‘There’s Enormous Pressure’: A Behind-the-scenes Look at Restoring the Dallas Holocaust Museum Boxcar

When the archivist at the Dallas Holocaust Museum began looking for the right person to restore local survivors' prized artifact, a World War II-era German boxcar, Ron Siebler's name came up half a dozen times in the first 20 minutes.In the two and a half years since, Siebler hasn't had a decent night's sleep."There's enormous pressure. They've entrusted this to me and that's a big, big deal," the Dallas historic preservationist told me last week as his team erected the restored boxcar in the museum's new home, which will open in September.In the early 1980s, about 150 Holocaust survivors who called Dallas home wanted to educate others about the 6 million Jews slaughtered in World War II death camps and to create a place to mourn the loss of family members and friends.On behalf of that group, Mark Jacobs traveled to Belgium and purchased the boxcar, which was built in Germany and sent to Belgium as part of World War I reparations. After invading Belgium in 1940, Hitler's forces seized the entire rail system, including this car, for military use.  Continue reading...