A powerful exhibit in the MSU Broad Art Museum, Americans and the Holocaust: A Michigan Perspective Exhibit, will close November 17.
The exhibit explores how historical understanding and personal narratives can guide us in shaping a more empathetic and inclusive future.
Developed through a collaboration between the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, the Michael and Elaine Serling Institute for Jewish Studies and Modern Israel, and the MSU Department of History, the project draws on research by students in Professor Kirsten Fermaglich’s Spring 2025 class: History 480 Seminar in American History: Americans and the Holocaust.
These students examined local archives and personal family collections to help provide insight into the experiences of people and families who survived the Holocaust and planted roots in Michigan.
“I think this exhibit demonstrates how important and needed Holocaust education is for students at many different levels,” said Dr. Fermaglich. “Younger students can engage with issues of prejudice, discrimination, tolerance and bystander behavior; while older students can learn some of the complex history in Europe and the United States that enabled the Holocaust to take place, as well as learning about its depths of dehumanization and violence, and its impact upon victims and survivors.”
“The ability of an authoritarian government and an apathetic civil society to isolate, dehumanize and, ultimately, murder an entire population is something Americans need to be able to recognize and understand.”
Many organizations and individuals provided materials and access to the project, including Judy Brady, the Center for Michigan Jewish Heritage, the Detroit Jewish News, the Jewish Federation of Detroit, Spencer Israel, David Mittleman, Elizabeth Morisseau, Ellen Pollak, Ellen Rothfeld, Ethan Seelig, Stephen Rachman, Betty Seagull, and the Zekelman Holocaust Center.
Excerpts taken from original article published in The Jewish News.