AUGUST 12 • 2021 | 39

space where we are allowed so 
we can focus on survivors who 
ended up in Michigan,
” said Mark 
Mulder, HMC manager of cura-
torial affairs who partnered with 
the Special Events Department to 
choose the exhibit. 
“I am a great admirer of the 
Galicia Jewish Museum, so I was 
familiar with this exhibit. I saw it 
on the web from there and also 
from Milwaukee. It’s a perspective 
that we don’t see as often, specif-
ically that of a religiously obser-
vant young woman, and I appre-
ciate the interpretation of women 
to keep that perspective. That’s a 
powerful and unique approach to 
Holocaust storytelling.
”
Numerous text panels give 
detailed outlines of the signifi-
cance of the ghetto, the signifi-
cance of what happened to Rywka 
and interviews with her cousins 
who are still alive. The documen-
tation goes to the last-known 
reference of Rywka and the paper 
trail relatives followed for her.

“The most heart-wrenching 
part is the story of her cousins,
” 
Mulder said. “They assumed she 
had passed until research on her 
began in earnest relatively recent-
ly, and there’s a very profound 
emotional impact.
” 
Hastings, whose talk also will 
be available digitally, will cover 
the historical background and 
context of the Lodz Ghetto, 
everyday life in the ghetto and the 
broader historical significance of 
central themes raised in the diary.
“I have read Rykwa’s diary 
multiple times and read exten-
sively about the exhibition,
” said 
Hastings, a frequent HMC speak-
er who teaches courses on Nazi 
Germany and the Holocaust in 
addition to writing two books: 
Catholicism and the Roots of 
Nazism and Nationalism in 
Modern Europe. 
“My presentation will strive 
to provide broader historical 
contextualization,
” Hastings said. 
“Hopefully, that will deepen and 
enrich attendees’ understanding 
of Rykwa’s experiences.
” 

TOP TO BOTTOM: Baby shoes manufactured at a sewing 
workshop in the Lodz Ghetto. A thimble found on the site 
of the Kulmhof (Chelmo) Death Camp. An emblem from a 
sewing workshop in the Lodz Ghetto. 

PHOTOS COURTESY HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL CENTER

CEGESOMA, CENTRE FOR HISTORICAL
RESEARCH AND DOCUMENTATION ON WAR AND CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY

List of Bergen-
Belsen 
Concentration 
Camp inmates 
liberated by 
the British 
army. Rywka 
Lipszyc is 
on the list. 
Emaciated 
and ill, she 
likely died 
soon after 
liberation.

“The most heart-wrenching 

part is the story of her cousins,
” 

CEGESOMA, CENTRE FOR HISTORICAL

RESEARCH AND DOCUMENTATION ON WAR AND CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY

List of Bergen-
Belsen 
Concentration 
Camp inmates 
liberated by 
the British 
army. Rywka 
Lipszyc is 
on the list. 
Emaciated 
and ill, she 
likely died 
soon after 
liberation.

