Latest / Brian Thomas / Auschwitz Not long ago Not far away

Transcript

Auschwitz Not long ago Not far away · Brian Thomas

0:00
Speaker 1: Check in for the latest. They want to make sure
0:02
Speaker 1: everything's perfect. Fifty five krc the Talk Station Ato six
0:11
Speaker 1: here thinking about KRCB Talk Station and looking forward to
0:13
Speaker 1: this conversation since I found out we had this Holocaust
0:17
Speaker 1: exhibit coming in or that is in town all right
0:20
Speaker 1: to the since I Museum Center at the Nancy and
0:22
Speaker 1: David Wolf Holocaust and Humanity Center, and I have Elizabeth Pierce,
0:26
Speaker 1: who happened to be the president and CEO of the
0:28
Speaker 1: museum Center, along with Jackie Conjado, the CEO the Nancy
0:31
Speaker 1: and David Wolf Holocaust and Humanity Center in studio to
0:34
Speaker 1: talk about not just the Humanity Center the museum Center
0:37
Speaker 1: generally speaking, but about this new exhibit, which sounds to
0:40
Speaker 1: me like it it adds a slightly darker element to
0:45
Speaker 1: what I came away with, as I don't want to
0:48
Speaker 1: call it necessarily uplifting, but a positive experience. When I
0:52
Speaker 1: attended the Holocaust in Humanity Center's exhibit when it was
0:55
Speaker 1: in its prior location, I expected really to be sad, depressed, overwhelmed,
1:03
Speaker 1: because you know, anybody has any measure of familiarity with
1:06
Speaker 1: the Holocaust knows you're not going to go in there
1:08
Speaker 1: with a grin on your Fhaser come out all smiling
1:10
Speaker 1: and whistling, but there was a sense of like hope
1:15
Speaker 1: and some measure of positivity, like the learning experience of
1:18
Speaker 1: all the death and awful and horrific events, and yet
1:22
Speaker 1: people came out the other side with these amazing stories
1:24
Speaker 1: of survival and optimism for the future. Welcome to the studio, ladies.
1:28
Speaker 1: It's so nice to have you in here. Thank you, Jackie.
1:31
Speaker 1: You and I've talked about this before, and that's why
1:33
Speaker 1: I asked you before the show started. Because this new
1:36
Speaker 1: exhibit features over five hundred original artifacts from Auschwitz, and
1:41
Speaker 1: that's where the whole concept of maybe darker element comes in.
1:46
Speaker 1: Tell me how this comes across.
1:48
Speaker 2: It's an unprecedented presentation of sort of the facts of
1:53
Speaker 2: what happened in this place through artifact, through story, and
1:58
Speaker 2: the presentation at Museum Center is really unparalleled, I think
2:00
Speaker 2: from anywhere else it's been. This has traveled the world,
2:03
Speaker 2: and this is the last stop in the United States,
2:05
Speaker 2: the only stop in the Midwest, and it is it
2:07
Speaker 2: is an incredibly powerful, moving, emotional experience. And to your
2:13
Speaker 2: question about you know, how do you leave feeling like
2:15
Speaker 2: you got to go lay down or do you feel empowered.
2:19
Speaker 2: That's our job at the Holocaust and Humanity Center is
2:22
Speaker 2: to make sure that we integrate not only the local
2:24
Speaker 2: stories in the exhibition, which we've done so you get
2:27
Speaker 2: an understanding for the resilience, the rebuilding that happened in Cincinnati,
2:30
Speaker 2: the fact that these survivors, you know, of this horrific
2:32
Speaker 2: history came through the building where this exhibit now stands
2:35
Speaker 2: at Union Terminal. But also we have this whole upstander
2:39
Speaker 2: framework around agency and character strength and the fact that
2:42
Speaker 2: at any given moment, we can make a choice to
2:45
Speaker 2: be the best or the worst of humanity, and that's
2:47
Speaker 2: our agency, that's our choice. So we wrap the whole
2:50
Speaker 2: thing in this idea that the best could still be
2:53
Speaker 2: ahead of us if we choose that, and here's how
2:55
Speaker 2: you can make that choice.
2:57
Speaker 1: So, and I understand your presentation at the Nancy and
3:00
Speaker 1: David wolf Wolf Holocaust and Humanity Center is comes across
3:05
Speaker 1: this display of these artifacts. Your presentation comes across differently
3:09
Speaker 1: than this display, and the presentation would come across if
3:13
Speaker 1: it was seen in New York City or someplace else
3:15
Speaker 1: around the world. You put the spin that you guys
3:17
Speaker 1: are famous for on this rather potentially disturbing exhibit, and
3:23
Speaker 1: does it have elements of disturbing in it when you're
3:25
Speaker 1: looking at it. I mean, let's be frank here, what
3:27
Speaker 1: are we talking about?
3:28
Speaker 3: But absolutely, I mean, you know, the artifacts are large
3:31
Speaker 3: concrete posts with barbed wire. They are artifacts that are
3:35
Speaker 3: specific to human beings, hair brushes, a child's shoe. I mean,
3:39
Speaker 3: they are incredibly moving that will take you to a
3:42
Speaker 3: place of like, how did this happen? And that's the
3:45
Speaker 3: question we want people to be framed with. And then
3:48
Speaker 3: what is the response I should have going forward? And
3:51
Speaker 3: how can I learn more? How can I get involved
3:54
Speaker 3: with the upstand or framework.
3:55
Speaker 4: So it is we say this a lot.
3:58
Speaker 3: It's where global history meets low history because, as Jackie said,
4:02
Speaker 3: the survivors of Auschwitz came to Cincinnati, they got off
4:06
Speaker 3: a train and walked through Union Terminal. So to have
4:09
Speaker 3: the Auschwitz exhibition and the survivor's story told in this
4:13
Speaker 3: place where the history happened is part of that resilience
4:17
Speaker 3: and courage message, and it's part you know, the title
4:20
Speaker 3: is Auschwitz, not long ago, not far away, and we
4:24
Speaker 3: are trying to make the point that this did not
4:26
Speaker 3: happen a thousand years ago on a planet far far away.
