Restored Railcar from Holocaust Era will Provide Interactive Experience at Holocaust Museum Boston
By Ruth Kaplan / Special to the BJV
A historic railcar from the early twentieth century, similar to those used to transport Jews from across Nazi-occupied Europe to death camps, has been donated to the Holocaust Legacy Foundation for display in the future Holocaust Museum Boston scheduled to open in downtown Boston across from Park Street station in November 2026.
To be located at the corner of Tremont Street and Hamilton Place near Boston’s historic Freedom Trail, it will be the only museum in New England solely dedicated to Holocaust history.
Renowned Massachusetts conservator Josh Craine of Daedalus will oversee the restoration of the railcar, which will serve as a powerful and immersive experience in the museum. It will be prominently displayed in a protruding bay window, making it visible from the street. Visitors to the museum will have the opportunity to walk through the railcar as part of their journey through the exhibitions.
“We want visitors to do more than simply look at this railcar; we want them to emotionally connect with it,” says Holocaust Legacy Co-founder and CEO Jody Kipnis. “Our mission is to use education to inspire action against hate.”
The railcar was donated by Sonia Breslow of Scottsdale, AZ, whose father was one of fewer than 100 survivors of the 900,000 murdered at Treblinka. He traveled to the extermination camp in a railcar just like this one, making this artifact an especially powerful and personal testament to history. After surviving the Holocaust, he immigrated to Boston. The railcar was discovered in a junkyard in North Macedonia, which during World War II was part of Yugoslavia under Axis occupation. After being transported to the United States, it was stored in Arizona before it was brought to Massachusetts for conservation.
The railcar, which weighs more than 12 tons, currently shows wear consistent with age and exposure, thus requiring careful conservation. Craine’s meticulous, research-driven restoration will focus on preserving the artifact while maintaining its historical integrity. “We are working on something that someone else made, and our job is to ensure that the conservation remains true to the intent of the object, said Crane. “My hand shouldn’t be seen.”
Craine has a deep personal connection to the project. His late father, Clifford Crane, was also a respected conservator, and their family traces its roots to Eastern European Jews affected by the Holocaust. “Objects are one of our most powerful ways of understanding history,” he noted. The conservation process of the railcar is expected to take at least four months.
Some may wonder when viewing this railcar as to whether it was actually used to transport people to the death camps during WWII. The answer is that unless there are photos of a particular freight car with people in them from that era, there is no way to know which cars actually transported victims and which did not. What is known about this railcar currently being restored is that given its origin and age, it is entirely possible that it was used in the deportation of Macedonian Jews during the Holocaust. In 1943, nearly the entire community of Macedonia were incarcerated and loaded into railcars owned by Bulgarian railways just like this one. A total of 7,144 Macedonian Jews were deported to the Treblinka death camp located in German-occupied Poland by the Nazis and their Bulgarian allies. Most of them perished.
Most people are more familiar with the term “cattle car” as opposed to “railcar “when referring to these freight cars originally designed for livestock that were packed primarily with Jews of all ages and often sealed, creating inhumane and deadly conditions. These railcars transported multitudes of Jewish prisoners and others to death camps in World War II. Many perished during the journey due to lack of ventilation, food, water and sanitation. According to Kipnis, the museum has made a conscious decision not to use that terminology because “the Nazis deliberately treated Jewish people and other persecuted groups as subhuman.” She continued: “Using terminology that aligns with their perspective, whether intentionally or not, perpetuates that mindset.” The museum has chosen to avoid using the voices of the Nazis in this regard.
The motivation for establishing a new Holocaust Museum in Boston came from the deep commitment of its founders to the need to preserve the memory and lessons of the Holocaust, especially as survivors grow older and the need for education becomes more urgent. Kipnis experienced a pivotal moment when she visited Auschwitz with a Holocaust survivor who entrusted her with the responsibility to tell his story. The rise in antisemitism in recent years and particularly in the aftermath of October 7 has only made this mission more urgent for Kipnis, who currently serves as a commissioner on the state legislature’s Massachusetts Special Commission Combatting Antisemitism.
Kipnis regards the museum as an important complement to the already established Holocaust Memorial on the Freedom Trail, which she describes as “an incredibly important symbol of remembrance.” The new museum will provide a deeper, more immersive educational experience. Certainly, the restored railcar will provide visitors of all ages an opportunity to engage powerfully and physically with this dark chapter of history. In addition, the museum will offer survivor testimonies and educational programs that “will bring the lessons of the Holocaust to life in a more comprehensive way,” noted Kipnis.
She summarizes the goals of the museum as follows: “We’re not just preserving history, we are building a space that connects the past to the present, inspiring critical conversations about antisemitism, hatred and the fragility of democracy. The balance between honoring the memory of those who suffered and making sure visitors leave with a sense of responsibility to act against injustice today is both our greatest challenge and our most important mission.”
For more information see: https://www.holocaustlegacyfoundation.org/
Ruth Kaplan is a writer and consultant with a varied career including academic pursuits in Jewish history, social services and governmental work, private practice as an attorney, and public service as an elected and appointed official dealing with public education. You can find her blog at Times of Israel.