Holocaust Museum Receives $200,000+ in Donations to Restore Historic Fishing Boat After Anti-Semitic Backlash

You may recall Glenn Beck last year standing with the Houston Holocaust Museum after it was subjected to horrific antisemitism in its efforts to restore a Danish fishing boat that helped save thousands of Jews during WWII.

Beck talked about the awful phone calls to the museum: "Burn that piece of (expletive),” one voice mail said. “We don’t want them to use it to get away next time.”

Well, you responded by standing with the museum and donating in phenomenal ways. To date, the museum has received in excess of $200,000 for its restoration, and now the boat is in the process of being moved and restored, the Telegraph reported.

A holocaust survivor stands with the vintage 1943 fishing boat (Credit: Houston Chronicle)

In addition a crane has been donated, a shipyard gave the museum a new and better cradle for the boat, and craftsmen have donated their skills, the Telegraph added.

Here's the text of a sponsored message that ran on TheBlaze:

Danes of all faiths (and some with no professed faith) banded together and smuggled their Jewish friends and neighbors out of Denmark on fishing boats. The heroic actions of a few managed to bring 7,220 of Denmark’s 8,000 Jews to safety in Sweden, barely ahead of advancing Nazis.

The ‘Hanne Frank’ is the type of boat that saved the lives of so many Danish Jews. This 70-year-old fishing vessel with a heroic heritage has been donated to the Holocaust Museum in Houston, TX.

[...]

The inspirational story of the Danish people’s selfless actions is one that must be saved for future generations.

Braeden Howard, a Pennsylvania consultant for the Holocaust Museum in Houston, was so disgusted by the hateful reactions to the donation appeal that he made his first YouTube video. “I’ve never received any kind of a message like that,” he said. “I felt so slimed; I didn’t know what to do.”

Here's Howard's video:

But you know now that the mood soon changed. After the YouTube video went public and Beck brought widespread attention to the hatred, the museum began receiving financial support for the restoration project.

Susan Myers, the museum’s executive director, said at the time, “In the history of the holocaust, there are few opportunities to celebrate…We have celebrated the Danish people who took it upon themselves to rescue Jews,” she said. “We hope everyone can emulate their actions, can stand up and do the right thing.”

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