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108-669: The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), in its online "Holocaust Encyclopedia," in the article on "Immigration of Refugee Children to the United States," recognizes this official name: the "One Thousand Children," for this group of children. The archives of the "One Thousand Children," which contain much documentary material, including audio and video of both the One Thousand Children 2002 Conference, and individual interviews of OTC children, as well as many other original materials, and which all together are

216-578: A French "château" (large mansion) run by the Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants or OSE. It was usually only late in a journey that a Rescue Agency would start positively escorting the children. Some of the OTC children came by individual arrangements made by their family, in which the child would be sent into the care of a relative in America. In America, they would either live with that family, or perhaps be placed in

324-466: A boarding school. Many OTC children made notable contributions to American society. Among them are: At the time, the OTC children went through much emotional stress and trauma and practical difficulties in Europe before their arrival in America, also during their initial period in America, and even in later war-time years. At war's end, most OTC children would learn that their parents had been murdered by

432-488: A family relative or friend. Such children would live with their sponsor, or sometimes live in a boarding school in close contact with their sponsor. Before 1938, only small groups were brought into the country by such organizations, because of concern for anti-semitism and social hostility to allowing foreigners to enter the U.S. during the Depression. The sponsoring organizations wanted to avoid drawing undue attention to

540-497: A full set of mature coping skills - that is why their parents support, teach, and protect their children. Society also accepts an important responsibility in this regard. Like other Child Holocaust Survivors, the actual experiences and psychological trauma received by the OTC Child Survivors differed fundamentally, crucially and negatively from that of an adult Holocaust Survivor. An adult generally would have developed

648-502: A guarantee that they would not become public charges. Most of these children were assigned a social worker from a local social service agency to oversee the child's resettlement process. Jewish children were generally placed in Jewish homes. These children, and their sponsors, expected that they would be reunited with their own families at the end of the war. Most of the children lost one or both parents, and most of their extended families, by

756-542: A learning site for students. Organized by theme, the site uses text, photographs, maps, artifacts, and personal histories to provide an overview of the Holocaust. The USHMM had partnered with Apple Inc. to publish free podcasts on iTunes about the Holocaust, antisemitism, and genocide prevention. It also had its own channel on YouTube , an official account on Facebook , a Twitter page, and an e-mail newsletter service. The Genocide Prevention Mapping Initiative

864-428: A medical post and obtained permission to take numerous children away from Gurs, who would be housed in private homes throughout France. Security infrastructure in the camp was not as developed as many of its more eastern counterparts. However, escapers who were poorly dressed, lacking money and without knowledge of local dialects were quickly located and returned to the camp. Reclaimed prisoners were subsequently held for

972-474: A new culture and way of behaving. Like other Holocaust child survivors, after the war the OTC child had traumatic life adjustments to make. Their parents had nearly certainly been murdered by the Nazis, when he was still a young child, which he either learned soon after the war ended - or no information was available, and then he could hope that they were still alive, and fear that they were dead. Yet, even after

1080-472: A newspaper in German by the name of "Lagerstimme K.Z. Gurs" of which there were more than 100 editions. The inhabitants of neighboring places could come to the camp and sell food to the inmates. For a time, the commander permitted some imprisoned women to rent a horse and cart and let them leave to camp to buy provisions more economically. There was a postal service and visits were also occasionally permitted. At

1188-740: A professional and democratic manner. The Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933–1945 is a seven-part encyclopedia series that explores the history of the concentration camps and the ghettos in German-occupied Europe during the Nazi era . The series is produced by the USHMM and published by the Indiana University Press . The work on the series began in 2000 by the researchers at the USHMM's Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies . Its general editor and project directory

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1296-446: A sense of self and ego, which would provide him or her with a way of attempting to deal with the practical and emotional trauma. Usually a child has not yet developed a strong ego nor sense of self. Also, a child depends on his or her parents for support and protection, and especially love. Yet for these Child Holocaust Survivors, they lacked their parents and their parents' love; and they only had weakly developed egos and sense of self, at

1404-553: A staff of about 400 employees, 125 contractors, 650 volunteers, 91 Holocaust survivors, and 175,000 members. It had local offices in New York City , Boston , Boca Raton , Chicago , Los Angeles , and Dallas . Since its dedication on April 22, 1993, the museum has had nearly 40 million visitors, including more than 10 million school children, 99 heads of state, and more than 3,500 foreign officials from over 211 countries and territories. The museum's visitors came from all over

1512-604: A time as punishment in an îlot called de los represaliados (of those suffering reprisals). In case of recidivism, they were sent to another camp. But an internee who could count on outside help could successfully escape, whether to Spain or a shelter on a flat in France. There were 755 who managed to escape. Once the program for the eradication of the Jews was put into motion in the camps in German-occupied Poland,

1620-498: Is divided into four periods: The first small group of six children arrived at New York City in November 1934. This was followed by subsequent small groups, totaling about 100 children annually, that occurred in the early years of operation, and they were taken to foster homes arranged through appeals to congregations and other organizations' members. Most of the children came through programs run by private refugee agencies such as

