An exhibit opening Thursday in Omaha documents the Holocaust through the experiences of teenagers who visited concentration camps in Poland.
Photographer Ophir Palmon’s exhibit, titled “Future, Beware!,” grew out of a 2010 trip to Poland with a group of teenagers participating in the March of the Living.
The March is an annual event that seeks to educate young people about the history of the Holocaust, as well as issues of prejudice and injustice. Participants march from Auschwitz to Birkenau as a tribute to those killed in the concentration camps during the Holocaust.
Palmon says he wanted to tell a story different from his own experience growing up in Israel with Holocaust survivors. “My environment was filled with survivors, relatives, neighbors, people who came from somewhere and bore the scars of that experience. These kids, fortunately, do not have that experience, but they still were coming in to learning a very significant lesson in history.”
Palmon says he wants the exhibit to be a lesson about the fragility of life. “We all hope to be living peaceful lives, a positive life, but it appears that horrible things happen to very good people, and we as people have to be fully aware of our vulnerability to such events.”
Palmon’s photographs are part of a new book, also titled “Future, Beware!.” The exhibit opens tonight with a public reception at UNO’s Criss Library, and will be on display there through February 22. UNO will also host three lectures on the Holocaust in conjunction with the exhibit.
“Future, Beware!” opens Thursday at 5:30pm at UNO’s Criss Library with a public reception. It’ll be on display there through February 22. The photographs are part of a new book by Palmon, which shares the same title as the exhibit.