Two kinds of heroes emerged from the Holocaust – those who lost their lives, and those who risked their lives to save others.
Union College is to honor both kinds of heroes in Lessons for Humanity, a one-month series of exhibits and special events designed to teach a new generation the lessons of the Holocaust: how prejudice led to genocide, and how to understand and counteract racism and discrimination. “We hope people will become more aware of the dangers of prejudice in its early stages in order to make personal choices to build a better Capital Region community,” one organizer said.
Specially trained docents will lead exhibit tours and discussions for local students and members of local organizations. A study guide will be available to help teachers and students continue the discussion in their classrooms.
The program runs March 15 through April 23 at Union College.
Features of the multi-event program will be two simultaneous photo exhibits: French Children of the Holocaust- A Memorial Exhibition and Of Light Amidst the Darkness — The Danish Rescue.
The program opens with a visit to Union by Serge and Beate Klarsfeld, internationally known since the 1960s for their determined campaign to bring former Nazis and French collaborators to justice. They are best known, perhaps, for bringing to justice Klaus Barbie, the chief of the Gestapo in Lyon, France. They are to receive honorary degrees from Union in a special convocation on March 15. The Klarsfelds – role models in the fight against prejudice, bigotry, racism and anti-Semitism — will lead an exhibit tour with local schoolchildren on March 16.
The Klarsfeld's arrival at Union College comes near what could be the end of the trial of accused Nazi collaborator Maurice Papon, who has been charged with ordering the deportation of Jewish children to death camps from Nazi-occupied France. The Klarsfelds have been chief witnesses at that trial; their son has been a prosecutor.
Serge Klarsfeld is author of French Children of the Holocaust, a massive pictorial book of 1,500 pages which contains photos and biographies of many of the 11,400 children who were deported. “The eyes of 2,500 children gaze at us from across the years in these pages,” Mr. Klarsfeld wrote in the preface. “They are among (those) whose lives are chronicled here, innocent children who were taken away from their homes all over France to be deported and put to death in the Nazi death camps. Here are the names, addresses, birth dates, and the truth about what happened to all of these children. Their biographies are brief because their lives are brief. On behalf of the few survivors of their families, this book is their collective gravestone … And I publish this book hoping it will help to establish a barrier against anti-Semitism, racism and xenophobia.”
French Children of the Holocaust — A Memorial Exhibition
French Children is an exhibition of over 350 photographs and documents featuring some of the 11,400 children deported from France during Nazi occupation. This moving — at times, unsettling — show is based on the 1996 book of the same name by Serge Klarsfeld. The exhibition is an educational experience for the entire community, challenging each of us to explore our own experiences with anti-Semitism, racism, and our responsibility in a democracy.
Thousands of area school children will tour the exhibition with trained docents from the college and community, to learn the history of the Holocaust through the lives and experiences of the French children, and to explore the need to examine intolerance and bigotry today.
The exhibition opens on Sunday, March 15, at 8:15 p.m. with A Conversation with Serge and Beate Klarsfeld in Union's Memorial Chapel. There will be an exhibition preview with the Klarsfelds from 7 to 8 p.m.
The exhibition is on loan from the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City. It was created by the Beate Klarsfeld Foundation of New York and Paris, a non-profit foundation to support the efforts of the Klarsfelds to preserve memory, fight bigotry and seek justice.
Of Light Amidst the Darkness — The Danish Rescue
This exhibition of 55 photographs by Judith Ellis Glickman captures the people and places central to the heroic efforts of the Danish resistance and rescue of Jews during Denmark's occupation by Nazis. Exquisitely photographed contemporary images of the rescued, the rescuers, and their homes, churches and harbors bring to life the remarkable story of the flight of the Jews from Denmark. This show also includes haunting images of the concentration camps of Europe in which those who were not so fortunate were imprisoned and killed.
Glickman will give a talk on the exhibition on Tuesday April 14, at 8 p.m. in the Nott Memorial.
This exhibition is on loan courtesy of Thanks to Scandinavia, Inc. and the Holocaust Human Rights Center of Maine. Thanks to Scandinavia, Inc. is a scholarship fund providing grants to Scandinavian students to study in the U.S. in appreciation for the help that all Scandinavian nations provided in the World War II rescue of Scandinavian Jews. The Holocaust Human Rights Center of Maine is an education-driven organization dedicated to reducing prejudice and creating an environment of tolerance, acceptance and well-being.
Lessons for Humanity: French Children of the Holocaust – A Memorial Exhibition and Of Light Amidst the Darkness – The Danish Rescue is presented by Union College and the Holocaust Survivors and Friends Education Center. Major support is provided by an anonymous donor from the Union College family.
