Days of Remembrance
Federation to host Children of the Holocaust Exhibit April 17-May 31

"Holocaust - Total Fire" by J.S. age 18

The Jewish Federation is honored to be the first of many local organizations and institutions to host the “Children of the Holocaust” exhibit on loan from the Hannah Lindahl Children’s Museum of Mishawaka.  The exhibit will be at the Federation from April 17 through May 31, 2011. 

Last year, Misty Garner and her students from The Joint Service Campus Program of Mishawaka joined us at our Yom HaShoah program to talk about the project that they had just completed.  A generous grant from the ArtsEverywhere Fund of the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County enabled approximately 70 items from the original exhibit shown at the Hannah Lindahl Children’s Museum to be replicated and made available to travel throughout St. Joseph County.  The next stop for this exhibit will be St. Mary’s College.

Misty Garner  will join us again at our community-wide Yom HaShoah program at the Jewish Federation on Sunday, May 1 at 7 PM. If you are unable to make it then, please be sure to stop by any other time of the week to see this moving exhibit.  Please contact Chaya at the Jewish Federation with any questions.

About the Exhibit by Misty Garner
“Children of the Holocaust: A Special Exhibit - Children in Crisis Reflecting on Children in Crisis through Art and Poetry” is the marrying of two great passions:  the need to remember the lessons of the Holocaust and the desire to showcase the compelling talent of students attending the Joint Service Campus Program.

Misty Garner, Title I Instructor, explains the genesis of the project: The Holocaust has been an area of keen interest for me since I read Escape to Warsaw in the fifth grade.  It is a subject I’ve taught on many times.  Later, through my grandmother, I learned that I had many  relatives who had been murdered during the Holocaust.  This inspired me to do something meaningful to bring the message and lessons of the Holocaust to remembrance.

Meanwhile, I have worked at the Joint Service Campus Program (JSCP) for thirteen years and have always been astounded by the creativity and talent that students have in the area of poetry and artistic expression.  Their voices expressed in these mediums have always been powerful, raw, and honest.  I have long looked for a way to present their work in a forum that would cause people to see past their challenges to their gifts.

One morning the inspiration to combine the two desires came very naturally and out of the blue.  I actually called Peggy Marker, curator of the Hannah Lindahl Children’s Museum, the same morning to find out if the museum would be interested in showcasing the project.  She was immediately supportive and enthusiastic.  I then partnered with another teacher at JSCP, Rashel Jackson, to see the project through to fruition.  She extended the Holocaust study across the curriculum with her students and I used Holocaust themed materials for my Title I reading groups.  This exhibit is the culmination of students’ emotions, reactions, and turmoil as they reflected on the Holocaust.

About the Artists
The Joint Service Campus Program is a School City of Mishawaka alternative school program serving the residents at the Family and Children’s Center.  Students arrive in our program through a variety of avenues, but all students are experiencing some form of acute crisis and need support to strengthen their emotional and behavioral health.  Students are often facing challenges precipitated by abuse, depression, substance abuse, and/or aggressive behaviors/lifestyle.

School has often been an area of failure for students, whether due to stress, absenteeism or disabilities which complicate success.  Students participating in the Holocaust study included students with severe emotional disabilities, learning disabilities, mild mental disabilities and students on the autism spectrum.  They are a courageous and resilient group of young people who bring a unique perspective as they reflect on “Children of the Holocaust.”