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The Holocaust Learn & Remember

"For the dead and the living, we must bear witness." -- Elie Wiesel

We are continuing to add information to this guide so please keep checking back.

Holocaust Learn & Remember 2022

Join the San Antonio Public Library
and the Holocaust Memorial Museum of San Antonio
for the 10th Annual

 Holocaust Learn & Remember 

This year's series will run from January 3-27, 2022 and will feature an exhibit, in-person and online programs, take and make kits, and more.

This year's theme, Immigration and Refugees, will focus on the experiences of those who escaped the persecution of the Holocaust by fleeing to other parts of the world, either as immigrants or refugees.
On this page, you can find all the information about the various programs and activities that will occur throughout the month of January.

Program Schedule

 
Program Location Date Time Description Presenter
Geographies of the Holocaust: Patterns of Destruction & Narratives of Survival Pan American Library
and Virtual

Register Here
to Attend Virtually
Sunday, January 9 2-3 PM In this presentation, learn how a geographical perspective can contribute to the study of the Holocaust, focusing on one city (Budapest) and one country (Italy). It will be examined how the Nazi regime implemented the Holocaust in these very different contexts and how survivors narrated their experience in words and images. Dr. Alberto Giordano
Stories of Refuge Landa Library Monday, January 10 6:30-7:30 PM This presentation describes survival stories of Jewish refugees during WWII, both individuals and groups. Learn about their trials while in search of sanctuary. Reyna Stovall
Stories of Refuge Thousand Oaks Library Tuesday, January 11 4-5 PM This presentation describes survival stories of Jewish refugees during WWII, both individuals and groups. Learn about their trials while in search of sanctuary. Reyna Stovall
MS St. Louis: The Voyage of the Damned

Westfall Library and Virtual

Register Here to Attend Virtually

Wednesday, January 12 4-5 PM The M.S. St. Louis set sail in 1939 from Germany with more than 900, mostly Jewish, passengers seeking sanctuary from the Nazi regime. They landed in Cuba and passed by Miami without being taken in. The ship was forced to return to Europe. This presentation focuses on the voyage and what happened to the passengers upon their return. Dr. Roger Barnes
Stories of Refuge

Virtual - Register Here

Wednesday, January 12 5-6 PM

This presentation describes survival stories of Jewish refugees during WWII, both individuals and groups. Learn about their trials while in search of sanctuary.

Reyna Stovall
Stories of Refuge Virtual - Register Here Thursday, January 13 5-6 PM This presentation describes survival stories of Jewish refugees during WWII, both individuals and groups. Learn about their trials while in search of sanctuary. Reyna Stovall
Geographies of the Holocaust: Patterns of Destruction & Narratives of Survival Virtual - Register Here Sunday, January 16 12-1 PM In this presentation, learn how a geographical perspective can contribute to the study of the Holocaust, focusing on one city (Budapest) and one country (Italy). It will be examined how the Nazi regime implemented the Holocaust in these very different contexts and how survivors narrated their experience in words and images. Dr. Alberto Giordano
Geographies of the Holocaust: Patterns of Destruction & Narratives of Survival Virtual - Register Here Sunday, January 16 2-3 PM In this presentation, learn how a geographical perspective can contribute to the study of the Holocaust, focusing on one city (Budapest) and one country (Italy). It will be examined how the Nazi regime implemented the Holocaust in these very different contexts and how survivors narrated their experience in words and images. Dr. Alberto Giordano
MS St. Louis: The Voyage of the Damned

Mission Library and Virtual

Register Here to Attend Virtually

Tuesday, January 18 4-5 PM The M.S. St. Louis set sail in 1939 from Germany with more than 900, mostly Jewish, passengers seeking sanctuary from the Nazi regime. They landed in Cuba and passed by Miami without being taken in. The ship was forced to return to Europe. This presentation focuses on the voyage and what happened to the passengers upon their return. Dr. Roger Barnes
Pioneers and Refugees: Sephardic Jews, Identity, and Empire in the Spanish Borderlands of North America

Central Library (LCRC) and Virtual

 

Register Here to Attend Virtually

Tuesday, January 18 6-7 PM

In 1492, Jews were expelled from Spain as the culmination of centuries-long persecution during the Reconquista against Moors, pogroms, and Inquisition. While this Sephardic Jewish history is less visible in the public imagination, their history nonetheless takes on greater significance in the present as we are reminded of the Holocaust from survivors and scholars as hatred and persecution of the “other” remains.