4:30
Speaker 3: It happened in our lifetimes and our grandparents' lifetimes, and
4:35
Speaker 3: it happened in a place that we all come and
4:37
Speaker 3: go all afternoon.
4:38
Speaker 2: And in our humanity and in our humanity.
4:41
Speaker 1: I'm so glad you made that point, because I just
4:43
Speaker 1: turned sixty, you know, and there's sort of this milestone
4:45
Speaker 1: birth and you look back at you know, what happened
4:48
Speaker 1: between nineteen sixty five when I was born and now
4:52
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty five, that was only twenty years after we
4:55
Speaker 1: won the war. I mean, that's just twenty years. Is
4:59
Speaker 1: nothing I can look back, but twenty years ago, it's
5:00
Speaker 1: almost as if it happened yesterday. So context. As you
5:03
Speaker 1: get older, you get to experience this profound context as
5:06
Speaker 1: a young person, like, oh my god, nineteen forty five
5:08
Speaker 1: or nineteen thirty eight or whatever that was wherever ago.
5:11
Speaker 1: That's never going to happen again. No, that's why you
5:14
Speaker 1: need to study the mistakes of the past. We still
5:17
Speaker 1: regularly study, and importantly so the horrors of slavery, for example.
5:21
Speaker 1: We're not going to forget that moment in tom We
5:23
Speaker 1: don't want it to happen again. I just don't understand
5:26
Speaker 1: people's reluctance. In some cases the backcrap crazy folks who
5:29
Speaker 1: even deny that this even happened. Do you have to
5:32
Speaker 1: struggle with that on a regular basis, Well, I.
5:34
Speaker 2: Got to tell you, you come through this exhibition, there's
5:37
Speaker 2: no denying any of this history. I mean, it is so,
5:40
Speaker 2: it is so laid bare. And also to the folks
5:43
Speaker 2: who are deniers, I'm going to quote our incredible survivor,
5:45
Speaker 2: Henry Finischel, who survived Berg at Belsen, whose father was
5:49
Speaker 2: killed in Auschwitz. He often says his story was a
5:53
Speaker 2: lot like Anne Franks, except he survived and Anne perished.
5:56
Speaker 2: And he says to the deniers, I tell them you're heroes.
6:00
Speaker 2: The Nazis would roll over in their graves if they
6:03
Speaker 2: heard you denying the Holocaust. They were so proud of
6:05
Speaker 2: what they were doing. They'd documented every step. In fact,
6:08
Speaker 2: many of the perpetrators were brought to justice on their
6:11
Speaker 2: own evidence. They didn't need any witnesses, any victims, survivors.
6:16
Speaker 2: They were planning to celebrate forever that they had rid
6:20
Speaker 2: the world of what they deemed to be right, the
6:24
Speaker 2: ultimate boogeyman evil, the Jewish people. Of course, all you know,
6:28
Speaker 2: fake propaganda. But this people don't understand that this didn't
6:35
Speaker 2: happen because a group of evil people just popped up
6:37
Speaker 2: out of nowhere in the nineteen thirties in Germany. This
6:39
Speaker 2: happened because people like you and I, civilized, normal human
6:44
Speaker 2: beings going about their everyday lives, were convinced to believe misinformation,
6:49
Speaker 2: bad information, you know, libelists. Propaganda about who Jews were,
6:54
Speaker 2: allowed them to justify to themselves that they were doing
6:57
Speaker 2: the right thing, They were doing the right thought, they
6:59
Speaker 2: were doing the right thing. So this challenges us with
7:03
Speaker 2: like needing to look in the mirror. Are we doing
7:05
Speaker 2: the right thing? Are we doing the right thing? Are
7:07
Speaker 2: we believing the right information? Are we checking what we
7:09
Speaker 2: read and what we understand?
7:11
Speaker 4: Are we gut.
7:12
Speaker 2: Checking our own biases? Or are we just doing what
7:15
Speaker 2: we're told?
7:16
Speaker 1: Oh boy, you are right in my wheelhouse with comments
7:19
Speaker 1: like that, because of the political divisions we have in
7:21
Speaker 1: this country and the screaming and the anger and the
7:24
Speaker 1: vitriol that goes from both sides of the political ledger.
7:27
Speaker 1: But you know, celebrating the attempted assassination or the outright
7:31
Speaker 1: assassination of someone and justifying and saying it was right.
7:34
Speaker 1: You know why because that person's message was bad. I mean,
7:39
Speaker 1: you know, we have political dissent in this country depends
7:42
Speaker 1: on where you stand the political ledger, and we welcome
7:44
Speaker 1: and invite discourse. We have free speech, we have free exercise.
7:48
Speaker 1: The idea is the great exchange of ideas that maybe
7:50
Speaker 1: the truth will filter out. But you don't go around
7:53
Speaker 1: killing people or otherwise using someone else or happen to
7:56
Speaker 1: be their race as a scapegoat for broader problems. It's
8:00
Speaker 1: an easy excuse. But it's like people, I think want
8:03
Speaker 1: to offload their personal responsibility for any problems or want
8:06
Speaker 1: to find an easy answer to some societally screwed up
8:10
Speaker 1: problems like economics, whatever. Let's just blame the Jews, let's
8:13
Speaker 1: just blame the black people, let's just fill in the blank,
8:15
Speaker 1: let's blame that politician, or let's go after evil orange man.
8:19
Speaker 1: That's an easy message to people for people to consume.
8:21
Speaker 1: You mean, it's not my fault. You mean this is
8:23
Speaker 1: going to be an easy fix. Just killed.
8:24
Speaker 3: We don't have to be involved in this right now.
8:26
Speaker 3: Your point, your word about agency is the important thing.
8:28
Speaker 3: And I think the survivor story, right the survivors are
8:32
Speaker 3: the ones who created the Holocaust and Humanity Center because
8:34
Speaker 3: they said, you're not going to deny this. We were there,
8:37
Speaker 3: it happened to us. Here's our testimony around this. And
8:41
Speaker 3: they went on to create lives in this community because
8:44
Speaker 3: they were resilient and courageous and they said no, not
8:46
Speaker 3: on my watch.
