Americans and the Holocaust: A Michigan Perspective

About the Exhibition

What can we learn from history to inform how we navigate the present and future? How does learning from people’s lived experiences help us cultivate empathy for each other?  

Americans and the Holocaust: A Michigan Perspective grows out of these important questions and specifically approaches the experiences of individuals and families who were directly impacted by the rise of fascism in Nazi Germany and the resulting Holocaust. This project is a joint effort between the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University, the Michael and Elaine Serling Institute for Jewish Studies and Modern Israel, and the MSU Department of History. Students enrolled in MSU Professor Kirsten Fermaglich’s Spring 2025 History 480 class, “Seminar in American History: Americans and the Holocaust,” engaged over the course of the semester with local archives and personal family collections to help provide insight into the experiences of people and families who survived the Holocaust and have planted roots here in Michigan.  

The Holocaust (1933–45) is defined by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) as “the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million European Jews by the Nazi German regime and its allies and collaborators.” In April 2018, the USHMM opened an exhibition entitled Americans and the Holocaust to explore what Americans knew about the Nazi genocide, and how they responded to the millions of Jews seeking refuge from destruction. In 2021, the USHMM turned Americans and the Holocaust into a traveling exhibition for 100 libraries across the country. In January 2025, a partnership between the Serling Institute and the Library of Michigan brought the exhibition to the Library’s location in Lansing, which became an important point of departure for the work of the MSU students in the development of their own display.  

Americans and the Holocaust: A Michigan Perspective, created from the research and writing of MSU students in dialogue with faculty and museum staff, offers important insights to the experiences of people here in our own backyard. Centering around the subjects of Jewish refugee resettlement in Michigan; media and the dissemination of information; personal narrative and artistic responses; and assimilation into American life, the exhibition weaves together different perspectives and stories. It also serves as an important reminder of the ongoing importance and need to continue to learn from and engage with these difficult and troubling histories, so that we can set a brighter and more inclusive path for our society looking to the future ahead.  

Americans and the Holocaust: A Michigan Perspective is organized by the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University and guest curated by the MSU students from History 480 (Spring 2025); with support from Dr. Kirsten Fermaglich, Professor of History and Jewish Studies; and Steven L. Bridges, Interim Director & Senior Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs. Support for this exhibition is provided by the MSU Department of History and the Michael and Elaine Serling Institute for Jewish Studies and Modern Israel.  

The museum extends its special thanks to the many organizations and individuals who provided materials and access to this project, including Judy Brady, the Center for Michigan Jewish Heritage, the Detroit Jewish News, the Jewish Federation of Detroit, Spencer Israel, David Mittleman, Elizabeth Morisseau, Ellen Pollak, Ellen Rothfeld, Ethan Seelig, Stephen Rachman, Betty Seagull, and the Zekelman Holocaust Center.