Holocaust survivor Helena Flaum stands beside a display containing family photos and documents that detail her wartime experiences.
Photos by Jill Huber
More than 200 people attended the March 15 opening reception of “The Exhibit: A Journey to Life” at the Monmouth Museum. A global map that identifies sites of “The Persistence of Genocide” hangs in the background.
If you go
What: “The Exhibit: A Journey to Life”
Where: The Monmouth Museum, Lincroft
When: Through May 17; the exhibit will then travel to schools, libraries, and other venues throughout New Jersey.
Sponsors: The Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Education Center at Brookdale Community College organized the exhibit with assistance from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, and the B’nai Sholom/Beth El Foundation of Temple Beth El in Oakhurst.
Contact: Additional information about the exhibit is available at www.holocaustbcc.org and www.monmouthmuseum.org.
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A section of the exhibit devoted to the memory of Anne Frank displays photos and excerpts from the young girl’s diary.
Survivor Ruth Millman of Middletown, who was born in Warsaw, shows Valerie, her three-year-old granddaughter, her photos and artifacts that are part of the museum exhibit.
March 31, 2009
As viewers took in the stories and artifacts on display at the Monmouth Museum in Lincroft, some shed tears, some stood in solemn silence, and others registered shock as they studied the displays.
“I never knew it was like this — I never knew the persecution of the Jews was so horrible,” said Veronica Callan of Ocean Township, a member of a church group that came to view “The Exhibit: A Journey to Life,” which focuses on the experiences of local Holocaust survivors. “I should have known. But I know now, and I’ll tell others. That’s a promise I made today.”
Callan was one of the more than 200 people who attended a March 15 reception that officially opened the exhibit at the museum, located on the Brookdale Community College campus.
The turnout and reactions fulfilled the hopes of the board, staff, and volunteers at the college’s Holocaust, Genocide, & Human Rights Education Center, who have been assembling the massive project for the past several years.
The turnout also gratified Holocaust survivors from Monmouth and Ocean counties whose stories, photos, video diaries, and personal artifacts are on display.
Creating the exhibit has been “about getting people to think and understand what happened during the Holocaust,” said survivor Helena Flaum of Farmingdale, whose son and daughter-in-law came from California to accompany her to the exhibit. “It’s also been part of my own healing process.”
Flaum was born in Poland and performed slave labor after the 1941 German invasion. After liberation in 1945, she lived in France and Israel before coming to the United States in 1952. Flaum still mourns for her parents, grandmother, four younger brothers, and other family members who did not survive the Nazi onslaught.
“My message for the future is to never give up. Peace on earth will come,” she told NJ Jewish News. “My father wanted me to survive and share that message. And I have.”
The local survivors’ stories of strength are contained in more than a dozen suitcases containing scrapbooks of treasured photographs, documents, and other mementos. The exhibit features montage panels that display photos and personal essays, and presents a global perspective on historical and contemporary genocides, such as the atrocities in Darfur.
The exhibit will be at the museum until May 15 as part of the center’s 30th anniversary commemoration.
The strong responses from those at the exhibit opening — survivors and others — were not lost on Albert Zager of Fair Haven, president of the BCC center’s board of directors.
“These were reactions of hundreds of people from four generations, many religious backgrounds, many walks of life, and many places,” Zager told NJJN. “The most common comment I heard was, ‘I will have to return to see it again. There is too much to absorb in one afternoon.’ I hope those people will not only return, but will bring their families and friends. I think they will.”
The goal of the exhibit is to preserve the ability of local survivors to tell their stories of “incomprehensible” horror and destruction, Zager said.
“It also enables them to give their testimony of humankind’s ability to nevertheless blossom and lead fruitful, meaningful lives to us, our children, and future generations,” he said.
During the two-month exhibit, more than 1,000 students are scheduled to view the display, according to Holocaust center executive director Dale Daniels.
“Everyone featured in the exhibit is from Monmouth or Ocean County,” Daniels said. “They are our friends and neighbors, and now we know what they lost, what they lived through, and how they made new lives for themselves in America. And we still have a responsibility to speak out against the genocide and persecution that exists today. We will have to take many steps forward to make changes.”
But despite the sharing of knowledge and experiences, the memories of the dark days can never be completely erased, said survivor Erica Rosenthal of Tinton Falls.
“What is happening because of this exhibit exceeds my highest dreams,” said Rosenthal. “This too, is creating a memory.”
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