21, the Cultural Center will reopen the next day with another Holocaust exhibit, courtesy of the Jewish Federation and running through Oct.

“They’ll see them first as children,” she said. When middle-school boys and girls come to see the exhibit, they won’t be focusing on the photographs of the adults survivors of the Holocaust so much as they will on the smallest figures - the ones who resemble them. Just last week, docents – museum guides – were introduced to the stories of the 17 hidden children featured in the exhibit to help them better serve those who see it.Īmong the most powerful aspects of the exhibit are the family snapshots of the hidden children themselves, according to Grau. The exhibit has been paired with educational material for schoolchildren that encourages teachers to prepare their students before arriving at the Cultural Center. “We’re reaching the point where there’ll be no one left to tell the story.” With the passage of time, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find men and women who have clear first-hand recollections of the Holocaust, said Barbara Grau, the executive director of the Rockland Center for Holocaust Studies. “They tried to keep our life as children as normal as possible.”Īlthough Vos will not give public speeches as part of the exhibit, a slate of speakers has been assembled to talk about what it meant to be a Jewish child in World War II France, Poland, Belgium and Holland (see schedule). Moorman said her parents told her to refer to the adult visitors as aunts and uncles, to keep a feeling of family in the house. It was not unusual for her to bring home empty tins her mother could boil for their food remnants. Now 61, Moorman remembers scrounging for food scraps left behind by the same soldiers who would have harmed them. There are plenty of accounts of close calls when those staying with the family had to be spirited from the house on a moment’s notice to evade detection, Moorman said. The 171-page text puts the Vos family story into perspective. of Mansfield Ohio, the book “At the End of the Tunnel” is available only through Vos’ family. Johtje Vos has been quoted saying she has allowed her life story to be used to educate others about the Holocaust, but she isn’t comfortable with plaudits.įortunately, for those who may not get a chance to meet Vos, the former journalist has written a book about her family’s experiences and how they evaded direct harm from the Nazis throughout the war. The Vos family has been repeatedly honored for their courage even as they have downplayed their contributions. One of them, Rockland resident Ilse Loeb, is featured in the exhibit.Īart Vos died in 1990 and Johtje, now 90, is less comfortable telling her family’s story than she once was, according to her daughter, Glenford resident Barbara Moorman. In their native Holland, Vos and her husband Aart and their family – hid 37 Jewish children and adults from the Nazis during World War II. The federation chose this exhibit because of its impact on those who view it, because it highlights the consequences of the Holocaust on both Jews and non-Jews, and – according to Project Coordinator Rita Eckstein – because the exhibit has a dramatic connection to one of Ulster County’s own residents, Woodstocker Johtje Vos.

21.Ĭreated by the Rockland Center for Holocaust Studies, the traveling exhibition was made possible by a grant from state Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, D-Kingston, and support from the Jewish Federation of Ulster County.

To help remember some of the good people and the happy outcomes of the period, the Rondout’s Urban Cultural Park Visitors Center is hosting the exhibit “Hidden Children, The Youngest Survivors of the Holocaust” through Aug. Forgotten, sometimes, in the shadow of the Holocaust’s horrors, are the life-affirming accounts of communities that opposed Hitler and individuals who risked death to protect the most vulnerable.

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