1728-838: Is overseen by the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, which includes 55 private citizens appointed by the President of the United States , five members of the United States Senate , and five members of the House of Representatives , and three ex-officio members from the Departments of State , Education , and the Interior . Since the museum opened, the council has been led by the following officers: The council has appointed

1836-617: Is recommended for visitors 11 years of age and older. To enter the Permanent Exhibition between March and August, visitors must acquire free timed passes from the Museum on the day of the visit, or online for a service fee. Remember the Children: Daniel's Story is an exhibition designed to explain the Holocaust to elementary and middle school children. Opened in 1993, it follows true stories about children during

1944-659: Is the American historian Geoffrey P. Megargee . As of 2017, two volumes have been issued, with the third being planned for 2018. Volume I covers the early camps that the SA and SS set up in the first year of the Nazi regime, and the camps later run by the SS Economic Administration Main Office and their numerous sub-camps. The volume contains 1,100 entries written by 150 contributors. The bulk of

2052-537: Is the United States' official memorial to the Holocaust . Adjacent to the National Mall in Washington, D.C. , the USHMM provides for the documentation, study, and interpretation of Holocaust history. It is dedicated to helping leaders and citizens of the world confront hatred, prevent genocide , promote human dignity, and strengthen democracy. In 2008, the museum had an operating budget of $ 120.6 million.

2160-671: The George Washington University Hospital . Special Police Officer Johns later died of his injuries; he is permanently honored in an official memorial at the USHMM. Von Brunn, who had a previous criminal record, died before the conclusion of his federal criminal trial, in Butner federal prison in North Carolina . Designed by the architect James Ingo Freed of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners , in association with Finegold Alexander & Associates ,

2268-851: The German Jewish Children's Aid (GJCA). The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society ( HIAS ) as well as the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee , (colloquially known as "the Joint"), HICEM , and the Society of Friends (the Quakers ). Many of these efforts were combined to form the U.S. Committee for the Care of European Children (USCOM) which was registered with the US government and later became part of

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2376-907: The National War Fund . Fundraising efforts were assisted by the American Jewish Committee , the American Jewish Congress , and the National Council of Jewish Women . For instance, many of the OTC were initially gathered together, supported, taken care of, and educated by the French Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants (OSE)<ref, sometimes for many months in the OSE "chateaux" (these were typically very large houses and grounds). They stayed with OSE until OSE able to pass them on to "the Joint", or

2484-675: The Washington Monument for construction. Under the founding director Richard Krieger, and subsequent director Jeshajahu Weinberg and chairman Miles Lerman , nearly $ 190 million was raised from private sources for building design, artifact acquisition, and exhibition creation. In October 1988, President Ronald Reagan helped lay the cornerstone of the building, designed by architect James Ingo Freed . Dedication ceremonies on April 22, 1993, included speeches by American President Bill Clinton , Israeli President Chaim Herzog , Chairman Harvey Meyerhoff , and Elie Wiesel. On April 26, 1993,

2592-534: The "Orphanage." As she herself writes, it is somewhat remarkable that she managed to become a responsible mature adult. She recounts all this in her book "War Orphan in San Francisco". At a more practical level, nearly every OTC child arrived in America not being able to speak English, and so he or she was held behind in school grade placement (though most rapidly learned English, and then advanced rapidly into his proper school-grade). He or she had to adapt to

2700-478: The "rock-and-roll" impresario Bill Graham (promoter) ). Before the war, many simply managed to get to Hamburg or another port, and sail from there. though this itself was not easy. After the German blitzkrieg of May 1940 through Belgium, Holland, and Luxembourg, and rapidly into France, many OTC children fled from Occupied France or Vichy France by going south and west to the Spanish border. Then they made

2808-445: The 2014–2015 fiscal year, the museum reported total revenues of $ 133.4 million; $ 81.9 million and $ 51.4 million from private and public sources, respectively. Nearly the entirety of private funds come from donations. Expenses totaled of $ 104.6 million, with a total of $ 53.5 million used to pay 421 employees. Net assets tallied $ 436.1 million as of September 30, 2015, of which $ 319.1 million is classified as long-term investments, including

2916-543: The Atlantic Ocean, receives a great deal of rain, which made the clay campgrounds permanently muddy. The inmates made paths with the few stones they could find in a vain attempt to keep the mud in check. Pieces of wire that had been stripped of their barbs were placed between the cabins and the toilets and used by the refugees like the railing of a staircase, to maintain balance on the unsteady ground. In each îlot there were rudimentary toilets, not very different from

3024-682: The Commission presented its report to the President, recommending the establishment of a national Holocaust memorial museum in Washington, D.C., with three main components: a national museum/memorial, an educational foundation, and a Committee on Conscience. After a unanimous vote by the United States Congress in 1980 to establish the museum, the federal government made available 1.9 acres (0.77 ha) of land adjacent to

