The-Press-News.com - Youngstown exhibit remembers Oskar Schindler as unlikely hero

YOUNGSTOWN -- Oskar Schindler, the Nazi party member who has come to personify those heroic individuals who risked their lives to rescue Jews and others from the Nazis during the Holocaust, is the subject of a national traveling exhibition, Schindler, that will be on view from Sept. 10-Oct. 22 at the Youngstown Historical Center of Industry & Labor. Organized by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the exhibit's appearance in Youngstown came about through the efforts of Youngstown State University's Center of Judaic and Holocaust Studies.

"The Schindler exhibition provides us with an opportunity to not only learn about the horrors of the Holocaust and what can happen when racism is allowed to spread unchecked, but also to engage in the story of an individual who despite the danger, saved lives," said Helene J. Sinnreich, Ph.D., director, Judaic and Holocaust Studies. "Oskar Schindler's life reminds us that even imperfect people can perform heroic actions."

Although the Center of Judaic and Holocaust Studies is the local sponsor of the traveling exhibit, they believed that the Youngstown Historical Center should display the panel exhibit.

"Because ours is a museum of industry and labor, it ties into Schindler's status as an industrialist who used his factory to shield Jewish people from the death camps," said Nancy Haraburda, site manager of the Youngstown Historical Center. "We're pleased to be hosting the exhibit at our museum because it is such a good fit with our other World War II-era collections."

Kilroy was Here! The 1940s Revisited exhibit, which captures what life was like on the home front during World War II, is currently on display. The museum also houses artifacts from the Mahoning Valley steel industry, which saw its greatest period of growth from the 1940sÑüat the start of the warÑüto the 1960s.

Admission to the Youngstown Historical Center is $7 for adults, $3 for children ages 6-12, and free for Ohio Historical Society members and children under 5 years of age. School group admission is $3 per student.

To complement the exhibition, the Center for Judaic and Holocaust Studies is showing free screenings of the Academy Award-winning movie "Schindler's List" at the Kilcawley Center on Youngstown State's campus. Show times are 7 p.m., Sept. 9, in the Ohio Room and 4 p.m., Sept. 10, in the Gallery Room.

Three free lectures also are scheduled. The first takes place on Sept. 18, from 12:30-2 p.m., in the auditorium of the Beeghly College of Education, where Cantor Moshe Taube will speak. Taube was a Holocaust survivor who worked in one of Schindler's factories during the war. On Oct. 6 at noon in the Gallery Room of the Kilcawley Center, Sinnreich will present "Beyond Schindler: The Other Jews of the Krakow Ghetto." Finally, on Oct. 16, Dr. Thomas Leary, co-director of the Center for Applied History at Youngstown State University will discuss "Slaves for the Wehrmacht: Forced Labor During the Holocaust" at 7 p.m., in the Gallery Room of the Kilcawley Center.

The exhibition was made possible by the Frances Schermer Charitable Trust. For more information about the exhibit, call 800-262-6137 or go online at www.ohiohistory.org. For additional information about the events and lectures being held on the Youngstown State University campus, visit www.ysu.edu/judaic/calendar.html.

The Youngstown Historical Center and Youngstown State University are located just three blocks apart, so walking between venues is easy. Directions to the campus buildings are found on the main university Web page at www.ysu.edu/maps.

The Youngstown Historical Center in one of 58 sites and museums administered by the Ohio Historical Society, a nonprofit organization that serves as the state's partner in preserving and interpreting Ohio's history, natural history and archaeology. For more information, visit www.ohiohistory.org.