#What Did Americans Know?
What More Could Have Been Done?
Jacksonville Public Library is one of 50 U.S. libraries selected to host Americans and the Holocaust, a traveling exhibition from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum that examines the motives, pressures, and fears that shaped Americans’ responses to Nazism, war, and genocide in Europe during the 1930s and 1940s. The exhibition runs from September 6 – October 12, 2023, at the Main Library.
In addition to free, docent-led tours of the exhibit, there will be several public programs offered in connection to the exhibition including a special Screening Room program and discussion at the Southeast Regional and Mandarin Branch Library locations.
Screening Room: The U.S. and the Holocaust
Join us for one of two abridged screenings of The U.S. and the Holocaust and explore America's response to one of the greatest humanitarian crises of the twentieth century. This riveting new (2022) PBS documentary by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick, and Sarah Botstein provides interviews with Holocaust survivors, historical footage, and context to current events.
After the screening, you will hear from a guest speaker who will lead a discussion on the film.
#Meet Our Discussion Leaders
Patrick Nolan has been studying the Holocaust for more than 35 years and has made it his mission to teach this subject to high school and college students as well as the public at large. In January 2014 Nolan was hired by the Duval County Public Schools to write the district curriculum for the Holocaust course which continues to be used throughout the county. He has also worked as a consultant and educator with the Northeast Florida Center for Holocaust and Human Rights Education at Florida State College at Jacksonville (FSCJ). Nolan studied at the International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, where he completed a 140-hour intensive training for educators.
In 2021 Nolan was hired as an adjunct professor of history at the University of North Florida where he has since been teaching a course on the Holocaust. Nolan has traveled extensively throughout Europe to visit numerous sites associated with the Holocaust and has met, interviewed, and befriended numerous Holocaust survivors over the course of more than thirty years.
Join Patrick Nolan for a discussion on Thursday, September 7 at 7 p.m. at Southeast Library
Register now!
Dr. Charles Closmann is an Associate Professor of History at the University of North Florida (UNF). He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Houston in 2002 and joined UNF in 2004. His research has specialized in the environmental history of Europe, including water policies in Weimar Germany and the environmental legacy of the Nazi regime. He also studies the history of war and the environment, and his edited book on this topic is titled, War and the Environment: Military Destruction in the Modern Age (2009). Dr. Closmann teaches classes on modern Germany, Nazi Germany, Environmental History, and Environmental Justice.
Join Dr. Charles Closmann for a discussion on Wednesday, September 13 at 1 p.m. at Mandarin Library
Register now!
For more public programs related to the Americans and the Holocaust Traveling Exhibition, visit jaxlibrary.org/travelingexhibit.
#About the Film
Description:
Americans consider themselves a "nation of immigrants," but as the catastrophe of the Holocaust unfolded in Europe, the United States proved unwilling to open its doors to more than a fraction of the hundreds of thousands of desperate people seeking refuge. Through riveting firsthand testimony of witnesses and survivors who as children endured persecution, violence and flight as their families tried to escape Hitler, this series delves deeply into the tragic human consequences of public indifference, bureaucratic red tape and restrictive quota laws in America. Did the nation fail to live up to its ideals? This is a history to be reckoned with.
TV Parental Guidelines rating:
TV-MA (mature audiences only; this program is specifically designed to be viewed by adults and therefore may be unsuitable for children under 17).
#About the Exhibit
Americans and the Holocaust: A Traveling Exhibition for Libraries is made possible by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the American Library Association. This traveling exhibition for libraries is based on the original exhibition which opened in April 2018 at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., during the Museum's 25th anniversary.
Americans and the Holocaust was made possible by the generous support of lead sponsor Jeannie & Jonathan Lavine. Additional major funding was provided by the Bildners — Joan & Allen z”l, Elisa Spungen & Rob, Nancy & Jim; and Jane and Daniel Och. The Museum's exhibitions are also supported by the Lester Robbins and Sheila Johnson Robbins Traveling and Special Exhibitions Fund, established in 1990.