3132-552: The French concentration camps such as Gurs . Then OSE was able to extract the child(ren) from that camp, but with the parents still interned. Then OSE would aid the child(ren) over the next OTC stages to their final transport across the Atlantic. In the later stages of this journey, often HIAS , or the " Joint " would also assist the OTC children. Remarkably, a similar small group of about 6-8 unaccompanied Jewish children fled to

3240-459: The French, German, and Spanish press; as a result, the next year there was a reunion at Gurs on 20-21 June. The reunion drew a hundred former detainees, who came from many different countries. Also in attendance were people associated with the French resistance and survivors of the Nazi death camps. Together, these people created an organization called L'Amicale de Gurs . This organization developed an official newsletter called L'Appel de Gurs , which

3348-538: The French-Spanish border and were not interested in confronting Franco, but the French feared they might and so held these Spaniards in Gurs for a short time. The camp also briefly housed German prisoners of war. The camp was dismantled in 1946. The hill has since been covered in dense vegetation that still does not manage to absorb the water that flows from the clay soil. One can see a few stones that were paths and

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3456-477: The Holocaust from the Nazis in occupied Europe, hidden so as to avoid capture by the Nazis. One sub-group even of Hidden Children are children who, during the Holocaust, were placed into the care of a "foster-family," usually Catholic, and raised as-if one of the family. These Hidden Children were saved from murder by the Nazis. Nonetheless, all of them, including those in "foster-families," suffered great trauma at

3564-437: The Holocaust. Daniel is named after the son of Isaiah Kuperstein, who was the original curator of the exhibit. He worked together with Ann Lewin and Stan Woodward to create the exhibit. Because of its popularity with families, it is still open to the public today. In October 2009, the USHMM unveiled a memorial plaque in honor of Special Police Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns. In response to the outpouring of grief and support after

3672-413: The Holocaust. The OTC child's situation in the United States was very different than that of a child who remained in Europe, but it was equally damaging to his childhood development. Very importantly, these trauma were different and more extreme than those of an adult Holocaust Survivor. An adult had developed coping methods to survive through life. Children are not yet adults. Children still have to learn

3780-429: The Jewish associations of Baden. He got in touch with the parts of Baden that had deported their Jewish citizens to Gurs so that they could participate in the project. The French state, for its part, gave the federation of Jewish organizations of Baden the right to control the cemetery for the next 99 years. The German cities of Karlsruhe, Freiburg , Mannheim , Heidelberg , Pforzheim , Konstanz and Weinheim now pay

3888-599: The Museum published the Holocaust Encyclopedia —an online, multilingual encyclopedia detailing the events surrounding the Holocaust. It was published in all six of the official languages of the United Nations — Arabic , Mandarin , English , French , Russian , and Spanish , as well as in Greek , Portuguese , Persian , Turkish , and Urdu . It contained thousands of entries and includes copies of

3996-668: The National Civic Commemoration, ceremonies and educational programs during the week of the Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust (DRVH) were regularly held throughout the country, sponsored by Governors, Mayors, veterans groups, religious groups, and military ships and stations throughout the world. Each year, the USHMM designated a special theme for DRVH observances, and prepares materials available at no charge to support observances and programs throughout

4104-437: The Nazis. At that time, they had to adjust to, and create for themselves, another new set of life experiences. As is now well-understood, such stress and trauma will continue to create conscious and unconscious trauma, and their repercussions, for many years. These OTC trauma, both at the time and afterwards, are closely similar to those met by other Child Holocaust Survivors who survived in Europe. These OTC trauma were caused by

4212-408: The OTC child would find out, sooner or later, that his or her parents had been murdered by the Nazis; and there would also have been the prior stress of waiting and hoping, before that final factual discovery. Not surprisingly, some of the OTC children became very angry with their situation. Some would act out, sometimes so much so that their "foster-parents" decided they had to return the OTC child to

4320-523: The OTC children. Some 1.5 million children, nearly all of them Jewish, were deliberately murdered by the Nazis in the Holocaust . (This includes those who died of starvation, or illness due to inhumane conditions in the ghettoes.) A relatively few Jewish children were saved by being hidden by courageous Gentiles in various ways, in or close to their Nazi -occupied hometown (see Hidden Children ). Another relatively few Jewish children were saved by moving to non-Nazi-occupied lands. Naturally this required

4428-451: The One Thousand Children "program," approximately 1,400 children, nearly all Jewish, were successfully rescued and brought across the ocean to the United States. In general, they were brought in quiet operations designed to avoid negative attention from isolationist and other antisemitic forces. Originally 1,177 such children had been identified as OTC — hence the name the "One Thousand Children" (OTC). These OTC children: The OTC history

