Most comprehensive Auschwitz exhibit in N. America to Open in Kansas City
The international exhibit, which is making its second and final North American stop, explores the duality of Auschwitz as a symbol and a physical location.
By EVE YOUNGThe site of the former Nazi German concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz II-Birkenau(photo credit: REUTERS/KACPER PEMPEL)
Kansas City’s Union Station announced the opening of the most comprehensive exhibit about Auschwitz ever shown in North America, according to "In Kansas City." The exhibit is entitled "Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away."The international exhibit is making its second and final North American stop and explores the duality of Auschwitz as a symbol and a physical location.“When we had the vision to create the exhibition, we conceived its narrative as an opportunity to better understand how such a place could come to exist, and as a warning of where hatred can take us to,” said exhibit director Luis Ferreiro.The exhibit, which makes use of nearly 20,000 square feet of exhibition space, includes many artifacts never before available for public viewing. It includes 700 original artifacts, 400 photographs and unpublished memoirs. Among the artifacts are many personal possessions including eyeglasses and shoes.A 2018 poll found that two-thirds of American millennials cannot identify what Auschwitz is, according to The Washington Post, and according to a 2019 poll, more than half of Americans do not know how many Jews were murdered in the Holocaust.Jeremy Sharon contributed to this report.
