“Recounting Memory: Flint-area Holocaust Survivors and Youth Dialogue with History” is an exhibit centered on the childhood experiences of Holocaust survivors who now live in Flint. Students and faculty from Mott Community College worked with local high school students and the staff of Jewish Community Services to collect the stories of those who escaped the former U.S.S.R.

The exhibit was then designed by MCC Graphic Design professor Mara Jevera Fulmer and will reside in the Thompson Library atrium until March 11. It can be seen during normal library hours.

Laura Friesen, UM-Flint reference and instruction librarian, was one of the people to help bring “Recounting Memory” to UM-Flint. She originally saw it on display at MCC with some other fellow librarians, and decided this would be an opportunity for the university.

“I personally think this is important because people often forget these types of things can and are still happening. It brings the matter close to home, the fact that these people are a part of our community,” Friesen said. “One message students could take away is to never give up. When your worst adversary is maybe a class you don’t like the work in, sometimes you need to be reminded of the bigger things. These people fought to get away, and were so strong willed.”

Two of the survivors interviewed for the project are Leonid and Nina Yufa, who were both employees at the Thompson Library for many years after arriving in Flint. Nina Yufa passed away in May 2011 at age 70, just one month before the exhibit was set to be opened.

Library Director Bob Houbeck was another strong supporter of bringing “Recounting Memory” to campus. It was also important to him that the project found a home in the library.

“Libraries are places that remember – places dedicated to keeping memory accessible to future generations,” Houbeck said. “We don’t take it for granted that we will remember all the important discoveries, creations, and experiences of our civilization. We’ve consciously created institutions whose job is to collect, preserve and make accessible knowledge and experiences – that’s what libraries do. The point is to link people to ideas, and exhibits like this do that.”

Houbeck also mentioned the importance of staying committed to balanced powers and finding a new appreciation for American political institutions, or at least what they should be. The “Recounting Memory” exhibit is meant to remind students of the dangers of totalitarian governments, as well as reconnect them with an important part of American and Flint history.

Natalie can be reached at nbroda@umflint.edu