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4536-497: The President's Commission on the Holocaust, chaired by Elie Wiesel , a prominent author, activist, and Holocaust survivor. Its mandate was to investigate the creation and maintenance of a memorial to victims of the Holocaust and an appropriate annual commemoration to them. The mandate was a joint effort of Wiesel and Richard Krieger (the original papers are on display at the Jimmy Carter Museum ). On September 27, 1979,

4644-512: The Quakers, which then took them to the United States. Under the leadership of Andree Salomon , OSE did manage to gather together about 350 such children in three large groups, who travelled to America with the aid of the organizations mentioned. Many of these children came from the Gurs internment camp . Other OTC came under private arrangements and sponsorship, typically made by the parent(s) with

4752-569: The Spaniards, for whom there was generally sympathy, the internees from the second waves were known as " les indésirables ", the undesirables. With the armistice between France and Germany in June 1940, the region in which the camp was situated formed part of the territory governed by the Vichy government, passing over to the civil authority. The military commander, before turning over command, burned

4860-603: The Swiss Humanitarian Aid Unit, Jewish French organizations tolerated by the Vichy regime, and organizations such as the Quakers and the YMCA . Despite the fact that the camp was situated in a region where the great majority of the population was Catholic, not one Catholic organization offered its help to the inmates. On 15 February 1941, the Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants (Children's Aid Society) installed

4968-620: The U.S. A few of the OTC came under the British Children's Overseas Reception Board (CORB) program, as well as the "U.S. Committee for the Care of European Children" (USCOM). In the OTC programs under the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (now nearly always contracted to HIAS), German Jewish Children's Aid Society, (GJCA), the Quakers, etc., foster families in the U.S. agreed to care for the children until age twenty-one, see that they were educated, and provided

5076-531: The USHMM also provided public service professionals, including law enforcement officers, military personnel, civil servants, and federal judges with ethics lessons based in Holocaust history. In partnership with the Anti-Defamation League , more than 21,000 law enforcement officers from worldwide and local law enforcement agencies such as the FBI and local police departments have been trained to act in

5184-477: The USHMM is created to be a "resonator of memory". (Born to a Jewish family in Germany, Freed came to the United States at the age of nine in 1939 with his parents, who fled the Nazi regime.) The outside of the building disappears into the neoclassical , Georgian , and modern architecture of Washington, D.C. Upon entering, each architectural feature becomes a new element of allusion to the Holocaust. In designing

5292-714: The USHMM one of the world's principal venues for Holocaust scholarship. The Museum contains the offices of the Committee on Conscience (CoC), a joint United States government and privately funded think tank , which by presidential mandate engages in global human rights research. Using the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide , approved by the United Nations in 1948 and ratified by

5400-586: The USHMM. Researchers from all over the world come to the USHMM Library and Archives and the Benjamin and Vladka Meed Registry of Holocaust Survivors . In March 2024, the museum announced that it acquired the Centropa collection, a collection that contains rare testimonies of Holocaust survivors living in post-war communist countries. The USHMM operates on a mixed federal and private revenue budget. For

5508-595: The United States and, since 1994, almost 400 university fellows from 26 countries. Researchers at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum have documented 42,500 ghettos and concentration camps created by the Nazis throughout German-controlled areas of Europe from 1933 to 1945. The museum is located geographically in the same cluster as the Smithsonian museums. On November 1, 1978, President Jimmy Carter established

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5616-597: The United States for teachers to learn about the Holocaust, to participate in the Museum Teacher Fellowship Program (MTFP), and to join a national corps of educators who served as leaders in Holocaust education in their schools, communities, and professional organizations. Some MTFP participants also participated in the Regional Education Corps, an initiative to implement Holocaust education on a national level. Since 1999,

5724-592: The United States from Venezuela. Their parents, in the small Jewish community of Maracaibo in Venezuela, were well aware of Hitler's possible global threat, which included German submarines off the Venezuelan coast. For many of the OTC children, the period before they reached America was very difficult. Before World War II, most were simply assembled by rescue agencies directly from their home towns in Germany and Austria, and then easily escorted to America. But after

5832-565: The United States in 1988, the CoC has established itself as a leading non-partisan commenter on the Darfur Genocide , as well as the war-torn region of Chechnya in Russia , a zone that the CoC believes could produce genocidal atrocities. The CoC does not have policy-making powers and serves solely as an advisory institution to the American and other governments. In addition to coordinating

5940-455: The Vichy regime turned over the 5,500 Jews who were located in Gurs to the Nazis. On 18 July 1942, the SS captain, Theodor Dannecker , inspected the camp and then ordered that they prepare themselves to be transported to Eastern Europe. Beginning on August 6, they were sent in convoys to the Drancy deportation camp , on the outskirts of Paris, and later many were murdered in extermination camps. The majority of them were sent to Auschwitz . Upon

6048-595: The aid of adults - these were saved by the efforts of programs, groups, individuals, or actual parents. In western Europe these would include the Kindertransport program which included the individual efforts of Sir Nicholas Winton ; and the work of the French Jewish organization Œuvre de Secours aux Enfants (OSE). Most of the programs that worked specifically to save children had the children remain within Western Europe. Other well organized programs prepared and sent children to Palestine , for example Youth Aliyah , Youth village and Sh'erit ha-Pletah . In contrast, in

