A traveling exhibit about the Holocaust is designed to take people back to the 1930s and 1940s and make them think about how they might have responded to the stories coming out of Nazi Germany.
The exhibit will be displayed in just 50 libraries across the U.S., and right now it can be seen at the Burlington Public Library, the only library in Iowa where it will be displayed.
Becky Nelson, the library’s Manager of Outreach and Program Services, said the biggest question posed by the exhibit is: How would you have reacted and what would you have done?
“And that’s not something we can answer. It’s something you have to answer for yourself,” she said.
“We want to exercise people’s brains, exercise their empathy, and not tell them what to think but give them the opportunity to think and to reflect.”
This exhibit, “Americans and the Holocaust,” comes from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and the American Library Association.
It will remain on display at the Burlington Public Library, 210 Court St., through Sept. 30. There is no charge to view it.
Nelson said the exhibit is unique because it looks at the Holocaust from the American perspective.
“What did we know? How did we know it? How did we react to it?” she said.
The exhibit uses primary source material such as newspaper stories, magazine articles, and propaganda to provide insight. For example, the first panel in the exhibit shows that German propaganda was making its way into the American mainstream as early as 1933.
“The quote on Time magazine says, ‘Say it in your dreams. The Jews are to blame.’ So already we’re seeing information in the United States in the early 1930s that something was happening. But lots of Americans didn’t interpret it that way,” Nelson said.
She said a combination of anti-Semitism, the Great Depression, and the isolationist mood in the U.S. after World War One contributed to the nation generally turning a blind eye toward what was happening in Europe.
But some Americans showed empathy for those trying to flee Germany in the late 1930s. Nelson said First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt shared her concerns through a relatively new medium.
“Radio was very important in this time, and I think we forget about how important radio was and how revolutionary it was. Hearing the first lady on a live radio broadcast would have been amazing,” Nelson said.
A panel in the exhibit says Roosevelt advocated for at least allowing refugee children from Germany into the U.S.
But despite her advocacy, 66% of Americans opposed allowing refugee children into the U.S. That’s according to a poll taken in January of 1939. It is one of several polls from that era that are cited in the exhibit.
In addition to radio and newspapers, individuals communicated through letters, and that has given southeast Iowa a unique connection to the Holocaust.
Nelson said a sixth-grade teacher from Danville in Des Moines County visited Europe every summer. In 1939, she brought back the names of students from Amsterdam so that her students could become pen pals with them. One of the students from Amsterdam was Anne Frank.
“It’s completely random, and you would never expect it. Danville is very small, kind of an isolated community, and to have a connection like that is just amazing,” Nelson said.
10-year-old Juanita Wagner of Danville exchanged one set of letters with Anne Frank, and Betty Wagner of Danville did the same with Margot Frank.
An Anne Frank Museum in Danville has copies of the letters on display.
The “Americans and the Holocaust” exhibit also includes kiosks that show videos and provide interactive information through maps.
“And you can click on each state and see how the newspapers in those regions were reporting on the Holocaust. It’s really interesting information,” Nelson said.
She believes “Americans and the Holocaust” does not try to lead visitors to any particular conclusion.
“This exhibit is very careful to not tell you what to think or how to feel or what decisions to make. I think that people really need to come and read the information and interpret it for themselves and come to that conclusion,” she said.
“Libraries in general don’t want to tell people how to think or what to think. We just give them the resources to become thinkers. This exhibit complements that goal in that way.”
The final section of the Holocaust exhibit shows military personnel liberating death camps and providing first-hand accounts of the atrocities.
Yet, a poll at the time found only 48% of Americans believed the Holocaust was real. Many felt stories about it were propaganda and misinformation designed to keep pushing the war effort.
In conjunction with the exhibit, numerous special events are scheduled through the end of September. All events will be held at the Burlington Public Library, 210 Court St., unless otherwise noted:
- Aug. 29 — 10 a.m. Chris Green, Chair of the Holocaust Committee of the Quad Cities, presents “Auschwitz Liberation 80th Commemoration.”
- Aug. 29 — 1 p.m. Yvonne Aronson, a child survivor of the Holocaust, shares her survivor story.
- Aug. 31 — 6 p.m. The film “Casablanca.” 6 p.m. at The Capitol Theater, 211 North 3rd St.
- Sept. 4 — 10 a.m. The film “The U.S and the Holocaust, Part 3” (the first two parts were shown in August).
- Sept. 5 — 10 a.m. Local historian Terry Abrisz explores local newspaper articles on the Holocaust.
- Sept. 12 — 10 a.m. Banned Camp Book Club: “Night” by Elie Wiesel.
- Sept. 12 — Noon “Refuge, Torture, & Resistance: The Role of Music During the Holocaust.”
- Sept. 14 — 6 p.m. The film “Race” at The Capitol Theater, 211 North 3rd St.
- Sept. 18 — 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. “Hope in a Hiding Place.”
- Sept. 18 — 6 p.m. A presentation about the World War II German POW camp located in Algona, Iowa.
- Sept. 21 — 6 p.m. Walt Disney’s “On the Front Lines.” Disney propaganda shorts at The Capitol Theater, 211 North 3rd St.
- Sept. 23 — 10 a.m. “Samuel Marder: A Conversation with a Holocaust Survivor.”
- Sept. 26 — 10 a.m. A panel discussion featuring local experts, including Dr. Ute Chamberlain of Western Illinois University, exploring the exhibit’s key themes.
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