Places of Remembrance

OJMCHE presents a participatory discussion that focuses on the antisemitic and dehumanizing laws passed in Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1945, which led from the gradual loss of rights to a full-scale genocide during the Second World War. The program is based upon Places of Re­membrance (Orte des Erinnerns) a memorial to the Holocaust designed by Renata Stih and Frieder Schnock, which was inaugurated in 1993 in Berlin.

April Slabosheski, OJMCHE Holocaust Educator, will discuss the legislative and social process that led to the passage of these laws and offer a comparative analysis of U.S. gov­ernmental processes and the potential for our own civic engagement today.

Places of Remembrance is a public art memorial for a former Jewish district of West Berlin known as the Bavarian Quarter. At the time it was built, Germany had just been reunified, and it was one of the first major efforts to give permanent recognition to the ways the Holocaust reached into daily life in the German capital. The competition called for a central memorial on the square, but the artists Renata Stih and Frieder Schnock instead proposed attaching 80 signs hung on lamp posts throughout the Bavarian Quarter, each one spelling out one of the hundreds of Nazi laws and rules—ranging from “Jews are not allowed to own pets” to “Jews can only buy food between 4 and 5 o’ clock”—that gradually dehumanized Berlin’s Jewish population. It has been called Berlin’s most unsettling memorial.

“This is the first public program in our new facility,” said OJMCHE Director Judy Margles. “We had not planned to open our doors to programming until the museum opens to the public in June.  However, given the turbulent climate and the rise in hate crimes, we felt compelled to provide substantive programming. As the historian Howard Zinn said, ‘Education becomes most rich and alive when it confronts the reality of moral conflict in the world.‘”

OJMCHE’s Holocaust education team led by Holocaust Educator April Slabosheski and members of the Speakers’ Bureau have presented this fall programs in over 40 schools, libraries and churches, led workshops, and offered guided tours of the Oregon Holocaust Memorial. Along with scheduled visits, OJMCHE is a quick response resource for schools that experience instances of hate speech.

April Slabosheski started work as Holocaust Educator at the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education in 2014. She received her Master of Arts degree from the University of Michigan in Judaic Studies and her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin in Community Education & Engagement.

The Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education has recently moved into new facilities at 724 NW Davis Street and administrative offices are open. The Grand Opening of the museum is scheduled for June 2017. During the ensuing months while the museum is closed, OJMCHE is participating in collaborative public programming across the city. Founded in 1990, the mission of the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education is to interpret the Oregon Jewish experience, explore the lessons of the Holocaust and foster intercultural conversations. www.ojmche.org