8:47
Speaker 1: That's that's a great way of some And that's the
8:49
Speaker 1: best explanation or response or retort that I have heard
8:54
Speaker 1: with regard to the deniers. No, no, no, they would
8:57
Speaker 1: be angry at you because you're saying it didn't exist.
8:59
Speaker 1: This is something they were proud of. I'd never heard
9:01
Speaker 1: it phrase that way. Yeah, that's a great retort.
9:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think, and I think the exhibition in that
9:07
Speaker 2: way is a mirror. It really is. If you're coming
9:09
Speaker 2: there to say, I want to feel I want to
9:12
Speaker 2: be more validated in my thinking about where the boogeyman
9:16
Speaker 2: is or those evil people over there, those are the
9:18
Speaker 2: bad guys. This exhibition forces us to look in the
9:21
Speaker 2: mirror at our responsibility, each one of us, and what
9:25
Speaker 2: we have to do. Because, as you said, the problems
9:27
Speaker 2: are not left or right. The problems are around extremism. Yeah,
9:30
Speaker 2: and how we can stand up for humanity, for shared humanity.
9:35
Speaker 1: The exhibit Auschwitz not long Ago, not far away at
9:37
Speaker 1: the Sinsane Museum Center. We're going to continue the conversation
9:40
Speaker 1: with Elizabeth tier Pearson, Jackie Kuanjeto after these three words
9:43
Speaker 1: don't go away.
9:45
Speaker 4: Fifty five the talk station at Duke Energy Box Station.
9:53
Speaker 1: A twenty fifty five PERCD talk station. I am enjoying
9:55
Speaker 1: the on air and offer discussions with Elizabeth Peters, president's
9:59
Speaker 1: CEO of this Iname Museum Center Hall of Justice. For
10:02
Speaker 1: those of you who might might want to remember the
10:04
Speaker 1: architecture of the building. I was just telling Elizabeth, it's
10:06
Speaker 1: got to be such a joy, Like I get you
10:09
Speaker 1: out of bed feeling to get up and know that
10:12
Speaker 1: you're going to work inside the Cincinnati Museum Center. I mean,
10:17
Speaker 1: that's just gotta be a cool experience.
10:18
Speaker 3: Well, it's the most beautiful building I know, and it's
10:21
Speaker 3: got all these layers of history and community connections and
10:24
Speaker 3: people's prom dates and weddings and the whispers of I
10:27
Speaker 3: Love you across the arches, and then the Superman movie
10:30
Speaker 3: and the Justice League.
10:31
Speaker 1: Yes, right, well, and you mentioned obviously we're talking about
10:34
Speaker 1: the Auschwitz, not long ago, not far away museum or
10:37
Speaker 1: exhibit temporary it is. We're going to details on how
10:40
Speaker 1: long it's going to be, the tickets and all that
10:41
Speaker 1: in a minute, five hundred original artifacts from Auschwitz working
10:44
Speaker 1: with the Nancy and David with Holocaust and Humanity Center.
10:48
Speaker 1: Jackie Conjado CEO is in studio for that as well.
10:52
Speaker 1: But that they walked through the building, I was reminded
10:55
Speaker 1: of the survivors actually went through Union Terminal, the local ones.
11:00
Speaker 1: And I remember as a kid, my grandpa told me
11:02
Speaker 1: that World War Two, the either departing enlistees or the
11:08
Speaker 1: returning veterans, if they were traveling through Union Terminal or
11:12
Speaker 1: departing from a lot of them would take a nap. Well,
11:16
Speaker 1: they put a tag on their shirt, I need to
11:19
Speaker 1: catch the whatever number train. You know. He dressed in
11:22
Speaker 1: his service uniform and people would come over and say,
11:25
Speaker 1: it's getting time to get on your train. Wake them up.
11:27
Speaker 1: And I just thought it was kind of a neat thing.
11:28
Speaker 1: I can't imagine anybody being doing that these days.
11:31
Speaker 3: Not what you would happen in the airport. But you know,
11:33
Speaker 3: there was the USO and it was staffed by women
11:36
Speaker 3: in the community who were Catholic, Christian and Jewish women
11:39
Speaker 3: who were coming to take care of these guys and
11:40
Speaker 3: give them cookies and tea and like you know.
11:42
Speaker 4: Do the wake up call. So incredible history in this building.
11:47
Speaker 1: Just amazing, and I was so blessed to be in
11:49
Speaker 1: a position to actually go up and walk behind the
11:52
Speaker 1: iconic clock. That was cool. I have you to thank
11:56
Speaker 1: for that.
11:56
Speaker 4: Elizabeth, anytime you want to come back here.
11:58
Speaker 1: And Jackie and Jada from the Nancy David with Holocausting
12:01
Speaker 1: Humanity Center just told me that we should have a
12:04
Speaker 1: listener launch because Elizabeth that we met reminded me that
12:07
Speaker 1: really early on we did have a listener lunch at
12:09
Speaker 1: the museum center. I think that was the time I
12:11
Speaker 1: was able to do that.
12:11
Speaker 3: Ye.
12:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, but you would welcome a listener lunch at the
12:16
Speaker 1: the Holocaust As Humanity Center.
12:18
Speaker 2: And possibly for the exhibition that's that's there now. I mean,
12:21
Speaker 2: the great thing about this experience is, you know, Auschwitz
12:24
Speaker 2: not long agoing not far away. This unprecedented look at
12:26
Speaker 2: this place and space and time and the artifacts that
12:29
Speaker 2: come with it. This will be with us for the
12:30
Speaker 2: next six months. So we have this opportunity as a
12:32
Speaker 2: community to really learn from the depths of this history,
12:35
Speaker 2: and then we the Holocaust and Humanity Center will continue
12:38
Speaker 2: to be there as a resource into perpetuity. So you know,
12:42
Speaker 2: we we welcome you back. You know, we'd like for
12:45
Speaker 2: people to come and see the exhibition, spend your time
12:48
Speaker 2: in the exhibition, the Auschwitz Exhibition, and then you get
12:51
Speaker 2: a discounted ticket with your purchase of the Auschwitz Exhibition
12:54
Speaker 2: ticket to come to HHC, and you can come back
12:56
Speaker 2: within six months. You can come back because.
