AUGUSTA — The Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine will open a new exhibit, “Those People … Well, They’re Not People at All: Children’s Reactions to the Holocaust” on Monday, May 16, at the Michael Klahr Center, on the campus of the University of Maine at Augusta. The exhibit will run through Friday, August 12th.

As many as 1.5 million children were murdered during the Holocaust. Against all odds, some of the drawings, reflections and stories created by those victims have been preserved. The exhibit will shine a spotlight on the artwork and literature of children lost, children who survived, and future generations who have been deeply moved by the Holocaust.

An opening event is set for 5-7 p.m. Monday, May 16, with a program beginning at 5:30 p.m.

The program will include several speakers whose work and stories are featured in the exhibit Holocaust survivors Charles Rotmil and Ruth Bookey; Anna Wrobel, the daughter of a Partisan and Holocaust survivor; Danna Hayes, granddaughter of Holocaust survivors; and Kevin Martin, a University of Maine at Augusta student. There will be live music performed by Rabbi Sruli Dresdner of Temple Shalom in Auburn, and his wife Lisa Mayer. The program is free and refreshments will be served.

In addition to the artifacts, the exhibit will feature contemporary reflections on the impact of the Holocaust including poetry written by Fort Kent Middle School students Emily Oullette and Austin Paradis; an essay by Gardiner Area High School student Cassidy Blake; a fictional short story by Messalonskee High School student Jacob Buzzell; a film created by Jamie McNeill, a student attending Avon High School in Connecticut; and artwork created by Orono Middle School student Clarice Van Walsum. Clarice Van Walsum is also the HHRC’s 2016 Mathilda Schlossbeger Outstanding Middle School Student of the Year.

This exhibit is presented in partnership with Anna Wrobel, Charles Rotmil, Danna Hayes, Facing History and Ourselves, Deborah Roth-Howe, the Pucker Gallery, the WWII Museum in Natick, Berkshire Holocaust Museum, Darrell English, Ruth Bookey, Times of Israel, Jewish Museum of Prague, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the BBC, Tracy O’Brien, Marshall Carter, Kenneth W. Rendell, Judi Bohn, Dustin Tenreiro, Centennial College of Applied Arts and Technology, and Ron & Rhona Cooper.

There is no admission to visit the Michael Klahr Center and the exhibit will be open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Friday, and on weekends and evenings by appointment.

For more information, call 621-3530. The Center also includes a permanent exhibit about Michael Klahr, a hidden child who survived the Holocaust and the 80-minute multimedia presentation Were the House Still Standing: Maine Survivors and Liberators Remember the Holocaust.

For more information on the Michael Klahr Center and the programs of the HHRC, visit hhrcmaine.org.

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