States and the world, according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Museum curator Cody Rademacher said Ford presented myths and stereotypes as established facts in the articles, per the station's report.
Rademacher said Ford reused previously debunked material to demonize American Jews, and that the propaganda went on to inspire Adolf Hitler, the outlet notes. The curator emphasized that the Nazis did not invent antisemitism — hatred, he said, is learned and built on tropes, stereotypes, and othering. The exhibit includes an interactive section where visitors lift panels to directly compare modern stereotypes against their historical originals.
Linking Old Hatred to a Local Hate Crime
Rademacher said societies must actively oppose and rebuke hatred to keep it from gaining ground, a theme that carries into the museum's modern genocides section, which he said shows the same patterns continuing after the Holocaust, per the same account. That throughline is what connects the gallery's historical material to its display of contemporary cases, including the 2025 hate crime at a local Chabad that the museum included among its modern examples.
Separately, federal prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida have announced an arson charge against a Punta Gorda man in connection with a Jewish center.
Florida's Numbers Tell a Mixed Story
The exhibit arrives as Florida's statewide antisemitism data show a mixed picture. The state recorded 319 antisemitic incidents in 2025, a 9.6% decrease from the year before, according to the Anti-Defamation League's Florida office. But within that overall decline, vandalism and assault both hit record highs: 98 vandalism incidents, up 78.18% over 2024, and 10 assaults, up from six the year before.
Nationally, the trend looked similar. The ADL recorded 6,274 antisemitic assault, harassment, and vandalism incidents across the country in 2025, averaging 17 per day, according to the Anti-Defamation League. That figure was 33% lower than in 2024, but it still ranked as the third-highest annual total since the organization began tracking incidents in 1979.
The Holocaust Museum & Cohen Education Center is open Tuesday through Sunday from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
