PREJUDICE AND MEMORY: A HOLOCAUST EXHIBIT is a compilation of the memories, artifacts and photographs of Holocaust survivors, liberators (Americans who freed concentration camp victims at the end of the war), and rescuers (non-Jews who helped save Jews at great risk to themselves and their families).
What makes PREJUDICE AND MEMORY different from most exhibits on this subject is that it tells the personal stories of people who live or have lived in the Dayton area.
THESE ARE YOUR NEIGHBORS. Unless told or recorded, Holocaust stories will die, leaving the door open for another such horrendous persecution to happen - perhaps to another group of people - because of prejudice and hatred arising from ignorance and history unremembered.
People respond best to the individual story. I have discovered that personally as I spoke to thousands of school children and other audiences for the past thirty years. A single picture, a passport with the red letter “J,” a letter revealing the death of grandparents in Auschwitz, these touch one’s soul.
This exhibit remembers the millions killed in the Holocaust, at least 6 million Jews and 5 million others, always focusing on the individual - mother, father, child. It tells stories of incredible courage, of horror, sacrifice, loss and rebirth.
We are eternally grateful that we can join in partnership with the U.S. Air Force Museum in presenting Prejudice and Memory. We thank the Museum director, Major General Charles D. Metcalf, USAF (ret.) for his vision and foresight. We are very proud as well to include in the exhibit a tribute to the unknown hundreds of American prisoners of war who were also part of the Holocaust tragedy.
Many others on the Museum staff have contributed to make this presentation unique. Their interest and empathy enrich the Dayton Holocaust Resource Center’s mission. The volunteer docents make a visit to the exhibit a true learning experience which children and adults tell us they will never forget.
We are proud to have as part of the exhibit thirty-one black and white photographs, called PLACES OF HA’SHOAH, by Cy Lehrer of Tucson, Arizona.
Words cannot express our appreciation for the most generous contribution made by Ronald S. Lauder of New York that allowed us to begin this journey. And to all the subsequent contributors and grantmakers we are most grateful.
With the MEMORY of the past and a firm hope that PREJUDICE will disappear in the near future, with a complete faith in the resilience of the human spirit and a hope for the healing of the world, we offer this exhibit to those who enter these halls of history.
Renate Frydman - director@daytonholocaust.org
Curator and Project Director
PREJUDICE AND MEMORY: A HOLOCAUST
EXHIBIT
this project was completed in January 2001.
Holocaust Survivors
The Dayton area became home to a number of Holocaust survivors after World War II. Some came here to work for the Air Force, some because they had relatives here, others came because of business opportunities and some entirely by chance. Many of the survivors featured in "Prejudice and Memory" still live in the area. Others have moved elsewhere after retirement, and some have died.
Rescuers
While most Europeans under the Nazi occupation supported or turned a blind eye to the persecution of Jews, a few listened to their own conscience and tried to help -- even at the risk of their own lives and the lives of their families. Many of these selfless people have been identified over the years by the Israeli government and honored with the title "Righteous among the Nations" or "Righteous Gentile." Many others who sacrificed to help their neighbors will never be known. Dayton has been home to several of these righteous people.
Liberators
This term is often used for soldiers who were present at the liberation of death camps and concentration camps, mostly during April of 1945. Some actively assisted in the rescue of inmates and others just observed, but their testimony is always valuable. Most of the liberators were very young men, 18 to 20 years of age. They never got over the inhumanity they witnessed at the camps. Some also rescued survivors of the "death marches" at the end of the war.
Click on these links for the individual stories of PREJUDICE AND MEMORY
The asterisk* indicates that this person was interviewed for the "Faces of the Holocaust" video series.
EDITORS: Dr Thomas Martin and Renate Frydman
LAYOUT: Linda Nisenbaum
PROOFREADER: Shirley Flacks
PRINTED THROUGH THE GENEROSITY OF THE DAYTON FOUNDATION
AND THE HOLOCAUST EDUCATION FUND OF THE JEWISH FOUNDATION OF GREATER DAYTON