The Sara and Sam Schoffer Holocaust Resource Center at Stockton University will sponsor a series of programs in the South Jersey community during July, including an exhibit featuring the works of artist and Holocaust survivor Magda Watts.
Watts was a Hungarian-born Israeli artist who became world renown for creating dolls that depicted her Jewish life before World War II and the resilience of those who survived the Holocaust. As a teenager she was first deported to Auschwitz and then to a sub-camp of the Flossenbürg concentration camp, Nurenberg (Siemens-Schuckertwerke).
There she began creating dolls from rags and scraps she found. The dolls helped shield her from the atrocities she witnessed at the camp, including deportation, forced labor, hunger and murder. Creating the dolls ultimately saved her life as she used it to obtain extra food rations.
After liberation, she settled in Israel where she dedicated herself to creating more dolls about her experience. She died in 2019 at the age of 90. “Magda Watts: A Handmade Story of Resilience” will feature several examples of her work and will be on display in Stockton Art Gallery in Galloway until July 27. The gallery is open Tuesday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Guided tours are available by emailing Amanda Cantillon, one of the exhibit’s curators.
The exhibit was made possible through the support of Rabbi Lynnda and Larry Targan.
Other events sponsored by the Holocaust Resource Center in July include:
- A presentation of “Dear Esther,” a play based on the true story of Esther Terner Raab, a Holocaust survivor who escaped from Sobibor, a Nazi death camp in eastern Poland. The play will be presented at 5 p.m. Sunday, July 12 at Congregation Rodef Sholom, 4609 Atlantic Ave., Atlantic City. Light desserts and refreshments will be served after the play. Admission is free and the event is open to the public. No registration is required.
- Little Water Distillery in Atlantic City is partnering with the center to present “Intoxication & Ideology: Beer Halls and the Nazi Party” at 6 p.m. Monday, July 13. The free event is open to the public and will feature a presentation by Michael Hayse, Stockton professor of Historical Studies and holder of the Wally and Lutz Hammerschlag Chair in Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Hayse will discuss how alcohol and beer-hall culture influenced Adolf Hitler and the rise of the Nazi Party. The distillery is located at 807 Baltic Ave, in Atlantic City. Doors open at 5 p.m. RSVP is required by emailing the center or calling 609-652-4699.
- Beth Judah Temple in Wildwood will present “Jallalla: A Celebration of Life! The Story of How Bolivia Rescued Jews During World War II” at 4 p.m. Sunday, July 19. Holocaust survivor Mike Kleidermacher will share his life story beginning with his parents fleering Nazi-occupied Poland to Russia and eventually relocating to La Paz, Bolivia. Between 1938 and 1940, Bolivia welcomed more than 20,000 Jewish refugees. The free event is open to the public, but RSVP is required by emailing the temple or calling 609-522-7541. The temple is located at 3912 Pacific Ave., in Wildwood.
- The ninth annual Wally & Lutz Hammerschlag Summer Educator Seminar will take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, July 20 in the Fannie Lou Hamer Event Room at Stockton’s Atlantic City campus, 3711 Atlantic Ave. The seminar is titled “Tools for the Classroom: Teaching about the Nazis’ LGBTQ+ Victims” and features Kerry Phipps, the community editor of the Pink Triangle Legacies Project; Kate Okeson, the executive director of the New Jersey Commission on Advancing LGBTQIA+ Youth Equity and Inclusion in Schools; Brianna Doherty, the managing director of the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education; and Lennard Hammerschlag, the son of Holocaust survivors Wally and Lutz Hammerschlag. New Jersey educators will receive free educational materials and can earn 8.0 professional development hours. The free event is open to educators, but RSVP is required by emailing the center or calling 609-652-4699.
Stockton University’s Sara and Sam Schoffer Holocaust Resource Center preserves and shares the history of the Holocaust and life stories of Holocaust survivors of South Jersey. Designated as a Holocaust Center of Excellence, it houses more than 4,000 volumes, oral histories, films and survivor-led workshops serving southern New Jersey communities.
