Through the American Library Association's Public Programs Office, the Americans and the Holocaust traveling exhibition will tour 50 public and university libraries through November 2023.
This 1,100-square-foot traveling exhibition is based on the exhibition that opened in April 2018 at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. The Americans and the Holocaust traveling exhibition addresses important themes in American history, including Americans’ responses to refugees, war and genocide in the 1930s and ‘40s. This exhibition will challenge the commonly held assumptions that Americans knew little and did nothing about the Nazi persecution and murder of Jews as the Holocaust unfolded.
Drawing on a remarkable collection of primary sources from the 1930s and ‘40s, the exhibition focuses on the stories of individuals and groups of Americans who took action in response to Nazism. It will challenge visitors to consider the responsibilities and obstacles faced by individuals—from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to ordinary Americans—who made difficult choices, sought to effect change, and, in a few cases, took significant risks to help victims of Nazism even as rescue never became a government priority. The exhibit hopes to challenge people to not only ask “what would I have done?” but also, “what will I do?”