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A nonprofit, independent news source to inform, inspire, educate and connect the St. Louis Jewish community.

St. Louis Jewish Light

A nonprofit, independent news source to inform, inspire, educate and connect the St. Louis Jewish community.

St. Louis Jewish Light

A nonprofit, independent news source to inform, inspire, educate and connect the St. Louis Jewish community.

St. Louis Jewish Light

The Holocaust

Inside the railcar: New Holocaust Museum exhibit shows what words can’t

Inside the railcar: New Holocaust Museum exhibit shows what words can’t

By Bill Motchan, Special to the Jewish LightPublished September 9, 2025

A powerful visual and physical display begins a four-day residency on Wednesday, Sept. 10 at the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum. The Holocaust Museum cattle car exhibit, “Hate Ends Now,” shares the stories of two survivors, Nate Leipeige...

From Auschwitz to St. Louis: a son carries his father’s story

From Auschwitz to St. Louis: a son carries his father’s story

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished September 8, 2025

When the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum opens its doors on Sept. 28 for “Survivor Hour: Josh Schonfeld,” it won’t just be another lecture. This free community program offers a rare chance to hear how one family’s story of survival...

Visual arts teacher Ariel Bassano (L) stands next to a painting identified by Dutch newspaper AD as believed to be "Portrait of a Lady" by Italian baroque portraitist Giuseppe Ghislandi, stolen by the Nazis from a Dutch Jewish art collector, as it is displayed at the Public Prosecutor's Office in Mar del Plata, Argentina, on Sept. 3, 2025.(Stringer/AFP via Getty Images)

She tried to sell her Nazi father’s looted Jewish art. Then came the raid

Philissa Cramer, JTAPublished September 4, 2025

(JTA) — After multiple failed attempts, Argentine police have recovered a painting that the Nazis looted from a Dutch Jewish art dealer during the Holocaust. Dutch journalists first spotted the painting, “Portrait of a Lady” by Giuseppe Ghislandi,...

A real estate listing in Argentina featuring “Portrait of a Lady.” Source: Screenshot courtesy of AD/Used with permission.

Nazi-looted painting just turned up in a real estate ad

JNS StaffPublished August 25, 2025

A late-Baroque portrait stolen from a Jewish arts dealer in Europe by the Nazis during World War II has surfaced in Argentina, having been featured in an online real-estate ad, a Dutch newspaper reported Monday. “Portrait of a Lady” by Vittore...

The Imperial War Museum in the UK

Museum doubles down on disputed claim Nazis targeted observant Jews

JNS StaffPublished August 18, 2025

(JNS) -- The Imperial War Museum, a British national institution tasked with recording all the United Kingdom’s military conflicts since 1914, has doubled down on an information board that according to critics falsely suggested that the Nazis targeted...

The cattle car that is the "No Hate Now" exhibit.

Tickets on sale now for chilling Holocaust cattle car exhibit in St. Louis

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished August 11, 2025

Tickets are now on sale for the "Hate Ends Now" cattle car exhibit, coming to the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum Sept. 10–14, and organizers expect them to go quickly. Capacity is limited, and walk-up sales will not be available. Museum...

An image of Evyatar David from a video released by Hamas is shown at a rally in Tel Aviv, Aug. 2, 2025. (Ori Aviram/Middle East Images via AFP/Getty Images)

Holocaust survivors say latest hostage videos recall their own condition 80 years ago

Philissa Cramer, JTAPublished August 4, 2025

Holocaust survivors say the hostage videos published in recent days recall for them their own torture and deprivation under the Nazis eight decades ago. “Their bodies are painfully thin—nearly Muselmänner—their eyes terrified and vacant,...

Billy Joel performs at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., Friday, May 19, 2023.

‘No matter what, I will always be a Jew.’ Billy Joel opens up about his family’s Holocaust history

By PJ Grisar, The ForwardPublished July 16, 2025

In the second installment of And So It Goes, HBO’s new two-part documentary about Billy Joel, the Piano Man explains why he wore a yellow Star of David in August 2017, during his residency at Madison Square Garden, in his most extensive filmed account...

St. Louis dressmaker’s legacy adds new thread to Holocaust story and exhibition

St. Louis dressmaker’s legacy adds new thread to Holocaust story and exhibition

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished July 16, 2025

When Arlen Chaleff got a call from the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum, she didn’t hesitate. Within moments, she was digging through old file cabinets, pulling out patterns along with  naturalization papers and anything else she could...

Stones are laid at the monument for Walter and Else Berger.

Two generations later, Holocaust survivor’s gravestone is made right

By Bill Motchan, Special to the Jewish LightPublished July 9, 2025

A St. Louis Holocaust survivor was honored with a special memorial service late last month — 60 years after his death.  Walter Berger’s family members gathered June 30 to unveil a new monument at his grave in Memorial Park Cemetery in Staunton,...

A still from "Sevap/Mitzvah." (©geminisnakeproductions)

St. Louis screens powerful film on Muslim-Jewish rescue during WWII

Shira Li Bartov, JTAPublished July 8, 2025

(JTA) — In 1941 Sarajevo, a Muslim woman hid her Jewish friend from fascist roundups. Half a century later, that same Muslim woman was trapped in the besieged capital during the 1992-1995 Bosnian War — and her Jewish friend made sure she got out. These...

The cattle car that is the "No Hate Now" exhibit.

Immersive Holocaust cattle car exhibit coming to St. Louis

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished July 7, 2025

The door closes behind you, and suddenly, you're in the dark. The air is still. A cold floor beneath you. Around you, shadows flicker—portraits of people once packed inside this very kind of railcar. Some clutch children. Some look out, searching for...

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