Brandon Twp.-The black and white photos are anywhere from 70 to 82 years old. The eyes that stare out from them are those of men, women and children. The expressions on the faces vary, but are most often ones of confusion, resignation, and absolute misery.
They are nameless and many, and accompanied by photos of Adolf Hitler, responsible for one of the most horrific events in human history? the Holocaust, in which more than 6 million Jews were murdered by the Nazis during World War II. The pictures, about 40 in all and on loan from the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills, are on display at the Brandon Township Library, 304 South St., through April 18. The display, including books on World War II and the Holocaust, are in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day, April 15.
‘With most displays, people glance at it and walk on by, but with this display, it’s hard to walk by and ignore it,? said Ben Peterson, library assistant who erected the tribute to the tragedy with assistance from Groveland Township resident Judy Shirley and facilities manager Brent Stringer. ‘They (the Holocaust Memorial Center) have been very gracious with loaning us these items. It’s very difficult to send these things out… I think if people follow the timeline to these pictures, they will get the broad scope of what happened in Europe at the time of the Nazi regime.?
Peterson, a historian, has memorialized the Holocaust for the past six years at the library. Before last year, displays consisted mainly of books and information he found from various internet sources. But in 2014, the Holocaust Memorial Center loaned the library 24 pictures from their collection titled ‘The Nazi Holocaust: Series I.? This year, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of the Holocaust, the library has borrowed the 40 photos that comprise ‘Series II.? The images are arranged in a roughly chronological order at the library, beginning with an image from April 1, 1933, showing boycotts of Jewish shops in Germany, and ending with a photograph dated April 12, 1945, of then-General Dwight Eisenhower and General George Patton, among others, viewing the charred bodies of prisoners burned at a death camp in Gotha, Gy. after liberation.
Many of the photos were taken by Allied Forces upon liberation, notes Peterson. Due to the extremely graphic nature of a few of the photos, they are not displayed, but available upon request.
Nearly all photos have extensive captions that explain not only what is presented in the image, but also offering additional historical information and quotes from those who had critical roles during World War II, including Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister, who warned at the time of the Munich Agreement in 1938, ‘We are in the midst of disaster of the first magnitude.?
Hitler is also quoted, ‘I fanaticized the masses to turn them into the instrument of my political aims.?
Judy Shirley accompanied Peterson to the Holocaust Memorial Center to borrow the collection of photographs. Shirley was born in 1938 in New York to Jewish parents. While few of her ancestors were directly affected by the Jewish Holocaust, some were subjected to pogroms, violent riots aimed at massacring Jews in the 18th century.
‘I believe it is important for people to know what went before,? she said. ‘You have no insight if you don’t know history… These are very graphic pictures and some are more graphic than will suit some people’s comfort… I hope it opens up their thinking. It’s very easy to become complacent with one’s life. There’s no reason not to be, we have everything we want? we have enough food and if we don’t, we can get it? there is a food pantry here and people who want to help. I hope that when people look at this display, they see it as part of their history. They are not separate from it. It was not just a Jewish holocaust, people of all nationalities were incarcerated, brutalized and killed. The horror did not just touch Jews, but anyone not in agreement with the Third Reich.?
Feiga Weiss, librarian archivist at the Holocaust Memorial Center, said some of the photos in the collection loaned to the library are ‘very hard-hitting,? but give a visual understanding of the Holocaust and she is pleased with Peterson’s decision to place some of the more graphic photos higher than the eye level of children. This series of photos, she adds, is more comprehensive than last year’s display, giving more of an idea of how the genocide developed. She hopes that the displays helps viewers be more socially and consciously aware of what is around them and inspires responsibility to their fellow humans.
“We hope when people look at these phoots, it shocks them into realizing that we can’t be bystanders, we have to take interest in our community because otherwise, for better or for worse, the community and the powers that will be will take care of us,” said Weiss. “We have a voice in our government and should take that responsibility very seriously. Under Hitler, people allowed themselves to be led by a charismatic leader, and they ended up following someone that brought ruin to themselves and civilization… It’s hard to believe there are people who don’t believe the Holocaust happened. Liberators from all the countries could not believe what they saw and they were affected for decades later to their dying day. Very often, people who give us their oral histories, that they are giving these histories for the sole purpose of letting the world know the holocaust did happen.”