Schindler Exhibition
Thousands of area residents and school children took viewed the traveling Schindler Exhibition at the MonDak Heritage Center. One of only five museums in North America awarded the exhibit in 2006, the Heritage Center was proud to present this special display in its Center Gallery August 25 through September 23. The exhibit was loaned by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and told the story of German industrialist and Nazi Party member Oskar Schindler's efforts to rescue Polish Jews from Nazi concentration camps, a story made famous by Thomas Keneally's book Schindler's List and Stephen Spielberg's movie of the same name.
Museum staff and dedicated volunteers developed additional exhibits to fill the first floor of the museum and further discuss the Holocaust under Nazi Germany. These 10 mini-exhibits described the basic history of events and told the stories of others caught up in the Third Reich and the Holocaust. (See the links on the left for more information and photos of the displays.)
The Center Gallery featured the traveling display and the compelling story of Oskar Schindler. When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, Oskar Schindler followed the army to Krakow, Poland and ran a series of lucrative manufacturing businesses with Jewish money and labor. Through these lucrative businesses and the cheap labor from the Jewish ghettos, Schindler was able to amass a small fortune. In the coming years, Schindler would use much of this money to transfer Jews to his factory, thus keeping them from the Nazi camps. When Schindler’s enamelware factory was turned into a munitions plant in 1944, it purposely produced improperly calibrated shells and casings, an attempt to sabotage the German war effort. After the war, Schindler escaped to the West, moving to a small apartment in Frankfurt, Germany, where he lived on a small pension and money from some of the Jews he helped.
The photographs in this exhibition come from the Leopold Pfefferberg-Page Collection, which now resides in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Leopold Pfefferberg was a prisoner in Plaszow and was one of those rescued by Schindler. While in Plaszoq, Pfefferberg recalled seeing an Austrian, Raimund Titsch, taking photos in the camp. Nearly 20 years later, Pfefferberg found Titsch and bought the three rolls of film he shot in the camps. After burying the film in a park in Vienna, Pfefferbefg loaned them to Yad Vashem and later, to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. The photos on these three rolls were the inspiration for many of the scenes in Steven Spielberg’s movie Schindler’s List and poignantly tell a story that is too important to forget.
Asked why he had intervened on behalf of the Jews, Schindler replied:
"The persecution of Jews in the General Government in Polish territory gradually worsened in its cruelty. In 1939 and 1940 they were forced to wear the Star of David and were herded together and confined in ghettos. In 1941 and 1942 this unadulterated sadism was fully revealed. And then a thinking man, who had overcome his inner cowardice, simply had to help. There was no other choice."
Oskar Schindler
1964 interview
Our Exhibit Sponsors
The MonDak Heritage Center would like to thank the following businesses and individuals for helping to bring this important educational exhibit to our community:
Platinum
KUMV-TV (in-kind)
Glendive Chamber Caviar
Grant
Gold
Sun Well Services
Camilla Anderson
Friendly Trust
Ruth Iversen
Sidney Herald (in-kind)
Sherman & Marlys
Dynneson
Silver
Sidney School District
Sidney Sugars
Richland Federal Credit
Union
Sidney Lion's Club
Sidney Health Center
Dr Faul and Mrs Faul
Bronze
Johnson Hardware
Tri-County Implement
Seitz Insurance
Groskinsky Foundation
Lower Yellowstone REA
Stockman Bank
County Market
Dr. Paul Johnson
County Market
Jerry & Elsie Redlin
Russ & Enid Huotari
Beth Redlin & Dan Mocko
Bill & Mary Forrester
Peoples Congregational
Church
Contributor
Randy & Libby Berndt
Leslie Messer
Thank You!