Exhibit on discrimination and anti-Semitism opens at HMLC

Jewish Community Relations Council Executive Director Batya Abramson-Goldstein (left) talks with HMLC director Jean Cavender and Federation CEO/President Andrew Rehfeld during the opening of the ‘Standing for Justice’ exhibit. Abramson-Goldstein was the guest speaker at the opening event. Photo: Philip Deitch

The St. Louis Holocaust Museum and Learning Center (HMLC) recently opened a new exhibition, “Standing for Justice 1930-1950: Documentation from the St. Louis Jewish Community Archives,” which will run through the end of January.

The exhibition, including documents and artifacts, illustrates the St. Louis Jewish community’s response to discrimination in general and anti-Semitism in particular. Selected documentation drawn from the 1930s through the 1940s reveals the varied actions and reactions to wartime concerns, post-war discrimination, religious and political extremism and the Communist “Red Scare.”

“This powerful exhibition examines how the St. Louis community addressed some of these issues during the 1930s and 1940s.  This show should educate and provoke a great deal of discussion and self-reflection within our community,” said Daniel Reich, HMLC curator and director of education. 

Barb Raznick, Director of the Saul Brodsky Jewish Community Library, said, “Once our archivist, Diane Everman, started processing the rich JCRC historical collection found in our St. Louis Jewish Community Archives, provocative and amazing documents surfaced that we wanted to share with the community. “

The exhibition, in the Holocaust Museum at the Jewish Federation Kopolow building, 12 Millstone Campus Drive, is co-sponsored by the Holocaust Museum, Brodsky Jewish Community Library, JCRC, Regional Arts Council, Ken and Nancy Kranzberg, Lawrence and Hannah Langsam and Marvin and Harlene Wool. 

Admission is free.