12:58
Speaker 1: There's so much to consume.
13:00
Speaker 4: It's a lot to consume.
13:00
Speaker 2: It's a lot to consume in one day, and so
13:02
Speaker 2: you'll probably want to come back. But there's more. There's
13:05
Speaker 2: there's all these layers of what you can sort of
13:07
Speaker 2: learn by experiencing both places like we were talking about
13:11
Speaker 2: the upstand d framework, but also the local survivor stories
13:14
Speaker 2: and you know this amazing exhibit that you and I
13:16
Speaker 2: were talking about off air where you can actually interact
13:19
Speaker 2: with a survivor in real time a questions.
13:21
Speaker 1: Well, I'm going to let you elaborate in that component
13:23
Speaker 1: of it. And when we come back from this break,
13:26
Speaker 1: but or from this upcoming break is a couple minutes away.
13:28
Speaker 1: But as to the exhibit. It is it the It
13:31
Speaker 1: is at the Sins Museum Center until.
13:33
Speaker 3: April twelfth, for twelve Now we might just tell people
13:37
Speaker 3: like the end of March, because people need to have
13:39
Speaker 3: a deadline and they always blow through it.
13:41
Speaker 1: So and if they come early, it's sincey with why
13:44
Speaker 1: museumcenter dot org. Can you get the tickets there for
13:47
Speaker 1: the museum center from the museum center's website.
13:49
Speaker 3: All of it is available right there on the ticketing
13:52
Speaker 3: page of the museum Center's website.
13:53
Speaker 1: All right, Because the Nancy David Wolf Holocaust a Humanity
13:57
Speaker 1: Center has a.
13:57
Speaker 2: Separate website, yes, but when you buy your ticket for
14:00
Speaker 2: Auschwitz for the exhibition on CMC's website there it will
14:05
Speaker 2: prompt you if you want to add on admission to
14:08
Speaker 2: the Holocaust in Humanity Center. So it's all in one point.
14:10
Speaker 4: Both the websites are pointing to the same thing.
14:12
Speaker 1: Wonderful, you've made it easy for it.
14:14
Speaker 3: Right.
14:15
Speaker 1: As long as you got meat covered, we're in great shape.
14:17
Speaker 1: So through April twelfth, get a ticket in advance, clearly,
14:20
Speaker 1: or tickets in advance. And again to emphasize the separate
14:24
Speaker 1: ticket for the for the Humanity Center is a window
14:27
Speaker 1: of six months perfect. Yeah, all right, and.
14:31
Speaker 3: And Brian, it's you know, with Veterans Day coming up,
14:33
Speaker 3: we have veterans discounts for the Auschwitz exhibition, so three
14:37
Speaker 3: dollars off and general admission for museum center is free
14:42
Speaker 3: for veterans from the ninth to the thirteenth next week.
14:46
Speaker 3: Sore more details on our website.
14:48
Speaker 1: All on the website which is again since you with
14:51
Speaker 1: the y Museum dot org. We'll continue with Elizabeth Pearce
14:55
Speaker 1: and Jackie Kinjato because we're going to talk a little
14:57
Speaker 1: bit about what they got going at the Holocaust in
14:59
Speaker 1: Humanity Center with this artificial intelligence. It is really really wild.
15:05
Speaker 1: Eight twenty five right now, don't go away, be right back.
15:07
Speaker 4: This is SIRC the talk station.
15:18
Speaker 1: Twenty nine fifty five KCD talk station, thoroughly enjoying these
15:20
Speaker 1: conversations on and off air. Elizabeth Pierce, she's the President's
15:23
Speaker 1: CEO of the Sinsame Museum Center, in studio with Jackie
15:26
Speaker 1: Kenjado from the Nancy and David of Holocaust in Humanity Center.
15:29
Speaker 1: The temporary exhibit which you really need to go to
15:32
Speaker 1: is called Auschwitz Not Long Ago, Not Far Away, featuring
15:35
Speaker 1: over five hundred original artifacts from Auschwitz. They have tied
15:40
Speaker 1: and connected the exhibit to the city of Cincinnati, specially
15:43
Speaker 1: tailored by the folks from the Holocaust in Humanity Center,
15:47
Speaker 1: So you get that Holocaust in Humanity Center feel in
15:50
Speaker 1: spite of the what I will just characterize the slightly
15:52
Speaker 1: more bleak reality of some of these artifacts. And before
15:56
Speaker 1: we get to the artificial intelligence amazingness that you have
16:00
Speaker 1: at the Holocaust in Humanity Center, Jackie, I asked you both,
16:04
Speaker 1: and you both came up with the same answer. Of
16:07
Speaker 1: these five hundred items from Auschwitz that you looked at,
16:11
Speaker 1: I said, which one, if any, had the most profound
16:15
Speaker 1: influence or your reaction was greatest about it? And you
16:18
Speaker 1: both identified one item. Let my listeners know what that
16:20
Speaker 1: one item is among these five hundred.
16:22
Speaker 2: So it's a suitcase, and it is not just any suitcase.
16:25
Speaker 2: It is the suitcase that Werner Copple, who was a
16:28
Speaker 2: survivor of Auschwitz, who became a Cincinnati and who came
16:31
Speaker 2: through Union Terminal, who was the first survivor in Cincinnati
16:34
Speaker 2: to speak up and share his story. So we paved
16:36
Speaker 2: the way for essentially our organization and our work. Werner
16:40
Speaker 2: Copple was sort of famous for saying I arrived at
16:42
Speaker 2: Union Terminal with wife a baby in a suitcase, and
16:46
Speaker 2: that ended the first part of my life. And that's
16:48
Speaker 2: so that is the suitcase that's on display back where
16:51
Speaker 2: sort of that story pivoted in the same space where
16:54
Speaker 2: that story pivoted. And we were so grateful to have
16:57
Speaker 2: his son, Steve with us to install artifacts. He's a
17:01
Speaker 2: board memories that he's just one of our family. And
17:04
Speaker 2: when you come to see the exhibition, the very first
17:06
Speaker 2: words you'll hear in the audio tour which guides you through,
17:09
Speaker 2: are Werner Copples's words, I arrived in this building with
17:12
Speaker 2: a wife of baby in a suitcase, so right away,
17:14
Speaker 2: not far away, not far away, this happened right here,
17:17
Speaker 2: right in our city.
