Exhibit: In Ramsey Library’s Blowers Gallery until September 9th, during regular library hours.
Reception: Held in the Blowers Gallery from 3-5pm on Saturday, September 9th (the exhibition’s final day). The closing reception will be attended by the exhibition’s curator, New York City-based photographer Steve Strauss as well as some of the Gross Breesen relatives.
This exhibit tells the story of Jewish youth at Gross-Breesen, an agricultural training farm on border of Germany and Poland established before World War II to help Jewish youth escape mounting Nazi oppression before the start of the Holocaust. At Gross-Breesen, children learned farming, gardening, crafts and household duties, along with foreign languages, heritage cultivation and character development.
On Nov 9 & 10 1938 the day of Kristallnacht, the Nazis attacked the school and the Jewish youth 18 years and older were taken to Buchenwald concentration camp. But thanks to a network of supporters of the Gross-Breeseners’, the 130 Jewish youth who completed the program were able to obtain visas and immigrate to accepting countries around the world. Here is some insightful background on the origins of the exhibition from the daughter of one Gross-Breesener.
Please visit : www.grossbreesen.com for more details.
