For Immediate Release                                                                 Contact: Carol OÕSullivan

March 26, 2007                                                                                            412-681-5449           

 

 

Filmmakers Announces Holocaust Study Exhibit

 

(Pittsburgh, PA) –  Pittsburgh Filmmakers presents Poland Personally: Private Reflections on a Holocaust Study Tour. The installation, curated by artist Dror Yaron, is on view April 6  - April 22, 2007. An opening reception will be held on Sunday afternoon, April 15 from1:00 to 3:00pm. It is free and open to the public.

 

As part of a 2006 tour, organized by Pittsburgh Agency for Jewish Learning, a group of fifty teachers and high school students traveled through Poland to study history. They followed a Holocaust survivor on his route to where he was imprisoned, and to the death camp where his entire family perished. They heard personal accounts and historical surveys by Holocaust scholars. They cried, sang, danced, prayed and conversed in order to grasp the concept of the horror they were confronted with. What does one make of gas chambers, mounds of human ashes, hair or shoes from the concentration camps?

 

Those who were on the study tour were encouraged to use art as a way to reflect and express their reaction to this history. In this installation, photographs, artifacts (a hotel matchbox, a chocolate bar, a hackysack) and short writings are used to tell their stories.  Poland, Personally explores the magnitude of the experience and the personal responses of five teenagers and five adults from this life-changing trip.

Participants in the project are:

Shelly Burr

Zach Demby

Barry Fisher

Zipora Gur

Hermine Harrison

Amy Hunt

Hannah Kalson

Marrisa Perelstine

Marcy Rosen

Lianne Sufrin

Dror Yaron

 

The exhibition is made possible by a gift from the family of Lester E. Zittrain, an ardent supporter of young people's Jewish education, in Mr. Zittrain's memory.

 

Filmmakers Galleries are located at 477 Melwood Avenue, North Oakland. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, noon to 5:00, and during public film screenings. Free and open to the public. For more information call 412-681-5449, or visit: www.pghfilmmakers.org

 

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