By Craig Kaminer / Photos by Joe Martinez and The Holocaust Museum

Growing up Jewish in New York City, everyone seemed Jewish… although I knew they all weren’t. It was common to know many people whose family perished in and/or survived the Holocaust. My mother’s cousin and her siblings were survivors, and the numbers on their arms tattooed by the Nazis were a constant reminder of what they endured during their childhood. While we talked about this in school and among my immediate family, I don't remember talking about it around my cousins. It just felt too painful and raw for us to bring up unless they did - and they didn’t. My mother’s cousin later wrote a book about her experience as an 11-year-old girl and a prisoner in the Lachva (Poland, now Belarus) Ghetto called, The Abandoned: A Life Apart From Life. Later, when I was in high school, my mother shared stories about her family in concentration camps and those relatives who escaped the Nazis by hiding in the forests of Germany, braving the harsh winters and organizing resistance to the Nazis. While I was one generation removed from the atrocities of the Holocaust, it was a part of my life like many other first-, second-, and third-generation Jewish Americans.

While this is a Jewish-centric story, it is not a Jewish exclusive story. It's about all of us. Over the years, I have visited numerous Holocaust museums to learn what I could about this tragic time in history and vowed to never let this happen again. Despite how many people knew about or witnessed six million Jews being murdered during the Holocaust for no reason, we are still experiencing the same non-sensical hate of Jews and so many other minority groups today.

So, you can only imagine my interest in the new and expanded 36,000 square foot St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum - with its new permanent Holocaust exhibition, classrooms, a performance auditorium, archives, and a special exhibit space - which opens on November 2nd on the campus of The Jewish Federation at Lindbergh and Schuetz Roads. In addition to its many exhibits, it also includes a new Impact Lab, which will challenge all visitors to reject hatred, promote understanding, and inspire change. In this highly interactive space, visitors will be empowered to consider contemporary issues and challenges through the lens of the Holocaust.  

When I met with Helen Turner, the director of education and interim CEO of the museum, I came prepared with a list of questions. Turner is a petite academic, with a subtle but charming British accent and an abundance of knowledge and perspective. She received her bachelor’s degree in history from Binghamton University and her Master's in history, specializing in Holocaust and Genocide Studies, from Stony Brook University, all part of the State Universities of New York. Turner's Master's thesis focused on collective Holocaust memory and memorial representation in museums. 

As I toured the new building with Turner and Marketing and Communications Manager Amy Lutz, I was impressed with how differently other museums present the same or similar subject matter. “We're not in the business of traumatizing; we're in the business of teaching. I think that’s the core philosophy of who we are,” said Lutz. 

The approach of the new museum is to take people safely in and out of the exhibition. That means not leaving them with the horrors of mass graves or really graphic images but letting visitors see the gravity of what happened. “We don’t shy away from those images, but we make sure they also see how lives were rebuilt after the war and how the Holocaust fits in today's context,” said Lutz. 

In fact, the design of the exhibition is from the vantage point of the roughly 800 people who lived thru the war, survived the Holocaust, and rebuilt their lives in the greater St. Louis area. 

Turner, who is new to this community, has seen firsthand the pride, passion, and dedication of these St. Louis Jewish families who tell their stories. “They are a very strong, committed community. The Holocaust impacts every St. Louisan and beyond. We are not looking to be just a local museum, but a regional powerhouse. We want everybody to come to this museum,” she said.

She emphasized, “I would say some museums lean too hard on the horrors. We decided to meet in the middle with keeping a very realistic tone of the people who survived, who built incredible lives and beautiful families, and at the same time, we remind everyone this should never have happened. As you know, events like this are ongoing and they're not okay. Our survivors deal with tremendous trauma. And so many of them live below the poverty line. They suffer mental health issues. They don't have caregivers in their old age.”

When I asked about the Holocaust in comparison to the many genocides throughout history, Turner quickly clarified that, “The Holocaust refers to the period in time from 1933 to 1945. It's specifically the attempted annihilation of the European Jewish population along with millions of others with a Nazi ideology. So that is the Holocaust. But there are many genocides like the Rwandan genocide, the Bosnian genocide, and the Armenian genocide. These are all very separate things. What they all have in common is that they are genocides. But they each have a very unique specificity to them. “

As you enter the museum, you’ll notice an array of light tubes and glass which is a reminder of Kristallnacht, a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party along with participation from the Hitler Youth and German civilians throughout Germany and Austria on November 9 and 10, 1938. The name Kristallnacht (literally 'Crystal Night') comes from the shards of broken glass that littered the streets after the windows of Jewish-owned stores, buildings, and synagogues were smashed. 

The first gallery is the history of the Holocaust, beginning with the Nazis coming to power from 1918 to 1933. It includes the end of World War I, the Treaty of Versailles, and the creation of the Weimar Republic. All these events contributed to Adolf Hitler’s rise to power. Each room or gallery has a visual timeline to give visitors a sense of where they are in time and space. 

Throughout the exhibition are quotes and photographs from people associated with the museum. Turner says, “These are people that we know in St. Louis.”

The next section of the museum documents the attempts of Jewish people to leave Germany, the annexation of Austria, and the 1936 Olympics. Also depicted is the ghettoization of Jewish communities and the outbreak of World War II. 

According to Turner, most people have a misunderstanding of two things. One, how Hitler came to power, and two, the narrative of the concentration camps. “Most people only know of Auschwitz, which happens to be the largest camp, but there were 40 sub-camps. People think that everyone who went through Auschwitz was tattooed. That's not the case, for example. Our museum has taken a lot of time and space to make sure that we clarify those narratives.”

Turner continued, “While the Jewish experience is the central story that we're telling, it's not the only story. We know there are many other victims of the Holocaust. We can all find ourselves in this story. It's the story of how we treat one another, how we take care of each other, or how we abandon each other. That is a universal language. Anybody can identify with that story. That's why I also think the museum will draw a lot of people because everyone can find themselves in this narrative.”

“Sometimes I think we're very motivated by bias, fear and power. Until we truly see each other for the magnificent people that we are, I think we will always struggle with this. The museum is all about dispelling bias and stereotypes and calling out discrimination for every human being. We all have so much more in common than we have differences. I think that's why visiting the museum can also be a wonderful connector to other communities and to other experiences. I think everyone will find something that touches them, moves them, challenges them, and changes them in the museum,” Turner continued. 

The tagline for the grand opening is “Change Begins with Us.” “We struggle with a lot of things in St. Louis. We struggle with divisions and with different prejudices. We can say that we want to empower people to begin that change and hopefully that change will start when they come through the permanent exhibition, when they come to a program, when they go to the Impact Lab. Because all of us have the ability to make St. Louis a better place than it already is.”

The museum will be open from Wednesday thru Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and will have an admission price of $12 for adults, $10 for seniors, and $6 for young adults. Survivors, members, and children under 10 are free. How long will it take to visit the museum? Turner said, “There are skimmers, swimmers and deep divers. Everyone will be a little bit different, but I'd say to fully see the exhibition, give yourself at least two hours.” There will be both guided and unguided tours, and it is recommended for anyone 10 years of age or older due to the subject matter. For more information or to purchase tickets, please contact https://stlholocaustmuseum.org/visit/info/.