36. December 29th, 2008 – March 15, 2009 

Sternchuss/Shooting Star

Selections from the Museum’s Doll and Unique Historic Miniatures Collections

Related art work by members of the KI Artists’ Collective and Confirmation Academy Students

Program: Sunday February 1st, 3:00pm

Speaker: Ruth Kapp Hartz

“Your Name is Renee: Ruth Kapp Hartz’ Story as a Hidden Child in Nazi-Occupied France” - Author: Stacy Cretzmayer, Oxford University Press, 1999

Photographs from Yad Vashem

Told through dolls from the collection, photographs and original artwork, this exhibition looks at the ways dolls have impacted the lives illustrated here, specifically regarding the Holocaust and the great 20th century migration of Jews from Europe to America. 

BACKGROUND:

That displacement of huge populations, whether through voluntary or involuntary emigration, or imprisonment in concentration camps, resulted in the loss of 6 million lives as well as the loss of material possessions and the destruction of entire communities and the fabric of communal life.

Fleeing families often traveled with only the clothes on their backs. If a mother managed to save the family’s Shabbat candlesticks it was considered a triumph. Therefore, for a child to save a treasured doll, truck or stuffed animal was highly unusual. There is a nurturing comfort factor associated with having a doll or stuffed animal and one can only imagine the importance of the inanimate companions, presented here, to the children who loved them.

The exhibition also highlights related collections of the museum including three wonderful original dollhouse rooms created by KI members in the 1980s.

DESCRIPTION: The tragedy of the Holocaust resulted in the loss of 6 million lives as well as the loss of material possessions, the destruction of entire communities and the fabric of communal life. Families that could flee often traveled with only the clothes on their backs. If a mother managed to save the family’s Shabbat candlesticks it was considered a triumph. Therefore, for a child to save a treasured doll, truck or stuffed animal was highly unusual. There is a nurturing comfort factor associated with having a doll or stuffed animal and one can only imagine the importance of the inanimate companions, presented here, to the children who loved them. Told through dolls from the collection, photographs and original artwork, this exhibition looks at the ways dolls have impacted the lives illustrated here, specifically regarding the Holocaust and the great 20th century migration of Jews from Europe to America.

Invitation image:

Judith Sternchuss (Shooting star) with Her Doll

Last known photograph: circa 1935 - 1939