The idea for the museum was sparked by the traveling exhibition called "A Reason to Remember: Roth Germany, 1933-1942," which was in need of a permanent location.
James E. Young, director of the Institute for Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies and Lara R. Curtis, assistant director, look at the exhibit "A Reason to Remember: Roth Germany, 1933-1942" now permanently on display at the institute, which officially opened Monday at the University of Massachusetts.AMHERST – Space that was created for the melding of the arts with the spiritual by the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts six years ago has now been transformed into the new home of the Institute for Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies.
The institute at the University of Massachusetts officially opened Monday, although programs had already been held there earlier this month.
The idea for the museum at 758 North Pleasant St. was sparked by the traveling exhibition called "A Reason to Remember: Roth, Germany, 1933-1942," which was on display at the university three years ago. The permanent Holocaust teaching exhibition at that time was housed in the Hatikvah Holocaust Education Center in Springfield.
But the education center was in financial trouble, said Distinguished Professor James E. Young, an internationally renowned scholar of Holocaust and memory studies and director of the institute.
Those at that center approached him about providing a home to the permanent exhibition, which tells in pictures, film and text the stories of five families from Roth, Germany during the Nazi regime.
Young said he and other Holocaust scholars welcomed the opportunity; they just had to find a space.
Lara R. Curtis, a specialist in literature and film related to the Holocaust and the institute’s assistant director, found that the property called The Ark was for sale. An anonymous donor offered to buy the house and lease it to the center for $1.
Young said they had been thinking about creating a space for Holocaust research and study for several years.
The Jewish Federation of Western Massachusetts gave the institute the exhibit in November 2010. The Hatikvah Center, housed in a building attached to the Springfield Jewish Community Center, closed two months before.
Young said there are a many areas at the university in which students study the Holocaust and genocide. The institute will provide a central place for programs and for people to gather, study and research. Besides the exhibition space, there will be study spaces and a library upstairs.
So far, Elsa and Herbert Roth, Schoen Booksellers and the estate of Caston Schmir have donated about 700 books, Young said. He will be moving his collection of more than 1,000 to the center as well.
He said the museum includes the study of memory because “We want to look at how the Holocaust and the genocide are remembered,” he said. They want to look at the “construction of memory.”
Keeping the memory alive is vital because it affects decisions about intervention today.
The institute will also be a place that students from area schools will be able to visit. Curtis sees the institute “establishing partnerships and having events” for the entire community, not just scholars.
With 35,000 to 45,000 visitors to campus a year, she believes the institute and exhibit will receive more visitors than Hatikvah had.
Young said they will be establishing regular hours soon, and there’s a docent training April 8 for anyone interested.