AUGUSTA – The consul general of the Federal Republic of Germany was one of the guests at Sunday’s grand opening celebration of the Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine at the University of Maine at Augusta’s Michael Klahr Center.
Dr. Wolfgang Vorwerk told the gathering that he and his countrypeople would never forget the darkest side of his country’s history but added that “Hitler did not win and I assure you Hitler will never get a second chance.”
Vorwerk, Holocaust survivor and HHRC founder Gerda Haas, Gov. John Baldacci and others joined in a story circle during which each speaker recounted an incident of prejudice or discrimination that occurred in their lives.
Looking directly at Haas, Vorwerk spoke of his visit to Israel’s monument to the 1.5 million children who were killed by the Nazis during World War II. He said the memorial was located in a dark cave lighted by candles. The only objects on exhibit were black-and-white photographs of children’s faces.
“This darkness is burned into my memory,” he said. “All of those faces of children, all of them murdered by Germans, by German command, by German hands. I will forever ask why.”
Vorwerk said that when a person leaves the memorial and steps into the bright light of Jerusalem and the 60-year-old state of Israel, the realization comes that Hitler did not win.
“Can we ever come to terms with our past? No, we cannot. We can’t change history, we must accept it for what it is. Are we guilty? Perhaps not in a legal sense. Guilt is not inherited. But that does not change the legacy left by our forefathers. We all feel the great shame, and shame hurts no matter if you are old or young,” he said. “We just cannot opt out of history. What we have that our forefathers did not is the wisdom of the past and the lessons of the past. This is what we must use as our guide to shape the future.”
The $2.5 million Holocaust and Human Rights Center is located on the University of Maine at Augusta campus in a stunningly designed brick and glass building. Within are images of survivors of the Nazis and mementos from that era. It is named after Michael Klahr, a Holocaust survivor. Klahr became wealthy after relocating to America. He then moved to Maine and married Phyllis Jalbert of Fort Kent. The couple ran sporting camps in the Allagash until his death in 1998.
The center’s mission is to revitalize the study and teaching of history and apply its lessons in the present. The center aims to make the story of human rights and the Holocaust relevant and compelling to students and spectators of all backgrounds. Turning tragedy and abomination into awareness and action is at the heart of the center’s mission.
Gerda Haas told the gathering that she was stunned when she learned during her time on the state Board of Education in the 1970s that few Maine schoolchildren knew the history of the Holocaust, and neither did their teachers. She said that she and some friends organized a conference on the Holocaust in 1982 and spent a month traveling around the state educating teachers on that period. Workshops were held and Holocaust lessons began showing up in the state’s curriculum. A Blaine House conference on the subject took place three years later and that was where the seeds for the HHRC germinated, she said.
“The HHRC was born, christened, circumcised and baptized that day,” she said. “We were on cloud nine. We felt the excitement of creating something new.”
The group began raising money and its dreams were realized when ground was broken at the site last year. She thanked all those who made the center possible and thanked the schools of Maine for teaching about the Holocaust.
“Today, there is not a student in Maine who does not know about the Holocaust, and there is not a teacher in Maine who does not teach it,” she said. “Hitler did not win. I say to you, the people of Maine, amen and shalom.”
The Michael Klahr Center officially opens to the public on Tuesday.
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