6156-413: The bases of cabins. Groups of volunteers have begun to remove the overgrown weeds to display the origins in which some 64,000 people were forced to live during the various epochs of the camp. In 1979, on the 40th anniversary of the creation of the camp, the region's youth started to air the forgotten history of the camp by inviting old inmates to conferences and lectures. The event was well-publicized by

6264-527: The building, Freed researched post- World War II German architecture and visited Holocaust sites throughout Europe. The Museum building and the exhibitions within are intended to evoke deception, fear, and solemnity, in contrast to the comfort and grandiosity usually associated with Washington, D.C., public buildings. Other partners in the construction of the USHMM included Weiskopf & Pickworth, Cosentini Associates LLP, Jules Fisher , and Paul Marantz, all from New York City. The structural engineering firm

6372-411: The camp held former Spanish Republican fighters who participated in the Resistance against the German occupation, because their stated intention of opposing the fascist dictatorship imposed by Franco made them threatening in the eyes of the Allies . The camp measured about 1.4 km (0.87 mi) in length and 200 m (220 yd) in width, an area of 28 ha (69 acres). Its only street ran

6480-423: The camp of the Gursiens , a name that was first used by the inhabitants of nearby towns to refer to the inmates and that was ultimately adopted by the inmates themselves. The thick vegetation that covers the area occupied by the Gurs ilots contrasts sharply with the large Jewish cemetery, which is exquisitely maintained at the expense of the German cities that deported their German-Jewish population to Gurs. After

6588-690: The child would feel abandoned by their parents. Even older children, who could understand the reality "intellectually," none-the-less would feel as having been abandoned. For the very young children, even though in later years they would have no actual memory of the parting and of these feelings, and also no memory of (part of) the later years, yet the trauma of parting and of continued separation will still have current and continuing subconscious impact. Most OTC children were placed in "foster-families," some of which were loving and some not; or sometimes they were placed in various types of institutions, some caring, and some not. But in most cases these could not replace

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6696-415: The children ( kinder ) had been forced to flee by themselves, and forced to leave their parents behind. (Nearly all the children's parents were later murdered by the Nazis.) In November 2018, the German Government announced a "Kindertransport Fund" that would pay each surviving Kindertransport "child" a token symbolic amount of 2,500 Euros (about $ 2,850 at that time). This was intended to be in recognition of

6804-464: The children. Furthermore, their immigration was limited by the U.S. immigration quota system for their countries of origin. The demand on these organizations increased markedly after Kristallnacht on November 9/10, 1938 convinced more European parents that the destruction of Jews was an element of the Nazi agenda. In the later period of 1941–1942, when news of Nazi atrocities was more widely circulated, larger groups of OTC were organized and arrived in

6912-486: The cold, and the tarred fabric soon began to deteriorate, allowing rainwater to enter the cabins. There were no internal toilets and residents slept on sacks of straw placed on the floor. Despite the fact that each cabin had an area of only 25 m (270 sq ft), it had to house up to 60 people at times of peak occupancy. Food was scarce and poor quality; there was no sanitation, running water, or plumbing. The camp had poor drainage. The area, due to its proximity to

7020-429: The difficult climb over the Pyrenees , usually guided by a passeur guide/smuggler. From Spain, they traveled to neutral Portugal and Lisbon. From there, they sailed to America, often on one of the Portuguese liners Serpa Pinto (also known as the RMS Ebro ), or Mouzinho, or Nyassa. This escape route was also taken by many families. This escape route, through France and over the Pyrenees to Spain, then Portugal and Lisbon,

7128-415: The duty of every generation to remember the criminal acts of the dictatorial regimes that assaulted Europe during the 20th century. Today the camp contains a reconstruction of a triangular cabin as a testimony to the hundreds of identical cabins that were lived in by the inmates. Like the original cabins, the reconstruction was made from thin slabs of wood covered in tarred cardboard. A few monuments recall

7236-417: The especial trauma these Kindertransport had suffered as children during their flight from Hitler, but that they had had to flee unaccompanied, and forced to leave their parents behind. The German Government created this Fund precisely to recognize that the Kinder were Child Survivors of the Holocaust. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum ( USHMM )

7344-634: The exterior guards circulated. In each plot stood about 30 cabins; there were 382 cabins altogether. This particular type of cabin had been invented for the French army during the First World War; they had been built close to the front but outside the range of the enemy artillery , and they served to accommodate soldiers during the few days when the soldiers arrived at their barracks and awaited their trench assignment. They were assembled from thin planks of wood and covered with tarred fabric, all identical in construction and size. They were not fitted with windows or other insulation. They did not offer protection from