17:18
Speaker 1: Rather emotional experience, I might imagine.
17:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's intact how he was when he came through
17:23
Speaker 2: first year. You're gonna catch me in a moment where
17:26
Speaker 2: I don't know exactly he had to guess. I think
17:30
Speaker 2: he was. He was, you know, mid aged, he had
17:32
Speaker 2: you know, he had one child, Steve the second hit.
17:35
Speaker 2: Their second son was born after they came to Cincinnati,
17:38
Speaker 2: but their older son, Ron was a baby at the time,
17:40
Speaker 2: and so you know, he was a He was a
17:42
Speaker 2: man who was just twenties.
17:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, just trying to the reason he didn't live instance
17:47
Speaker 1: any prior to that. It wasn't like now.
17:49
Speaker 4: No, he was in Germany, in Poland.
17:51
Speaker 1: I want to make that clear, because you had talked
17:53
Speaker 1: about we were talking about the beauty of the building,
17:56
Speaker 1: and can you imagine the first time you ever see it,
17:58
Speaker 1: like anybody, even from local you've never seen the damn building,
18:01
Speaker 1: get in there and take a look at it. It's
18:02
Speaker 1: awe inspiring. You had a guy who was locked up
18:05
Speaker 1: in a concentration camp, probably half starved to death. Survive death,
18:09
Speaker 1: survive the death march, right, survive the horrific conditions that
18:12
Speaker 1: preceded going into the camp. Probably lived in a slum,
18:16
Speaker 1: forced there by the Nazis. I don't know this man's
18:18
Speaker 1: personal history, but go all the way back to the
18:21
Speaker 1: World War One and post World War One, the conditions
18:24
Speaker 1: were pretty damn bleak to begin with, regardless of where
18:27
Speaker 1: you were. So going from that and I just see
18:30
Speaker 1: like this, this sort of vision of gray. You know,
18:37
Speaker 1: the everything's gray. You're looking over the landscape like former
18:40
Speaker 1: Soviet Union mental visions of gray, bleak, dark, terrible torn up,
18:45
Speaker 1: blown up to make this journey after living through all
18:49
Speaker 1: of that, and to walk through that room and just
18:51
Speaker 1: see that the gold and the murals and man, you
18:55
Speaker 1: got to think you arrived at paradise.
18:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, and all aspiring for the future. Yeah. And many
19:00
Speaker 2: of our survivors reflect on the fact that, you know,
19:03
Speaker 2: they obviously there were the moments of liberation and you know,
19:06
Speaker 2: displacement afterwards, but really feeling like the first time they
19:10
Speaker 2: could feel like they had found a place where they
19:12
Speaker 2: could be they could begin again, was arriving in that
19:17
Speaker 2: building at Union Terminal, you know, and and having the
19:20
Speaker 2: opportunity to think again about life. I mean, that's it's
19:24
Speaker 2: just and this suitcase, this was everything he owned. This
19:28
Speaker 2: was everything he owned.
19:29
Speaker 1: It not a very big suitcase.
19:31
Speaker 2: No, No, it's like less than I would pack for
19:34
Speaker 2: a weekend in New York. Yeah, but it's it's and
19:37
Speaker 2: they were lucky to have anything. So many of these
19:40
Speaker 2: survivors had nothing. They had and their family was gone.
19:42
Speaker 2: They had no no home, no business, no way to
19:45
Speaker 2: I mean, no language skills to you know, in terms
19:47
Speaker 2: of English. Coming here, like these people built a life.
19:50
Speaker 1: How did they survive as a nuclear family amid all
19:53
Speaker 1: that that they the husband, wife, and child were all
19:56
Speaker 1: able to come together.
19:57
Speaker 2: So in Werner's story. In the case of Werner, he
20:01
Speaker 2: survived Alschwitz and the death March before he met his wife.
20:06
Speaker 2: His wife was a nurse who nursed him back to
20:09
Speaker 2: health after the war, and they had they had ron
20:14
Speaker 2: their son and then came here. So, you know, he
20:20
Speaker 2: and Steve. You know Steve, if you ask him, like,
20:23
Speaker 2: how did he survive this, He'll he'll give you kind
20:25
Speaker 2: of a combination of like, you know, how did anyone survive?
20:29
Speaker 2: Some people survive, some people didn't. But also Werner had
20:32
Speaker 2: this determination, he had this drive, he had this persistence,
20:35
Speaker 2: He had this ability to say, all right, now we rebuild.
20:38
Speaker 2: Now we rebuild. That's just that's just the task in
20:41
Speaker 2: front of us.
20:42
Speaker 1: After all that, in and in the face of all
20:44
Speaker 1: those challenges, the man remained optimistic that he could make
20:47
Speaker 1: something of his life went on and did so. And
20:50
Speaker 1: I think about that, I'm in all the wail and
20:52
Speaker 1: crying and oh my god, my life's so miserable. I
20:54
Speaker 1: live in a terrible country. Come on, are you kidding me?
21:00
Speaker 1: A thirty five fifty five cares of the tox station,
21:02
Speaker 1: we get to the artificial is he part of the
21:03
Speaker 1: artificial intelligence.
21:04
Speaker 2: With Unfortunately Werner passed away before we had implemented this technology,
21:10
Speaker 2: but we do have two local survivors now you can
21:12
Speaker 2: talk to.
21:13
Speaker 1: And we're going to talk about how you talk with
21:15
Speaker 1: a couple of local survivors. This is just amazing. Eight
21:17
Speaker 1: thirty five fifty five KR see the talk station, don't
21:19
Speaker 1: go wait fifty five KRC dot com. Can you helmets?
