“Living On: Portraits of Tennessee Survivors and Liberators,” a traveling documentary exhibition and project of the Tennessee Holocaust Commission (THC), opens next Tuesday at the Carroll Reece Museum at ETSU and continues through Nov. 29.
It is sponsored locally by the Reece Museum and ETSU’s Center for Appalachian Studies and Services (CASS), of which the museum is a part, as well as ETSU’s Department of English, the B’nai Sholom Congregation, and several anonymous donors.
This exhibition of black and white photographs by Robert Heller includes images of 74 individuals from throughout Tennessee, all of whom were survivors of the Holocaust, U.S. Army witnesses, hidden children, or refugees prior to liberation in 1945. It also includes biographies of each, along with maps of Europe showing birthplaces and locations of ghettos and concentration camps.
“They are witnesses to a powerful moment in the history of civilization and their testimonies are both heartbreaking and heartwarming,” according to the THC Web site. “They have come forward to share their experiences in hopes that history will never repeat itself. ‘Living On’ gives voice to storytellers whose ability to testify may soon be lost through age and frailty. It stands as a powerful testament to human resiliency in spite of the efforts, inspired by fanatical racial hatred, to eliminate the very faces and voices it captured.”
The exhibit gives museum visitors a chance to “meet” fellow citizens through the medium of photographic portrait and biographical sketch when personal encounters prove impossible.
“A few of the interview subjects had never told their stories before, even to their children,” said Heller, an associate professor in the College of Communication and Information at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. “It’s so important to hear their words, see their pictures and see their faces.”
In addition to Heller, those involved in the exhibit include journalist Dawn Weiss Smith, who conducted, recorded and transcribed the interviews with the subjects; Susan Knowles, independent curator, who edited the accounts and conducted additional interviews; and documentary filmmaker Will Pedigo of Nashville Public Television, who accompanied Heller and Smith as they traveled across the state and produced the Emmy Award-winning video, “Living On: Tennesseans Remembering the Holocaust.”
Several special events are planned in conjunction with the “Living On” exhibit.
A kosher-style opening reception will be held today from 5-7 p.m. Three of the individuals who are featured in “Living On” – Fred Jarvis of Bristol, Sonja DuBois of Knoxville, and Harry Snodgrass of Mount Juliet – will be honored during the reception.
An in-service opportunity for middle and high school teachers who would like to learn how to use “Living On” in their classrooms will take place Monday, Sept. 24, from 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Sponsored by the Tennessee Holocaust Commission, this free workshop will introduce educators to the exhibit Web site and provide lesson plans that can be adapted for any classroom.
The presentations are interdisciplinary and relevant to social studies, language arts and fine arts.
The event includes personal accounts by Holocaust survivors. Teachers interested in attending this workshop must contact Stacey Knight at the THC at (615) 343-1171 or stacey.l.knight@vanderbilt.edu to register.
In addition, two lectures are planned: “Honoring the Past: A Journey of Discovering My Jewish Identity” by April Borisewitz, an ETSU alumna whose grandmother was among the few who survived the Auschwitz concentration camp and whose father was a hidden child at that time, on Thursday, Sept. 27, from 6-7 p.m., and “Survival and Photos of the Holocaust: A Decision of Desire” by Dr. Scott Koterbay, associate professor of art history in ETSU’s Department of Art and Design, on Friday, Oct. 5, from noon-1 p.m.
The Reece Museum is on Gilbreath Drive near the ETSU Foundation Carillon. 0Three parking spaces are reserved at the museum’s east end for patrons of both the museum and CASS; visitors are asked to obtain a temporary parking permit at the Public Safety building located at the main campus entrance on University Parkway. Regular museum hours are 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, and 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Thursday.
For more information or for special assistance for those with disabilities, call (423) 439-4392.

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