7452-438: The following as directors of the museum: The museum was criticized for refusal to address alleged incidents of genocide in non-Jewish contexts, such as the Syrian civil war . In June 2019, the USHMM took part in a public debate about the inappropriate use of Holocaust-related terminology after U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called the detention camps along the southern U.S. border "concentration camps", and used

7560-443: The fundamental reference-source, are held by the YIVO Institute . The OTC children were rescued by both American and European organizations, as well as by individuals. Originally only about one thousand such children had been identified as OTC children — hence the name "The One Thousand Children". By 2017 about 1,400 have been identified. The One Thousand Children, Inc. (OTC, Inc.) was an organization created for further welfare of

7668-408: The guard corps. The administration and care of the camp was conducted under military auspices until the fall of 1940, when a civil administration was installed by the Vichy regime. In April 1939, Basques, aviators and International Brigades members were transferred to Gurs. Those arriving from Spain were grouped into four categories (here translated into English): From 1939 to the autumn of 1940,

7776-427: The identification card profiles that visitors receive at the Permanent Exhibition. The encyclopedia is organized by the following topics: It includes a number of articles and other resources: Holocaust Encyclopedia materials and other resources are available in multiple languages: Arabic, Greek, Spanish, French, Italian, Korean, Russian, Urdu, Farsi, Bahasa Indonesia, Portuguese, Turkish, and Chinese. It includes

7884-479: The language that dominated in the camp was Spanish. The inmates created an orchestra and constructed a sports field. On July 14, 1939, Bastille Day , the 17,000 internees of Spanish origin arranged themselves in military formation in the sports field and sang La Marseillaise , followed by sports presentations and choral and instrumental concerts. German members of the International Brigade edited

7992-404: The length of the camp. On either side of the street were plots of land measuring 200 m (220 yd) by 100 m (110 yd), named îlots ( blocks ; literally, "islets"). There were seven îlots on one side and six on the other. The plots were separated from the street and from each other by wire fences. The fences were doubled at the back part of the plots to create a walkway along which

8100-538: The liberation in 1944, the French Association of Jewish communities of the Basses-Pyrénées took charge of Gurs' upkeep and erected a monument to the camp's victims. As the years passed, though, the cemetery itself fell into disrepair. Hearing of this disrepair, the mayor of Karlsruhe in 1957 took the initiative to have his city assume responsibility for the conservation of the camp, supported by

8208-407: The love and support from his own family; and the new relationship would take time to develop. In some fortunate instances, the OTC child would grow to totally blend into the foster family, and learn to love them as if they were his own parents and siblings. The older OTC children fully knew the dangers their left-behind parents faced from the Nazi threat. And then, at the end of the war, nearly always

8316-529: The museum opened to the general public. Its first visitor was the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet . In 2002, a federal jury convicted white supremacists Leo Felton and Erica Chase of planning to bomb a series of institutions associated with American black and Jewish communities, including the USHMM. On June 10, 2009, 88-year-old James von Brunn , an antisemite , shot Museum Special Police Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns . Special Police Officer Johns and von Brunn were seriously wounded and transported by ambulance to

8424-877: The museum's endowment. In 1998, the museum established the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies (CAHS). Working with the Academic Committee of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, the CAHS supports research projects and publications about the Holocaust (including a partnership with Oxford University Press to publish the scholarly journal Holocaust and Genocide Studies ), helps make accessible collections of Holocaust-related archival material, supports fellowship opportunities for pre- and post- doctoral researchers, and hosts seminars, summer research workshops for academics, conferences, lectures, and symposia. The CAHS's Visiting Scholars Program and other events have made

8532-405: The nation, and in the United States military. Days of Remembrance themes have included: The USHMM conducted several programs devoted to improving Holocaust education. The Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Conference for Teachers , conducted in Washington, D.C., attracted around 200 middle school and secondary teachers from around the United States each year. The Education Division offered workshops around

8640-406: The neighboring French region of Alsace . In Baden resided some 7,500 Jews; they were mainly women, children, and the elderly, given that the young and middle-aged men had emigrated (official Nazi policy, overseen and made more efficient by Adolf Eichmann ) or had gone to the Nazi concentration camps . The Gauleiter received word that the camp at Gurs was mostly empty, and on October 25, 1940, it

8748-535: The only deportation of Jews carried out toward the west of Germany by the Nazi regime. On the other hand, the Wannsee conference in which the above-mentioned extermination program was delineated, did not take place until January 1942. Beginning 20 December 1940, various humanitarian aid organizations intervened to lend their services: in addition to the Basque government-in-exile, posts were set up in Gurs belonging to

8856-410: The original Organization, such as HIAS, to be placed elsewhere – but then the cycle might repeat. As an example, one OTC child, Phyllis Helene Mattson, also acted out at the "Orphanage" Institution, where twice she had to be placed – she ultimately stayed with four "foster-families," and was in the "Orphanage" twice. She ran away from two of her "foster-families," and one "foster-family" sent her back to