21:24
Speaker 2: The talk station.
21:28
Speaker 1: A thirty nine fifty five car CD talk station. Brian
21:30
Speaker 1: Thomas with Elizabeth Pierce, President CEO of the Sinsame Museum Center,
21:33
Speaker 1: along with Jackie Kinjaco, the CEO of the Nancy and
21:36
Speaker 1: David Wolf Holocaust in Humanity Center, focusing primarily this hour
21:39
Speaker 1: on the exhibit that's being displayed there until April twelve.
21:43
Speaker 1: Get your tickets. Auschwitz not long Ago, not far away again.
21:47
Speaker 1: Five hundred original artifacts from Auschwitz and it's the biggest
21:51
Speaker 1: collection of these artifacts outside of Europe. And this is
21:55
Speaker 1: kind of a traveling event or traveling exhibit that's going
21:59
Speaker 1: around the world. Happens to be here for several months
22:01
Speaker 1: and we're blessed to have it here, and of course
22:03
Speaker 1: with the Center for Holocaust or Holocaust or Humanity Center
22:06
Speaker 1: putting its spin on it. It's got a different flavor to
22:10
Speaker 1: it then if you saw it someplace else, and a
22:12
Speaker 1: positive spin they try to put on it. But let
22:15
Speaker 1: us get ourselves grounded. And we've got Thanksgiving coming up.
22:19
Speaker 1: We have a lot to be thankful. Alluding back a
22:20
Speaker 1: little bit to the screaming and yelling, I just engage
22:23
Speaker 1: in it over the moment, because we complain here in
22:25
Speaker 1: America over the most minute things. We get ourselves all
22:27
Speaker 1: in sense. We love to criticize about how terrible things
22:30
Speaker 1: are and how unjust things are. And then you look
22:33
Speaker 1: at what happened world War two, the treatment of the Jews,
22:36
Speaker 1: the concentration camps, everything that these folks live through, and
22:40
Speaker 1: everything they had to deal with coming out the other
22:42
Speaker 1: side through Union terminal to furtherir new life if they
22:46
Speaker 1: were lucky enough to survive the Holocaust, and having a
22:50
Speaker 1: positive spin on it, looking at life from a fresh perspective,
22:53
Speaker 1: and being positive and optimistic about the future. So go
22:58
Speaker 1: to the exhibit, Yes, what it was like, and then
23:01
Speaker 1: decide whether or not you think you have something to
23:03
Speaker 1: complain about.
23:05
Speaker 4: Yes, have some family conversations.
23:07
Speaker 2: There is nothing like a visit to this exhibition or
23:11
Speaker 2: to the Holocaust in Humanity Center to inspire that kind
23:13
Speaker 2: of gratitude and perspective. We have one artifact in the
23:16
Speaker 2: center that is a uniform worn by a survivor, Leo Willick,
23:20
Speaker 2: and it is pretty pretty well preserved. It's because after
23:23
Speaker 2: he survived Auschwitz, he had it pressed and cleaned and
23:28
Speaker 2: he would put it. He put it in a box
23:29
Speaker 2: on the top of his closet and he would put
23:31
Speaker 2: it on when he was having a bad day and
23:32
Speaker 2: look in the mirror and remind himself that his worst
23:35
Speaker 2: days were behind him. So you know, if these people
23:38
Speaker 2: who survived the absolute worst of human the worst things
23:43
Speaker 2: human beings can do to each other, can come out
23:45
Speaker 2: of that and not just write off humanity forever and actually,
23:49
Speaker 2: to the contrary, build an organization that believes in the
23:52
Speaker 2: possibility for us to do better, that educates like, what's
23:55
Speaker 2: our excuse? Why are we not hopeful? Why are we
23:58
Speaker 2: not feeling like we have any agent?
24:00
Speaker 4: See your power?
24:00
Speaker 2: I mean, I think that's the most inspiring thing you
24:03
Speaker 2: can imagine.
24:04
Speaker 1: Bless you well, and that again does a beautiful job
24:07
Speaker 1: summon up in the experience I had when I saw
24:09
Speaker 1: the center, because that's how I felt when it came out. Yeah,
24:12
Speaker 1: you feel better for having seen it right and knowing
24:15
Speaker 1: these people's experiences. Which takes me over to something I've
24:19
Speaker 1: been alluding to all morning, This artificial intelligence experience you
24:22
Speaker 1: can have at the Nancy and David Woolf Holocaust and
24:24
Speaker 1: Humanity Center. You got this, I mean, this is this
24:28
Speaker 1: is truly amazing. Just give me an example what my
24:30
Speaker 1: listeners can do.
24:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, So you can come to HHC anytime. We'll be there.
24:35
Speaker 2: You know, this special exhibition is there through through April,
24:38
Speaker 2: but we'll be there all we will be there and
24:40
Speaker 2: we will be there, So come down and visit, and
24:41
Speaker 2: you can come and have a conversation in real time
24:44
Speaker 2: with a survivor. You can ask any question and get
24:46
Speaker 2: an answer. And basically you stand in front of a
24:49
Speaker 2: life size video monitor like a screen, a television screen
24:53
Speaker 2: recording of a survivor. And we actually have two local
24:56
Speaker 2: survivors whose testimony we've recorded in this format now and
25:00
Speaker 2: you can ask ask any question and you'll see sort
25:03
Speaker 2: of the video index for a minute, and you'll get
25:05
Speaker 2: a response, and the response is remarkably relevant to the
25:09
Speaker 2: question you asked for this all being real, you mentioned Ai,
25:12
Speaker 2: the video itself is not fake. The video is absolutely real.
25:16
Speaker 2: Interviews with these people where we sat down with them
25:19
Speaker 2: for a week. We asked every single question we could
25:21
Speaker 2: ever imagine in every single iteration we could imagine someone
25:24
Speaker 2: asking the question, and then it's all sort of indexed
25:27
Speaker 2: and edited, and now you can go in and you
25:30
Speaker 2: can you know, you can ask any question and receive
25:32
Speaker 2: an answer about the war or about their life in Cincinnati.
