Carlsbad Public Library looks to teach history lesson with traveling Holocaust exhibit

Mike Smith, Carlsbad Current-Argus
·2 min read
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In the next few years Carlsbad may be among 49 other libraries in the United States to host a traveling exhibition examining Americans’ responses to the Holocaust.

Carlsbad City Council approved a $3,000 grant application July 11 to the American Library Association (ALA) and the United States Holocaust Historical Museum (USHMM) for the traveling exhibit “Americans and the Holocaust.”

City of Carlsbad Municipal Services Director Angie Barrios-Testa said if the ALA and USHMM approve the grant Carlsbad would be one of 50 sites to host the exhibit for five to six weeks.

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The ALA website indicated the special library exhibition based at the USHMM in Washington, D.C. has traveled across the U.S. for the past two years. The exhibition would be extended to 50 U.S. public and academic libraries from 2024 through 2026.

“This is an opportunity to bring an educational program to Carlsbad,” Barrios-Testa said during the City Council meeting.

Dvora Caspi of Shrewsbury received a Star of David cloth patch from her mother's cousin by marriage, Gerta Schlosserova, the sole member of her mother's family to survive the Holocaust. When placed in a sweetgrass basket given to Caspi by a friend, Caspi found a way to turn the patch into a teaching tool, when speaking to fifth-grade students about bullying.

Sarah Jones, executive director of the Carlsbad Public Library, said the $3,000 grant would help with programming costs and help pay for student transportation expenses.

“The 'Americans and the Holocaust' traveling exhibition addresses important themes in American history, including Americans’ responses to refugees, war and genocide in the 1930s and ‘40s,” noted the ALA website.

If selected the Carlsbad Public Library would be required to host at least one program for high school or college students as part of a minimum of four public programs, according to the ALA website.

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“We hope the community especially the students will walk away with a deeper understanding of the Holocaust and the role America had in it,” Jones said.

“It is important to know history and learn from it so we do not repeat it."

Jones said the application is due Oct. 14 and the City of Carlsbad could be notified in November or early December.

“There are many dates for the exhibit all the way into 2025. We will not know that until we are accepted (for the grant) or after,” she said.

Mike Smith can be reached at 575-628-5546 or by email at MSmith@currentargus.com or @ArgusMichae on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: Carlsbad Public Library looks to host traveling Holocaust exhibit