8964-573: The past almost impossible." Gurs internment camp Gurs internment camp ( French : Camp de Gurs , pronounced [kɑ̃ də ɡyʁs] ) was an internment camp and prisoner of war camp constructed in 1939 in Gurs , a site in southwestern France, not far from Pau . The camp was originally set up by the French government after the fall of Catalonia at the end of the Spanish Civil War to control those who fled Spain out of fear of retaliation from Francisco Franco 's regime. At

9072-447: The phrase "Never Again". The USHMM published a statement declaring that it "unequivocally rejects efforts to create analogies between the Holocaust and other events , whether historical or contemporary." A group of historians and scholars responded with an open letter portraying the stance of the museum as "a radical position that is far removed from mainstream scholarship on the Holocaust and genocide." They claimed it "made learning from

9180-554: The prisoners, interned on account of their nationality or for being sympathetic to the Nazi regime, were released between August 21—the date of the arrival of the inspection commission sent by the German government to Gurs—and October. The Vichy government incarcerated: The most painful period in the camp's history began in October 1940. The Nazi Gauleiter ("governor") from the Baden region of Germany had also been named Gauleiter of

9288-418: The records in order to make it difficult for the new French government to locate and persecute many of the inmates who, informed of the change in command, had fled, disappearing among the French population who gave them shelter. After the war, the destruction of the records later made it difficult for many ex-prisoners to claim the compensation that was due to them for having been incarcerated. Seven hundred of

9396-1014: The shooting on June 10, 2009, it has also established the Stephen Tyrone Johns Summer Youth Leadership Program . Each year, 50 outstanding young people from the Washington, D.C. area will be invited to the USHMM to learn about the Holocaust in honor of Johns' memory. Notable special exhibitions have included A Dangerous Lie : The Protocols of the Elders of Zion (2006) . The Museum's holdings included art, books, pamphlets, advertisements, maps, film and video historical footage, audio and video oral testimonies, music and sound recordings, furnishings, architectural fragments, models, machinery, tools, microfilm and microfiche of government documents and other official records, personal effects, personal papers, photographs, photo albums, and textiles. This information can be accessed through online databases or by visiting

9504-601: The situation" when dealing with human rights abuses, enabling more effective prevention and response by the world. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Award, established in 2011, "recognizes internationally prominent individuals whose actions have advanced the Museum’s vision of a world where people confront hatred, prevent genocide, and promote human dignity." It has been renamed the Elie Wiesel Award in honor of its first recipient. Winners include: The museum

9612-410: The sort of troughs that would be used to feed animals. There was also a platform about 2 m (6 ft 7 in) high, which one climbed using steps, and upon which were built additional toilets. Under the platform there were large tubs that collected excrement. Once they were full they were transported out of the camp in carts. Around the camp were small buildings that housed the administration and

9720-462: The start of World War II, the French government decided to use the camp also to house ordinary prisoners and citizens of enemy countries. The first contingent of these arrived at Gurs May 21, 1940, eleven days after the German government initiated its western campaign with the invasion of the Netherlands . To the Spaniards and Brigadists who still remained in the camp, were added: In contrast to

9828-558: The start of World War II, the French government interned 4,000 German Jews as "enemy aliens", along with French socialist political leaders and those who opposed the war with Germany. After the Vichy government signed an armistice with the Nazis in 1940, it became an internment camp for mainly German Jews, as well as people considered dangerous by the government. After France's liberation , Gurs housed German prisoners of war and French collaborators . Before its final closure in 1946,

9936-411: The story of a person such as a random victim or survivor of the Holocaust. Upon exiting these elevators on the fourth floor, visitors walk through a chronological history of the Holocaust, starting with the Nazi rise to power led by Adolf Hitler , 1933–1939. Topics dealt with include Aryan ideology, Kristallnacht , antisemitism , and the American response to Nazi Germany . Visitors continue walking to

10044-631: The third floor, where they learn about ghettos and the Final Solution  – the Nazis's plan for the genocide of the Jews of Europe – during which the Nazis murdered six million Jews, many in gas chambers . The Permanent Exhibition ends on the second floor with the liberation of Nazi concentration camps by Allied forces; it includes a continuously looped film of Holocaust survivor testimony. First-time visitors spend an average of two to three hours in this self-guided exhibition. Due to certain images and subject matter, it

10152-430: The time World War II had ended. Most of the OTC children came from Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia. Some came from France, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg. Only very very few came directly from Eastern Europe. However, some families of OTC had previously made it from Eastern to Western Europe; and then the OTC child fled from Western Europe. (For instance, this was the case for Wulf Wolodia Grajonca, who later became

10260-502: The time, and also later both consciously and subconsciously. OTC children went through very significant trauma, both in terms of the psychological and the practical – caused by the Holocaust. These trauma in large part correspond to many aspects of those trauma developed by the "foster-family" sub-group of the Hidden Children – Child Survivors who had been raised as-if one of a (generally Catholic) family. The OTC trauma similarly

