Page 64 - LIN M-J-J-2023 web-low

Great News to Share!

ur Education Department offices have just parents. Visit www.hmcec.org to RSVP. One week prior to the
relocated into the museum’s new North Wing! Zoom discussion, a link to watch "APART" will be sent to all
RSVPs, with a Zoom link sent 24 hours before the program.
OStudents and teachers will soon be using
Sunday, May 7 – Victory in Europe Day (VE-Day)
the new Herbert H. Schiff Classroom space there
complimentary museum admission with RSVP – since the
as well.
museum is closed on Monday, May 8 for VE Day, we will offer
Thanks to careful planning by the Museum Board, David
complimentary admission on Sunday, May 7. Due to space
Corban Architect, and PBS Contractors, the demolition and
limitations, RSVP is required.
construction done on the adjoining suites never disrupted the
Visit our website to sign up: www.HMCEC.org.
activities or programs in the museum. This was made possible by
Local Connections to One of Our Exhibits
the decision to delay breaking through the shared wall until later
Have you seen our informative exhibit on the post-war
this month, after “season” and the school year end. Once the two
displaced persons camps in the Bobbi and Randy Heiligman
wall openings are completed, Capitol Museum Services (CMS)
Gallery? These DP camps were created by the Allies to help
will begin the installation of the North Wing’s new displays and
house millions of homeless refugees after World War II. In
exhibits, including the important Auschwitz Gallery and the
addition to civilians fleeing the battlefronts, the refugees included
Shelley and Stephen Einhorn Gallery for Other Genocides
newly liberated Holocaust survivors and slave laborers. Refugees
and Human Rights.
were originally housed according to their country of origin. Early
A few naming opportunities are still available – for details email
into the displaced persons era, survivors had to live in very close
Susan@hmcec.org or call 239-263-9200.
quarters with virulently antisemitic neighbors. Aware of this, the
A Grand Opening ceremony will be held this Fall and we hope you
Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees recommended to
will attend! More information on the ceremony will be available in
President Truman that special camps be created to shield Jewish
the coming months.
displaced persons from further harm. He forwarded the report
Upcoming May Programs
to Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower,
Wednesday, May 3 – “Movies That Matter – Steve Brazina
who ordered it done.
Memorial Film Series” Zoom Panel Discussion
As living conditions began to improve for them, survivors
We invite you to
became more hopeful. It was possible to find out the whereabouts
join us for the zoom
of family members who may have survived, as was the case with
panel discussion of the
late local survivor Abe Price. He was able to find out where one
documentary, “APART,”
of his brothers was. Once Abe immigrated to the United States,
on May 3 from 4-5 p.m.
he petitioned his Congressional representatives to help bring his
The documentary looks
brother here to join him. You can see copies of Abe’s letter in
at the impact on women
our exhibit. Old friends were reunited, and new friends became
incarcerated on drug-related
family for those who had no one left. People met, fell in love and
charges and their families.
got married. There are stories of the same wedding dress being
Zoom panelists will include
used by many refugee brides in a camp because of the scarcity of
Tammy Franklin, Associate
material.
Director, Academy Programs
Approximately 2,000 babies were born in these new DP
at Prison Fellowship, and a
Camps, including several of our museum volunteers such as
representative from Avow's
Hadassah Schulman and Shirley Besikof. Hadassah Schulman,
counseling program for
the museum’s Oral and Visual History Project Coordinator, was
children with incarcerated
born in the Landesberg Displaced Persons Camp.
The small child’s coat in the exhibit belonged to Hadassah,
and was created by her mother, Mania Licht Kohn, from a coat
For more information on making a gift to help us grow, please contact 239-263-9200 or susan@hmcec.org.
64 Life in Naples | May/June/July 2023