In light of the persistence of intolerance and genocide around the world today, the Dachau Album Project has an extraordinary opportunity to have a global impact now. Inspired by the Dachau Album, the mission of the Arnold Unger Foundation for Remembrance, Inc., a 501(c)3 public charity, is to remind the world of the destruction caused by religious, social and political intolerance through educational programs, exhibitions, a documentary film and community outreach.
Background
The Dachau Album is a newly discovered Holocaust artifact that was brought to the United States by Arnold Unger, a Polish teenage Jewish survivor of multiple camps, including the infamous Dachau Concentration Camp. It has within it thirty hand drawn illustrations by a Polish Roman Catholic artist who was a Dachau prisoner as well. The artwork can be viewed at http://dachaualbum.org/Trailer.html. It also contains Nazi uniform patches and hundreds of photographs, some never before seen, taken in and around Dachau, Germany during and after the war.
Arnold Unger, at fifteen years old, was liberated from the concentration camp in Dachau. He then spent two years after liberation as an office boy and interpreter for the American Army Officers stationed there. Upon his emigration to the US in 1947, he had in his possession this leather bound personalized album of Dachau artifacts. In 1972 on Thanksgiving Day, Arnold took his own life, having rarely spoken of his Holocaust experiences or of the album.
The thirty original pieces of color artwork contained within the album were created by Polish political prisoner, Michael Porulski. This Roman Catholic artist, arrested in Warsaw for a postcard-size drawing critical of the occupation, was imprisoned in Dachau from 1941 until liberation on April 29, 1945. He survived years of brutal captivity only to find poverty and ill health leading to his eventual death near Hereford, England.
At the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site and the International Tracing Service in Bad Arolson, Germany, the album was authenticated and all available World War II era documentation was obtained on both Arnold Unger and Michael Porulski. (See Associated Press article at http://dachaualbum.org/AP-Article.pdf.)
Our search for a permanent home for the Dachau Album advantageously led us to the Library of Congress. Here, its contents were carefully examined, confirmed to be original and resulted in an invitation for the album to become part of their World War II collection.
Components
EDUCATION: Genocide Studies have now become the paradigm for teaching about state sponsored terrorism, the preservation of global human rights and the innate desire for peace and social justice. The unique nature of the Dachau Album provides a rare opportunity for research that will effectively serve to renew and refresh the educational resources, both physical and virtual, used to teach a wide demographic of students.
EXHIBITIONS: Under the guidance of world-renowned Holocaust Scholar Michael Berenbaum, the Dachau Album will be exhibited at museums and institutions worldwide. The Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site has committed to host and help fund the premiere of the Master Exhibition in early 2016, followed by a plan for a worldwide tour to The Vatican, Poland, Israel and the US. Traveling exhibitions will be created for smaller venues such as Jewish Federations, Catholic Dioceses, Universities and Libraries.
DOCUMENTARY FILM: Overseeing the film is 2014 Peabody Award winner Michael Kantor (PBS/American Masters Series, Executive Producer) and award winning Director David Novack. The documentary will depict the incredible journey of the Album and the worldwide search for answers about the life of the adolescent Jewish survivor for whom it was made and the tale of the adult Roman Catholic artist.
The lives of those depicted in the album are forever intertwined as page by page, the album reveals one layer after another of artifact and art, history and humanity, loss and love, tragedy and triumph.
Memory is critical to healing a family and to healing the world. Without memory, we are doomed to repeat. Today’s world desperately needs a reminder of the brutality of Nazi Europe. This is the power of the Dachau Album.
Opportunities
AUDIENCE WITH THE POPE: We have been granted a general audience with Pope Francis on May 6, 2015. This was accomplished with the help of Archbishop Vigano at the Apostolic Nuncio of the Holy See in Washington, DC, whom we have met with twice and who has viewed the Album extensively. His support of the project and his referrals to Bishop Farrell and Father Hofmann at The Vatican were the catalysts that resulted in this momentous meeting. Our hope is that His Holiness will be able to take the time to briefly witness the Album and hear of the work that we are doing to advance religious tolerance. We are confident that if permitted to photograph or film this fortuitous event, it will bolster our goal of making this project resonate with a multi-denominational audience worldwide.
70th ANNIVERSARY OF LIBERATION: April 29, 2015 is the 70th Anniversary of the Liberation of Dachau. We have been invited by the International Dachau Committee in Paris to join the gathering of Survivors and Liberators at the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site from April 30th through May 4th. We intend to introduce them to the Album and film their impressions and memories for posterity and possible inclusion in the documentary film. This is likely to be the last time these heroes will be able to gather and the information they provide could be invaluable.
FACSIMILE REPRODUCTIONS: BookArts in Washington, DC, one of the most prestigious bookbinders in the world specializing in the making of authentic reproductions of historic artifacts, has been carefully selected to create the facsimiles of the Dachau Album. They have constructed magnificent gifts that have been bestowed on Popes, Presidents, Heads of State and Royalty.
In order for the reproductions to be true to the original, many of the components must be fabricated from scratch and crafted by hand, an extremely expensive endeavor. This is necessary as the original Album is becoming very fragile and will no longer be able to be shared as often as it has been in the past. By having these intricate facsimiles the plan to gift the Album to the Library of Congress and have replicas for display at exhibitions and lectures will be realized.
Needless to say, these incredible opportunities come at a cost. Funding is required to actualize these plans and to advance the mission of the Arnold Unger Foundation for Remembrance, Inc.
We need your support and ask that you forward this to all those who share our vision for a more tolerant and peaceful world.
Go to www.dachaualbum.org/donate to make your secure, tax-deductible donation.
Thank you for your interest and support.
Sincerely,
Avi Hoffman
Executive Director
Dachau Album Project
www.dachaualbum.org
Cell: (954) 415-2730
Email: info@dachaualbum.org
Twitter: @DachauAlbum
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheDachauAlbumProject
Interconnecting the worlds of Christianity and Judaism, Art and Reality, Life and Death, Love, Desperation,
and the ultimate triumph of Hope and the Human Spirit.
Arnold Unger Foundation for Remembrance, Inc.
PO Box 9446
Coral Springs, FL 33075
A 501(c)3 Public Charity