By Cailin Acosta
EL CAJON, California – I met up with the Jewish Women’s Circle of Chabad of East County at the Rancho San Diego library May 16 for the closing week of the RUTH: Remember Us The Holocaust exhibit.
Curator Sandra Scheller talked about how her mother, Ruth Goldschmiedova Sax, had survived the Holocaust, and told of how she put together this exhibit in honor of her mother and other survivors who made their lives in San Diego County.
Rebbetzin Chaya Andrusier shared a story of her grandfather telling everyone he came in contact with that he was a survivor and how she lovingly dreaded going places with him but now realized it was to remind people never to forget.
Scheller exhibited a Holocaust-striped shirt marked with a red triangle. Not only were people sent to concentration camps for being Jewish, but also for being homosexual, gypsies, people who protested the war or the Nazi regime, Jehovah Witness’s, and also Africans. The red triangle on this shirt meant this individual was most likely a political prisoner, spy, or traitor and not Jewish. I was able to touch the shirt and feel the fabric. It felt thicker than I imagined and had a liner. Perhaps, I thought, it was for the winter months and that non-Jewish concentration camp prisoners got better quality uniforms.
Scheller mentioned they have had to increase security and cameras at the exhibit since October 7. Attendance has been reduced since October 7 because patrons are worried about safety and school visits have been accordingly reduced.
We discussed not learning about the Holocaust in school. We all knew about World War II and Hitler but it seems our teachers skipped over that part of history. My twins who are sixth graders have not reached that part in history class but they have heard me talk about the Holocaust and we have attended events sponsored by The Butterfly Project.
My good friend Olga Worm and I walked around the exhibit reading the large cutouts telling the stories of individual survivors. She told me she knew many of these survivors. She had either heard them talk or they were parents of her friends. So I got another perspective on who these survivors were and their children, some of whom I knew.
After the exhibit we had a round table discussion about what we took away from this. We discussed personal stories of antisemitism we have all experienced.
Rebbetzin Andrusier shared a story of a Chabad volunteer delivering mishloach manot (gift baskets given during the holiday of Purim) and was not sure she was at the correct address since there was not a mezuzah on the door post. She said that homeowner called her husband Rabbi Rafi Andrusier, the next day and asked to have a mezuzah installed.
With that message, Andrusier encouraged us all to not be afraid to be Jewish, to continue to light Shabbat candles and to educate and bring up our children and grandchildren with Jewish traditions regardless of what is going on in the world. And to also pray that the hostages get released and come home safely.
The exhibit will remain at the Rancho San Diego library until June and is expected to move to the La Jolla library.
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Cailin Acosta is the assistant editor of San Diego Jewish World.