Dr. Francis Galan
The Shelter and the Fence: When 982 Holocaust Refugees Found Safe Haven in America Virtual - Register Here Tuesday, January 18 6:30-7:30 PM In 1944, at the height of World War II, 982 European refugees found a temporary haven at Fort Ontario in Oswego, New York. From the time they arrived at the Emergency Refugee Shelter on August 5 they began re-creating their lives and embarked on the road to becoming American citizens. This "token" save by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the War Refugee Board was too little and too late for millions. But for those few who reached Oswego, it was life changing. Norman H. Finkelstein
MS St. Louis: The Voyage of the Damned

Cody Library and Virtual

Register Here to Attend Virtually

Wednesday, January 19 1-2 PM The M.S. St. Louis set sail in 1939 from Germany with more than 900, mostly Jewish, passengers seeking sanctuary from the Nazi regime. They landed in Cuba and passed by Miami without being taken in. The ship was forced to return to Europe. This presentation focuses on the voyage and what happened to the passengers upon their return. Dr. Roger Barnes
Pioneers and Refugees: Sephardic Jews, Identity, and Empire in the Spanish Borderlands of North America

Virtual - Register Here

Monday, January 24 6-7 PM In 1492, Jews were expelled from Spain as the culmination of centuries-long persecution during the Reconquista against Moors, pogroms, and Inquisition. While this Sephardic Jewish history is less visible in the public imagination, their history nonetheless takes on greater significance in the present as we are reminded of the Holocaust from survivors and scholars as hatred and persecution of the “other” remains. Dr. Francis Galan

 

Closing Event

Holocaust Learn and Remember 2022 Closing Program

An Evening with Dan Ottenheimer

Thursday, January 27th

6-7 pm

Virtual - Register Here

 

Hear the experiences of immigrating to escape the Holocaust and adjusting to life in a foreign land from the son of a Holocaust survivor. Fritz Ottenheimer was born in 1925 in Germany. When Hitler came to power in 1933, Fritz and his family were forced to endure anti-Jewish persecution. In 1938, Fritz witnessed his father’s arrest and deportation to Dachau Concentration Camp, on what is now called Kristallnacht. After his father’s release, Fritz and his family immigrated to the United States. In 1944, Fritz volunteered to become a member of the U.S. Army and was deployed to Germany. Before Fritz passed away in 2017, he shared his experiences with his son Dan who continues to tell Fritz’s stories of about growing up as a Jewish child in Nazi Germany, immigrating to the US, and his return to Germany as a solider in the US Army.

 

Exhibit

Holocaust Learn and Remember 2022 Exhibit

Displaced Persons Camps:
Rebuilding Culture and Community in the Aftermath of WWII

Westfall Branch Library (6111 Rosedale Ct, 78201)
January 3-27, 2022
Mondays and Tuesdays from 12 - 8 pm
Wednesday-Sunday from 10 am - 6 pm

                          

The 2022 theme focuses on life in the displaced person camps and the resurgence of Jewish life in the aftermath of the Holocaust. According to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, from 1945-1952, more than 250,000 Jewish survivors of the Holocaust lived in camps in Germany, Austria, and Italy. Most of the facilities were administered by Allied authorities and the United Nations.

The Displaced Persons exhibition documents life in the camps following WWII. This exhibition explores the resurgence of Jewish life in the aftermath of the Holocaust and consists of over 20 panels and is suitable for grades 6 and up. Viewers will consider how the experiences of the displaced survivors relates to current events, especially related to refugee experiences and resettlement.

 

This exhibition was originally created by the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County
This program is made possible in part by a grant from Humanities Texas, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

 

Suggested Reading

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Picture Books

Chapter Books

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Partners