Military Museum Hosts Concentration Camp Traveling Exhibit

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (04/12/2011)(readMedia)-- The New York Military History Museum and Veterans Research Center unveils a new temporary exhibit here tomorrow as WWII veterans prepare to commemorate the 66th anniversary of the liberation of the notorious Nazi Concentration Camp Dachau in late April, 1945.

The traveling exhibit, "Names Instead of Numbers" displays a selection of biographies from the Dachau Remembrance Book Project. The exhibit features photographs from the lives of former prisoners of Dachau concentration camp.

The exhibit will be open to the public at the Military Museum through May 1st, Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yom Hashoah, in the State of Israel and for Jewish people around the world.

"It is easy to allow the numbers to obscure the incomprehensibly huge personal tragedy the Holocaust left in its wake," said Sabine Gerhardus, project leader and Remembrance Book volunteer. "This project has allowed us so far to display the stories of 130 victims, both in the camp and after their liberation."

"The "Names Instead of Numbers" exhibit is a terrific example of the partnerships formed by the Military Museum," said Michael Aikey, Museum Director. "It gives us the opportunity to bring in temporary exhibits that we might otherwise never provide to the community."

The exhibit is the companion to the "Remembrance Book for the Prisoners of Dachau Concentration Camp and their outer camps," first created in Dachau in 1999. The Dachau Remembrance Book is a sign of remembrance for many victims of the camp. The narratives and biographies remove former prisoners of Dachau from the anonymous masses that suffered under the Nazis and recognize them as individuals.

The exhibit comes to New York and the state Military History Museum and Veterans Research Center through its historical ties to the New York Army National Guard's 42nd Infantry Division, with its headquarters in nearby Troy, N.Y.

Soldiers from the "Rainbow" Division were part of the U.S. Seventh Army liberation of some 33,000 prisoners at Dachau. Assistant division commander Brig. Gen. Henning Linden arranged for the surrender of the camp on April 29, 1945.

"The 42nd "Rainbow" Division obviously has an extremely important place in the history - and of course the memory – of the Dachau Concentration Camp," Gerhardus said. "As the contemporary bearers of this legacy, we feel it would be a fantastic opportunity for current soldiers to learn about those rescued by their forebears, not only in terms of emaciated bodies, but also in terms of individuals who will never forget that day in April 1945."

"Beyond the historical ties to the Soldiers of the 42nd Infantry Division, this exhibit also highlights the WWII service that so many New Yorkers had putting an end to the Holocaust," Aikey said.

The Remembrance Book project leaders are pleased that the New York Military Museum and the New York Army National Guard's 42nd Infantry Division could be the first U.S. host of the traveling exhibit, said Gerhardus. "This is the first time we have attempted to display our award winning exhibition outside of Europe," she said.

The exhibit is scheduled for the Brookdale Community College's Center for World War II Studies and Conflict Resolution in northern New Jersey from May 8-22. The Virginia Holocaust Museum will then display the exhibit in June. The exhibit is then expected to travel to Oklahoma City, Okla. during the annual reunion of the 42nd Infantry Division Veterans Memorial Foundation.

"Names Instead of Numbers" traveling exhibit

The Remembrance Book project was founded in 1999 with the help of a number of local organizations, and has collated over 130 biographies in its short history, all of which have been written by volunteers.

In 2008 the Remembrance Book project officially launched an accompanying traveling exhibition that summarizes the stories of select biographies in the book.

The exhibition was first displayed in late March 2008 at the Protestant Church of Reconciliation, the Protestant Memorial to victims of National Socialism at the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site.

In Europe, the exhibition has been used to bring home to young people the intimate, personal nature of history. The numbers eventually begin to lose their meaning; the names are far harder to forget.

The exhibit has appeared in seven European countries since 2008. Most recently, the exhibit was on display at University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom.

"The exhibition was a complete success," said University of Nottingham Prof. Magnus Brechtken. "We combined the exhibition with a lecture series for the general public that dealt with the themes 'The Third Reich' and 'Working with the Past'...Feedback from the visitors was overwhelmingly positive."

More information about the exhibit can be found at www.gedaechtnisbuch.de/namen-statt-nummern/english/index-engl.html.

New York State Military History Museum and Veterans Research Center

The New York State Military museum houses over 10,000 artifacts dating from the Revolutionary War to the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that relate to New York State's military forces, the state's military history and the contributions of New York's veterans. The artifacts include uniforms, weapons, artillery pieces, and art. A significant portion of the museum's collection is from the Civil War.

The library and archive holdings in the Veterans Research Center include a 2000 volume library of military and New York State history, over 6,000 photographs, unit history files, broadsides, scrapbooks, letters and maps.

The museum, at 81 Lake Avenue in Saratoga Springs, is open Tuesdays through Sundays from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., except Sundays when the museum opens at noon.

The museum is closed every Monday.

Media Opportunities

News media representatives can arrange to speak about the temporary exhibit and the Military Museum with the New York National Guard's Director of Military History, Mr. Michael Aikey at (518) 581-5101.

For interest in the New York Army National Guard's role in the liberation of Dachau and the effort to bring the "Names Instead of Numbers" exhibit to the United States this spring, contact Lt. Col. Richard Goldenberg, 42nd Infantry Division Public Affairs Officer at (518) 786-6150 or 727-7314.

Both representatives can be available for interviews on site at the New York State Military History Museum.

Posted Tuesday April 12, 2011 at 03:01 pm by New York State Division of Military & Naval Affairs
Last Updated Thursday April 14, 2011 at 09:44 am