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Friday, March 8, 1985
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Theodor Blatterbauer's 1848 Portrait of a
((Jung Girl With Butterfly.
HE LEGACY
CONTINUES
What began as a tombstone
has become a tribute to
Jewish survival as The
Precious Legacy opens at the DIA.
BY HEIDI PRESS
Local News Editor
doff Hitler did not realize
when he ordered a
"museum to an extinct
race" that he would creat a
"tribute to a living, vibrant
people."
Mark Talisman, overall coor-
dinator of The Precious Legacy exhibit
which opens its seven-week run on
Wednesday at the Detroit Institute of
Arts, made this assessment during his
recent visit to Detroit.
"We were not destroyed," Talis-
man said. "We had the last laugh on
Hitler. We have survived."
Talisman; director of the Wash-
ington office of the Council of Jewish
Federations and vice chairman of the
U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, was
the driving force behind the move to
convince the Czech government to
allow a traveling exhibit of Jewish
domestic and ritual items housed by
the Nazis in eight synagogues and 50
warehouses in Czechoslovakia. The
items, numbering about 140,000, were
taken by the Nazis from Jews in the
153 communities of Bohemia and
Moravia who were deported to the
death camps.
Of the warehoused items, nearly
300 were picked, to be included in a
Smithsonian-sponsored traveling ex-
hibit, which received major backing
from Philip Morris Inc., as well as from
the Founders Society of the DIA and
the Jewish Welfare Federation of De-
troit through the United Jewish
Charities. Private contributions also
helped further the work of the teams of
scholars and curators in setting up the
exhibit.
The Detroit connection to the ex-
hibit came about 21/2 years ago when
several Detroiters, including many
Czech Jewish survivors of the
Holocaust, accompanied Talisman on
a mission to the state Jewish Museum
in Prague.
The Federation will sponsor the
opening ceremonies of the exhibit at 7
p.m. Monday. Talisman will address
the affair, joined by Anna Cohn, proj-
ect director of The Precious Legacy
and director of museum development,
U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council.
Dulcie Rosenfeld heads the Fed-
eration coordinating committee for
The Precious Legacy. The aim of her
committee, she says, is "to make sure
The Precious Legacy is seen to its best
advantage. It is an event of universal
importance."
Mrs. Rosenfeld said the commit-
tee will coordinate educational pro-
grams in conjunction with the exhibit.
The committee has worked with both
Jewish and non-Jewish agencies.
Many volunteers have come from
the Jewish community to help with
The Precious Legacy. While he was in
Detroit last month, Talisman spoke to
volunteers who will serve as docents.
On display in the exhibit are
synagogue furnishings, such as Torah
curtains, pointers and crowns; domes-
tic items showing how Czech Jews
lived; paintings and prints; objects
used by the Czech Jewish burial
society; and books and manuscripts.
A major focus of the exhibit,
Talisman said, is to help people under-
stand the enormity of the Holocaust.
"The concept of a person understand-
ing the meaning of the death of six
million Jews because of who they were
is virtually impossible because I don't
think the average mind or soul can
comprehend it.
"By understanding it in terms of a
faMily and an individual, it then does
become possible to comprehend to a
degree. This exhibition, which I've
entitled The Precious Legacy, helps do
that because it helps people go into the
legacy of the community, of worship,
the whole life cycle, from birth to
death, to see objects that we can relate
to."
Project Director Anna Cohn voi-
ced another objective. "This exhibit
presents a duality of the human condi-
tion, how humankind can ennoble life
and wreak its destruction."
She said the exhibit was entitled
Precious Legacy "to highlight the pre-
ciousness of life."
Cohn directed a team of curators,
historians and museum professionals
in studying and picking out the pieces
for the exhibit using • A strong aes-
theticism; • Artistic merit; • Histori-
cal value; • Direct relationship to the
Holocaust; • Jewish ceremonial im-
port; • Relationship to Jewish daily
life; • "Spanning chronologically gen-
erations in which Jewish life
flourished."
As examples, she cited a Torah
curtain chosen for the richness of it
silk and golden threads as being repre-
sentative of the artistic work of Czech
Jews. Kitchen furnishings and uten-
sils were selected to show how Czech
Jews went about their daily lives.
"One gets the sense of the totality of
how the Nazis confiscated objects and
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