The Pitkin County is one of 50 U.S. libraries newly selected to host Americans and the Holocaust, a traveling exhibition from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and the American Library Association (ALA) that examines the motives, pressures, and fears that shaped Americans’ responses to Nazism, war, and genocide in Europe during the 1930s and 1940s.
Following a highly successful tour to 50 libraries from 2021 to 2023, the touring library exhibition— based on the special exhibition of the same name at the Museum in Washington, D.C. — will travel to an additional 50 U.S. libraries from 2024 to 2026, covering wide distances from Hawaii and Alaska to Texas and New Hampshire.
“We are proud to have been selected from a competitive pool of applicants from across the country to host this important exhibition from the Washington, D.C.-based Holocaust museum,” said Library Director Genevieve Smith. “Supervising Librarian Shannon Ressel has worked for three years to bring this opportunity to Pitkin County, and we are honored to be one of the selected Colorado host sites. We encourage community members to visit the exhibition, attend the related programs, and reflect on the questions it raises.”
The 1,100-square-foot exhibition examines various aspects of American society: the government, the military, refugee aid organizations, the media, and the general public. Drawing on a remarkable collection of primary sources from the 1930s and ’40s, the exhibition tells the stories of Americans who acted in response to Nazism, challenging the commonly held assumptions that Americans knew little and did nothing about the Nazi persecution and murder of Jews as the Holocaust unfolded. It provides a portrait of American society that shows how the Depression, isolationism, xenophobia, racism, and antisemitism shaped responses to Nazism and the Holocaust.
Americans and the Holocaust will be on display at Pitkin County Library from June 15 to July 27. The exhibit can be viewed at your own pace as a self-guided tour, or guided tours are available. If you are interested in a guided tour, please fill out the Guided Tour Request form or contact Shannon Ressel at [email protected] or 970-429-1943.
Please also join us for these special events related to the exhibit:
Thursday, June 18, 5:00-7:00pm: Opening Reception, Library Main Level
Wednesday, June 24, 5:30-6:30pm: Americans and the Holocaust Book Club Discussion- In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larsen, Dunaway Community Room
Thursday, June 25, 4:00-6:00pm: Film Screening and Discussion- From Swastika to Jim Crow, Dunaway Community Room
Tuesday, June 30, 3:00-6:30pm: Film Screening and Discussion- The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown, Dunaway Community Room
Monday, July 20, 5:00-7:00pm: Join the Pitkin County Library, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the Aspen Chabad Jewish Community Center as Gretchen Skidmore, Director of Education, presents Americans' Responses to the Holocaust- New Research, New Perspectives. Note: this event is not hosted at the Library.
Wednesday, July 22, 4:00-6:00pm: Book Discussion- The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration, Dunaway Community Room
Friday, July 24, 4:00-6:00pm: Amache Presentation and Discussion with Derek Okubo
Shannon Ressel, [email protected], 970-429-1943