U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum archivist to discuss drawings by child survivors

Part of a drawing created by a child survivor of the Holocaust living at the Weir Courtney children’s home in England between 1945 and 1954. Image courtesy U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

Artwork created by child Holocaust survivors will be the focus of a public lecture at 1 p.m. Sunday, March 23 at the St. Louis Holocaust Museum in the Jewish Federation Kopolow Building, 12 Millstone Campus Drive. “Children’s Drawings of Weir Courtney,” will feature Rebecca Erbelding, archivist at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, who will discuss this extraordinary cache of post-war drawings. 

After the Holocaust, the British government provided aid to more than 700 Jewish child survivors. At least 20 of these children came under the nurturing care of Alice Goldberger at a children’s home called Weir Courtney in the English countryside. Goldberger, herself a German-Jewish immigrant, had fled to the United Kingdom at the outset of the war. Hundreds of the children’s writings and drawings, depicting happy scenes from their postwar lives, were donated to the USHMM by one of Goldberger’s former wards. 

Erbelding will relate the story behind these seemingly ordinary pages and the USHMM’s efforts to preserve them. 

A light reception will follow the program.

This lecture, co-sponsored by the USHMM and the Holocaust Museum, is free and open to the public. RSVP by March 20 to Jed Silberg in the USHMM’s Midwest Regional Office at [email protected] or 847-433-8099.

For information, call Silberg or contact Dan Reich

of the Holocaust Museum at 314-442-3714 or

[email protected].