Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933 and began his 12 year reign-of-terror burning, isolating and killing millions of Jews. In what would be labeled as one of the most horrific tragedies in history, it came to be known as the Holocaust.
From April 15 to May 15, The Holocaust Remembrance Committee at Sinclair Community College will host the One Soul: When Humanity Fails exhibition to highlight the survivors of the Holocaust.
The exhibition will be held in the library loggia from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
“The exhibit will be a museum quality exhibit, which is pretty nice. It’s got a lot of photographs and film footage. It has personal audio testimonies as well as interactive features,” according to Sean Frost, chair of Holocaust Remembrance Committee.
During the Holocaust, more than six million Jews were killed, and more than five million non-Jews, too. Most of the non-Jews that were persecuted were either gypsies, homosexuals, or other Jews, who were the largest targeted group.
“This exhibit is going to focus primarily on the survivors. Hopefully it is going to be more powerful because it is also going to recognize the important work of those who liberated or freed the camps. Those are a lot of heroes that don’t get recognized pretty regularly,” Frost said.
The exhibition will be a self-guided tour, and a kiosk will display the messages of the exhibition. Frost said he encourages faculty and students to come to the exhibit because there are so many life lessons to learn.
“The lessons of the Holocaust are important today, not only because it is an important part of our history. But it reminds us and teaches us what can happen if we allow prejudices, racism, fear to go unchecked,” Frost said. “So, the same things that lead the German citizens to adopt an ideology of hatred towards the Jews are the same dynamics that allows Americans to develop hatred towards Muslims. We want to teach students that we have to respect others and respect those rights in other people. Not only people that look like us or think like us, but all people.”