10368-481: The very time that the external and psychological trauma were most extreme. (Some exceptions may have been older teenage OTCers, such as those who joined the Ritchie Boys ). The first very significant trauma occurred at the moment of parting from their parent(s), whether when boarding ship or at an earlier time and event. For the younger OTC children, regardless of whatever reassuring words the parent(s) might say,

10476-447: The victims and survivors of the Holocaust. Visitors can light candles and view the eternal flame in the hexagonal hall. Using more than 900 artifacts, 70 video monitors, and four theaters showing historic film footage and eyewitness testimonies, the USHMM's Permanent Exhibition is the most visited exhibit at the Museum. Upon entering large industrial elevators on the first floor, visitors are given identification cards, each of which tells

10584-631: The volume is dedicated to cataloguing the camps, including locations, duration of operation, purpose, perpetrators and victims. Volume II is dedicated to the ghettos in German-occupied Eastern Europe and was published in 2012. In some cases, archival material now housed at the Center has allowed the post-mortem reconstruction of considerable achievements, such as the work of Lodz ghetto artist Melania Fogelbaum and others, which would otherwise have been lost to Nazi extermination and total war terror. Through its online exhibitions,

10692-482: The war started, nearly all of them went through extreme hardships and dangers before they boarded ship for the United States. Some did travel to the port with parents, but many traveled alone, at least for part of their flight. Some were smuggled over the Pyrenees (usually with their parents). Some were incarcerated for a time in concentration camps such as Gurs internment camp in southern France, while some spent time in

10800-481: The war, they most emphatically still needed their parents. At best, he found a good "substitute" in what now would become permanent "foster parents." This "switch" was naturally also traumatic. He, too, had to create a sense of self-identity and autonomy as he moved towards adulthood, from his under-developed posture as an OTC. Hidden Children of the Holocaust are those children who were hidden in some way during

10908-580: The withdrawal of the Germans from the region due to the advance of the Allied invasion of France, the French who took charge of Gurs locked up their countrymen accused of collaborating with the German occupiers as well as Spaniards, who having found refuge in France, had been fighting in the French Resistance against the German occupation. These men were not trying to enter into an armed conflict on

11016-541: The world, and less than 10 percent are Jewish. In 2008, its website had 25 million visits, from an average of 100 countries daily. Thirty-five percent of these visits were from outside the United States. The USHMM's collections contain more than 12,750 artifacts, 49 million pages of archival documents, 85,000 historical photographs, a list of over 200,000 registered survivors and their families, 1,000 hours of archival footage, 93,000 library items, and 9,000 oral history testimonies. It also has teacher fellows in every state in

11124-488: Was Severud Associates . The Museum's Meyerhoff Theatre and Rubenstein Auditorium were constructed by Jules Fisher Associates of New York City. The Permanent Exhibition was designed by Ralph Appelbaum Associates . The USHMM houses two exhibitions open continuously since 1993 as well as rotating exhibitions on topics related to the Holocaust and human rights . The Hall of Remembrance is the USHMM's official memorial to

11232-529: Was a collaboration between the USHMM and Google Earth . It sought to collect, share, and visually present to the world critical information on emerging crises that may lead to genocide or related crimes against humanity . While this initiative focused on the Darfur Conflict , the Museum wishes to broaden its scope to all human rights violations. The USHMM wanted to build an interactive "global crisis map" to share and understand information quickly, to "see

11340-461: Was also followed by those who fled from Belgium, Holland, and Luxembourg. Some other OTC children managed to get to Casablanca in North Africa, and sailed from there. It was often the case that whole families made some or all the journey to the port, before the sad parting when the OTC child continued alone. For instance, some French intact families followed a trajectory that led them to one of

11448-566: Was caused by the Holocaust. For this reason alone, we see that OTC are Child Survivors of the Holocaust. The OTC are the "American Kindertransport ." The Kindertransport Program is discussed in more detail in a later section. Here, we only need to know that, during the period between Kristallnacht and the start of World War II, the Kindertransport Program brought about 10,000 Jewish children to England from Germany, German-annexed Austria, and German-occupied Czechoslovakia - but

11556-473: Was decided to evacuate the Jews from Baden (between 6,500 and 7,500) to Gurs as part of Operation Wagner-Bürckel . There, they remained locked up under French administration. The living conditions were difficult, and illness rife, especially typhus and dysentery . The deportation of the German Jews to Gurs in October 1940 is a unique case in the history of the Holocaust . On the one hand, it deals with

11664-549: Was full of emphatic catchphrases such as, "Gurs, a symbol of combat and the suffering of the peoples of Europe", and "Gurs, a concentration camp, calls for vigilance, for unity, and for action; actions taken so that man can live in freedom and dignity." Since this date, a commemorative ceremony has been held annually. Some of the main participants in this ceremony have been Jewish organizations, representatives of citizens of Baden, former exiles, their relatives, and people of diverse nationalities who, by their presence, hope to point out

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