The Destroyed Communities Interactive Learning Center was made
possible by a grant from Survivor Edith Mincberg.
GRATITUDE REPORT 2015 33
For the past year, ensuring the conservation and protection of
Holocaust Museum Houston’s artifacts and resources has been
an even higher priority for the Museum than usual. To adhere
to its mission, the Museum must strive not only to collect but to
care for and make accessible artifacts and eyewitness survivor
accounts to ensure that these histories are not lost to future
generations.
It is a mission the Museum has worked diligently on this past
year, from preserving our Holocaust-era Danish rescue boat from
Houston’s heat and humidity to protecting the oral testimonies
of 281 Houston-area survivors of the Holocaust, liberators and
witnesses.
Work continued on restoration of our 1940s-era Danish boat,
of the same type as those used to save more than 7,200 Jews
from almost certain execution at the hands of German Nazis.
That extensive conservation effort began in 2012 and continued
until its formal rededication in October 2015. The Museum raised
almost $500,000 to complete the renovation.
After three years of planning and discussions with the USC
Shoah Foundation’s Preserving the Legacy initiative, the Museum
negotiated a contract to begin the actual digitization of 281
oral testimonies from the Museum’s collection for integration
into the foundation’s Visual History Archive. HMH’s oral history
project was initially created in 1985 under the auspices of the
American Jewish Committee and the Jewish Federation. In 1990,
HMH began directing the project. Its goal was to document and
preserve survivor testimonies to educate students and others
about the dangers of prejudice.
Interviewees are predominantly Holocaust survivors but also
include military personnel, liberators, military prisoners of war and
rescuers. Each interview is about two hours long and is a full life
history, covering the interviewee’s life before, during and after the
genocide. The collection also includes one Rwandan Tutsi Genocide
survivor. In addition, 233 of the testimonies have transcripts. The
collection also includes testimonies from several prominent figures
in the Houston community, including Leon Cooper, who was on
“Schindler’s list,” Hana Ginzbarg, who founded the Hana and
Arthur Ginzbarg Nature Discovery Center, and liberator Ben Love,
a prominent Houston philanthropist and businessman.
In addition to the digitization for visitor viewing and testimony
protection, a major new project was initiated in 2014 to digitally
tell the story of 80 destroyed communities that are featured on the
Museum’s memorial slope. Using a newly installed touchscreen in
The Museum’s Boniuk Library, visitors can learn about the history
of each community, view photos of life before the Holocaust and
read survivor stories. While already installed, it will be formally
opened to the public on Jan. 27, 2016. The exhibit will eventually
display the history of 80 lost communities.
PRESERVATION AND ACCESS
Efforts also were undertaken to better preserve and display
the silk dress worn by Survivor Chaja Verveer as a one-year-old
child, as well as the iconic “Red Handkerchief” made by women
imprisoned in the Vught Concentration Camp.
The Boniuk Library continued to grow during the past year,
with its collection now totaling almost 9,000 books and 850
audio-visual materials for use by students, researchers and the
general public.
More than 3,900 visitors utilized the library’s services, and library
staff assisted with 671 research or reference requests and
developed a new library exhibit that opened in April 2015.
“The rededication was a beautiful
afternoon around a sad era,
but I was encouraged to see
the spontaneous reaction of
Houstonians. People get the
positive side of this tragic
situation and recognize this boat
as a symbol of great humanity.”
- Ole Philipson, former Danish
ambassador