SAN DIEGO — San Diego Museum Month is a great chance to check out places at a discounted price, but here's an exhibit that's always free.
RUTH: Remember Us The Holocaust is where you can hear survivor stories, see one-of-a-kind items from World War 2, and take a close-up look into history.
Sandra Scheller is a Holocaust curator, educator, and creator of this exhibit. She is from a family of Holocaust survivors.
"There's something really special about people coming in from the age of eight to 88," Scheller said. "Anybody who comes in the exhibit, all they have to do is ask a question. And we're here to answer it."
She works to share and teach what she's collected through this exhibit.
"As I'm getting older, I feel myself wanting to give more," Scheller said. "And with all this memorabilia that has been in my family, other people's family, things that have been passed on to me, I have to find a home in the next few years for this memorabilia that can be shared with everybody. And if we don't do it now, I don't want the Holocaust to be forgotten."
She encourages anyone who has unwanted items from WW2 or the Holocaust to donate to RUTH so they can be used for education.
The exhibit begins with cardboard cut-outs of a number of local survivors and their stories. School artwork, original artifacts, and books and magazines can be seen on shelves along the way.
Hidden in the back behind a door is another part of the exhibit.
"We didn't want to put the atrocities into the mixture of who the survivors are, so we have a very special room," Scheller said. "We go from RUTH to truth."
This room has items dating back to the Holocaust. Scheller's grandmother's dress from Auschwitz, an original Holocaust uniform and even the star her mother wore can be found there.
RUTH is a free exhibit available for anyone to visit at the Rancho San Diego Library. Scheller is there Thursdays at 9:30 a.m., but is available for tours at other times upon request.
"I encourage schools, I encourage groups, organizations, churches, synagogues, anybody wanting to know about Holocaust, education, and Holocaust survivors," Scheller said.
There's also a few speakers coming to the exhibit in the near future.
RUTH wraps up its time in Rancho San Diego in May, but Scheller says she hopes to find a permanent home for the exhibit in San Diego.
"I made a commitment to Holocaust survivors that I will do everything in my power 24 hours a day, seven days a week to figure out how we can have a Holocaust exhibit museum that will honor and memorialize their legacy, because we don't have that in San Diego," Scheller said.