The Rescuers: Portraits of Moral Courage in the Holocaust exhibit featured portraits by Gay Block and narratives by Malka Drucker of people who helped save the lives of Jews in Europe during World War II. Of the105 portraits of European rescuers from 10 countries, 49 tell the story of their lives before, during, and after the war as they grapple with the question of why they acted with humanity in a time of barbarism. The exhibit and a companion exhibit, Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals 1933-1945, were offered September 17 through October 23, 2005 at Untitled [ArtSpace] as part of the Oklahoma Holocaust Remembrance Exhibition.

From 1933 to 1945, Nazi leaders waged a ruthless campaign against people deemed "enemies of the state." Hitler's regime, driven by a racist ideology, carried out the mass destruction of six million Jews in the Holocaust and implemented a murderous program of "race hygiene; killing millions more to cleanse German society of Gypsies, people who carried hereditary diseases, the mentally and physically handicapped, Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexuals and others. Of the more than 100,000 homosexual men arrested, approximately 50,000 were imprisoned and an estimated 5,000 to 15,000 were sent to concentration camps where an unknown number of them perished.

The Oklahoma Holocaust Remembrance Exhibition was a project of Cimarron Alliance Foundation, supported by community partners including the Jewish Federation of Greater Oklahoma City, The Metropolitan Library System, the Arts Council of Oklahoma City, and several other community and religious organizations.  The project committee was chaired by Rob Howard and honorary co-chairs were Jim Roth, Oklahoma County Commissioner and Pam Fleischaker, Presidential appointee to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Council from 2000-2005.

Rescuers Website

Back to 2005 past exhibits

© Untitled [ArtSpace]

Untitled [ArtSpace]
1 NE 3rd, Oklahoma City, OK 73104

Gallery hours: Tues, Wed, Thus: 11am-6pm / Fri: 11am-8pm / Sat: 11am-4pm
Contact: untitledartspace@1ne3.org   T: 405.815.9995    F: 405.813.2070