25:34
Speaker 1: Well, okay, that was I was going to gravit you
25:36
Speaker 1: toward that. So a logical question for me will be like,
25:39
Speaker 1: tell me or explain a day in the life at Auschwitz,
25:44
Speaker 1: like for a for a concentration camp prisoner, yep, yep,
25:49
Speaker 1: And I would get an answer.
25:50
Speaker 4: For that yep.
25:51
Speaker 1: But I could also ask pivoting over to the Cincinnati part,
25:54
Speaker 1: you know, are you or are you a Cincinnati Reds fan?
25:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, totally, And they'll talk about the Reds. You can ask,
25:59
Speaker 2: you know, Al Miller, who's the survivor who's in our
26:02
Speaker 2: featured in our di t gallery right dimensions and testament
26:05
Speaker 2: and gallery right now, I can ask him what his
26:06
Speaker 2: favorite flavor of Greater's ice cream is I'll tell you, well, okay.
26:11
Speaker 1: Let me test the boundaries of this. If I said
26:13
Speaker 1: what I just want to know? Of course, you know
26:16
Speaker 1: you got to be thinking about all kinds of questions
26:18
Speaker 1: I could ask. But if I was being foolish, could
26:20
Speaker 1: I ask him what's better Skyline or gold Star?
26:25
Speaker 2: So if I think he has a response for that,
26:27
Speaker 2: and let me tell you, you think you can trick him.
26:29
Speaker 2: There's no one who's going to try harder than a
26:31
Speaker 2: group of ninth grade you know, high school also come through.
26:35
Speaker 2: So we we have and he will say, in the case,
26:38
Speaker 2: you know, we didn't ask him a question that has
26:41
Speaker 2: some something to do with the you know, with the
26:43
Speaker 2: with the question you're asking, he'll say, let's get back
26:45
Speaker 2: to my story. Or he'll say, you know, well, actually
26:48
Speaker 2: that's a question that they didn't I was I was
26:49
Speaker 2: never asked before. Have any other questions?
26:52
Speaker 4: Have I heard that? Rarely?
26:54
Speaker 2: Have I heard that? Huh, Yeah, it's pretty amazing. There
26:58
Speaker 2: is an AI algorithm that learns the more you ask
27:01
Speaker 2: questions how to better source relevant answers. But the video,
27:05
Speaker 2: it's really important that the video is not AI. The
27:07
Speaker 2: video is real recorded interviews with the survivor.
27:11
Speaker 1: You know what, I although I can envision a time
27:13
Speaker 1: where you know, there's probably out in the artificial intelligence
27:19
Speaker 1: gathering mode that's out there. Literally every source of information
27:22
Speaker 1: that has been digitized is being looked at from artificial intelligence. Yep,
27:26
Speaker 1: that you might have a real time, three dimensional hologram
27:31
Speaker 1: of this guy and using every available ounce of information.
27:35
Speaker 1: If you failed to answer him ask him a question
27:37
Speaker 1: when he was alive, they could scour the globe of
27:39
Speaker 1: information and come up with a response that he could
27:41
Speaker 1: actually say to you. They would look like he was
27:43
Speaker 1: answering that question. I he never answered that question for
27:46
Speaker 1: him when was alive. But there's a little uh, there's
27:48
Speaker 1: an article over here that talks about him that said,
27:50
Speaker 1: you know what, in fact, he was a gold star.
27:52
Speaker 2: Fan well, and that this is why I always correct
27:55
Speaker 2: and people say the AI exhibit, because yes, there's an
27:58
Speaker 2: AI component of how the algorithm source is the right
28:00
Speaker 2: actual answers.
28:01
Speaker 1: But it goes back really important.
28:03
Speaker 2: It's really important that like there is no fabrication, there
28:06
Speaker 2: is no random sourcing of what we think he might
28:09
Speaker 2: have answered is a real answers from a real person.
28:12
Speaker 1: And that's critical credibility. Going back to these idiots happened
28:16
Speaker 1: right well, they made that up, clearly, they made everything.
28:19
Speaker 2: Else up exactly.
28:21
Speaker 1: Eight forty five one more segment with the Auschwitz Not
28:25
Speaker 1: Long Ago, not far away, far Away museum along with
28:29
Speaker 1: Elizabeth and Jackie. We'll be back right away, don't go
28:31
Speaker 1: way fifty five KRC the talk station, Chris k the
28:36
Speaker 1: talk station, eight fifty fifty five KRCD Talk Station. This
28:43
Speaker 1: has been such a delightful conversation. Elizabeth Pearson Studio President,
28:47
Speaker 1: CEO of the Insane Museum Center, and Jackie Kunjato. She
28:50
Speaker 1: is the CEO of the Nancy and David Wolf Holocaust
28:52
Speaker 1: and Humanity Center, which is and will continue to be
28:56
Speaker 1: after the roving exhibit leaves at the Sinsinme Museum Center.
28:59
Speaker 1: It's beautiful, beautiful space. The Holocausting Humanity Center is truly
29:05
Speaker 1: an overall uplifting opportunity but fascinating in every right. But
29:09
Speaker 1: now we've got this addition, a separate exhibit five hundred
29:12
Speaker 1: international artifacts from Auschwitz at the museum center. Again, the
29:17
Speaker 1: name of the exhibit is Auschwitz, Not Long Ago, not
29:20
Speaker 1: far Away. It's there until the twelfth of April. Joel
29:23
Speaker 1: put all this information up on the blog page fifty
29:25
Speaker 1: five Caresee dot com, along with the links to the
29:26
Speaker 1: Museum Center's website and the Holocausting Humanity Center's website. So
29:33
Speaker 1: what else are we going to see here? So we've
29:37
Speaker 1: talked about the exhibit, We've talked about some of the
29:40
Speaker 1: reasons we need to see the exhibit. Those who are
29:42
Speaker 1: not study the mistakes in the past are destined to
29:44
Speaker 1: repeat them or end up in a state of denial
29:46
Speaker 1: that they never even happen. You know, let's just end
29:49
Speaker 1: that notion you don't believe it happened, show up, improve
29:53
Speaker 1: it to yourself. But then also this idea that maybe
29:55
Speaker 1: you can ground us a little bit and we can realize,
29:57
Speaker 1: you know what, our lives aren't really as dang bad
29:59
Speaker 1: as we perceive them to be. And I think that's
30:01
Speaker 1: one of the best things we could probably do this
30:03
Speaker 1: time of year, as we've fast approached the holidays.
30:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it's all about gratitude and perspective. Gratitude
30:08
Speaker 2: and perspective. I tell myself that if my past one
30:12
Speaker 2: thing on to my children, it is gratitude, empathy, and resilience.
30:17
Speaker 2: Those are the three. And I think that this is
30:19
Speaker 2: like the perfect laboratory for how to help young people,
30:23
Speaker 2: but adults also get a healthy perspective and you know,
30:26
Speaker 2: a sense of a sense of gratitude and honestly resilience. Resilience, well,
30:31
Speaker 2: you know.
30:31
Speaker 1: And this isn't an effort to go down a political road.
30:34
Speaker 1: I don't know you're either of you ladies' political affiliation.
30:36
Speaker 1: I really don't think it matters what I find impossible
30:40
Speaker 1: to believe Republican Democrat, independent, socialist, communists, whatever. Then an
30:44
Speaker 1: outright anti Semite, someone who has been critical of Jewish
30:48
Speaker 1: people generally speaking, and has been involved with and a
30:50
Speaker 1: member of organizations who river to the sea advocate for
30:55
Speaker 1: the eradication of Israel generally speaking, and the Jewish people
30:59
Speaker 1: a law. The final solution that the Nazis I mean
31:03
Speaker 1: this is, these are people who've adopted a very Adolf
31:06
Speaker 1: Hitler like approach in terms of their viewpoints of Jewish people.
31:10
Speaker 1: They view them with disdain. So, yes, it could happen again,
31:15
Speaker 1: is all. I can observe that there are people in
31:18
Speaker 1: power who hold these viewpoints right now.
31:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think the best thing we can do
31:24
Speaker 2: to sort of inoculate ourselves in that way is to
31:29
Speaker 2: understand what anti Semitism looks like how it shows up,
31:33
Speaker 2: so that we can recognize it in our world, in ourselves, right,
31:36
Speaker 2: you know, we don't have to be it's not a
31:39
Speaker 2: point of shame, but it's it's a point of stereo.
31:41
Speaker 2: It's like it's like any other stereotype. You just have
31:43
Speaker 2: to be aware enough of what it looks like so
31:45
Speaker 2: that when you see it creep up in a conversation
31:48
Speaker 2: or in your own thoughts, you can identify that and say,
31:50
Speaker 2: you know, that might seem harmless in the moment, but
31:53
Speaker 2: that it's that kind of hatred and stereotype. And you know,
31:58
Speaker 2: false information about a group of people that led to
32:01
Speaker 2: this atrocity at scale. So you know it's I totally
32:05
Speaker 2: agree with you, Brian. It's not a left or right issue.
32:07
Speaker 2: It is an issue at the extremes. It's an issue.
32:10
Speaker 2: It's an issue when people stop looking for complex solutions
32:14
Speaker 2: to complex problems and they look for someone to blame.
32:17
Speaker 2: They're looking for an easy scapegoat. Scientism has been that
32:21
Speaker 2: you have a century.
32:21
Speaker 3: So you have a survivor who has said the Holocaust
32:24
Speaker 3: did not start with bullets.
32:25
Speaker 2: Yes, it started with words.
32:27
Speaker 3: That's right, and so understanding what that humanity looks like
32:31
Speaker 3: and how far these choices are made every day is
32:36
Speaker 3: so crucial, and it's it's kind of the whole point
32:39
Speaker 3: of the exercise that we're in the middle of right now.
32:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think, I think the power in this history
32:44
Speaker 2: is that we think about these massive atrocities or frankly
32:48
Speaker 2: massive movements for progress and justice in our societies as big,
32:52
Speaker 2: sweeping things that happen out there. The reality is that
32:56
Speaker 2: the worst things we can think of that have happened
32:59
Speaker 2: in human history, and the best things they happened one person,
33:03
Speaker 2: one choice, one moment at a time. They were relatively
33:07
Speaker 2: mundane people going about their mundane lives, making mundane choices.
33:11
Speaker 2: So I mean, in my mind, we can see that
33:14
Speaker 2: as really being or we can see that as as hopeful,
33:19
Speaker 2: because we all have the Holocaust was not inevitable. It
33:23
Speaker 2: wasn't inevitable. It happened because people made choices. And we
33:26
Speaker 2: have the opportunity to choose, choose the good, to choose
33:29
Speaker 2: to active in character, strength, to choose to see the
33:32
Speaker 2: strengths and other people, to value difference. And you know,
33:37
Speaker 2: that's up to us. What's the story they're going to
33:39
Speaker 2: tell about us?
33:40
Speaker 1: Brian amen to that. I cannot improve on those closing comments,
33:43
Speaker 1: Jackie beautifully stated, and thank you very much for encouraging
33:47
Speaker 1: my listening audience to head on out to the Nancy
33:49
Speaker 1: and David Wolf Holocausting Humanity Center and Elizabeth Pierce, President
33:53
Speaker 1: CEO of the Nash of the Sinseeme Museum Center. I'm
33:55
Speaker 1: jealous of your employment venue, that's for sure, but I'll
33:58
Speaker 1: be back real soon. I got it. Check this exhibit
34:00
Speaker 1: out and maybe, just maybe we'll get this figured out
34:02
Speaker 1: for a listener lunch. That would be really cool. So
34:06
Speaker 1: I'll put my uh, I'll put Debbie howell Er on
34:08
Speaker 1: that you'll be getting a call from her at some point,
34:10
Speaker 1: so that to look forward to fifty five cares dot
34:13
Speaker 1: com folks, if you didn't get a chance to listen
34:14
Speaker 1: a line. We had Tech Friday with Dave had We
34:16
Speaker 1: had a full hour with George Brennman and Keith Tennefeld
34:18
Speaker 1: in studio Restore