aath-exhibit

Visit Brenner Library to see our display of accompanying books recommended to expand your knowledge about the history of the Holocaust. We have reading lists available for both adults and children. Avaliable throughout the exhibition.

Location: MacHugh Theatre in Francis Hall

The Screening of Unbroken. The true-life tale of Louis Zamperini, the Olympic track star who survived a plane crash in World War II, and later fought for his life against nature and as a Japanese prisoner of war. (2014, PG-13, 2 hrs 17 minutes)

Location: Brenner Library

Dr. Daniel Greene (Exhibition Curator and Adjunct Professor of History at Northwestern University)

What did Americans know about the dangers of Nazism, and when did they know it? Americans and the Holocaust addresses these questions and provides a comprehensive look at the American public’s responses to Nazism. This talk by exhibition curator Dr. Daniel Greene will focus on the domestic conditions in the United States—including economic depression, isolationism, and antisemitism—that shaped Americans’ responses to atrocities abroad. It will also consider why rescuing Europe’s Jews never became a priority for the U.S. government or the majority of the American people.

Location: Brenner Library

Quincy University Assistant Professor of History, Padraic Rohan, will explore the Armenian genocide during the First World War, and the ways in which the new nation-state of Turkey inspired critics of the Weimar Republic, Germany’s first democracy which gave way to Hitler’s national socialism.

Location: Brenner Library

Helen Turner (Director of Education at the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum), will give a talk on what Missourians knew about Nazism and antisemitism in the 1930s and 1940s—and how they responded. Drawing from the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum’s new exhibition, Nazis Next Door: St. Louis Faces Nazism in the 1930s, this presentation examines the local history of the Holocaust and the ways Nazi ideology and antisemitism reached communities here in Missouri. Through personal stories, historical records, and artifacts from the Museum’s collections, we will explore the choices Missourians made to support, resist, or ignore the growing threat of Nazism. The presentation challenges the idea that the Holocaust was solely a distant European event and instead asks students to consider what it means when extremism and antisemitism emerge in our own communities. Ultimately, the history of Missouri and the Holocaust offers an opportunity to reflect on the responsibilities of individuals and communities in recognizing hatred, confronting antisemitism, and choosing to act.

Location: Brenner Library

Professor Emeritus of History, Dr. Wendell Mauter, will trace the evolution of fear, hatred, dislike and indifference of the Jews from the ancient, medieval, and modern eras and how these distorted stereotypes about Jews played a crucial role in how the Holocaust was carried out.

Location: Brenner Library

Carla Gordon shares a personal history of her parents who died at Auschwitz. Carla may be the only person in Western Illinois who is a direct descendant of a Holocaust victim. Carla will bring artifacts that survived the Holocaust: a postcard written by her father as he was getting into a cattle car; her Mother’s writings about her experiences as a Jew in Germany. A very personal account of the Holocaust. Carla spoke at the Warsaw, Il Public Library previously on this topic.

Brenner Library invites you to stop by to view this film by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein, which explores America’s response to the Holocaust, featuring witness and survivor testimony. As a 6-hour documentary, we plan to play it on a continuous loop while we are open for tours the week of November 16 – 20, with seating available so anyone interested can stop by and view it as their schedules allow. We also plan to have reflection and comment cards available in this space so visitors can fill them out if they wish.

Brenner Library will host a screening of George Takei’s Allegiance, followed by the Tibesar collection as a passive display. We will host a Q&A session afterward meant to encourage introspection and further learning.