Americans and the Holocaust

The Albertsons Library at Boise State University was selected as one of 50 libraries across the United States to host “Americans and the Holocaust,” a traveling exhibition from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) and the American Library Association. This exhibition seeks to address four main questions: what did Americans know, did Americans help Jewish refugees, why did Americans go to war, and how did Americans respond to the Holocaust? The exhibit includes a variety of multimedia displays such as videos. In the section seeking to address the question: “Why did Americans go to War?” the USHMM explored the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans under Executive Order 9066. 

The Albertsons Library also created a supplemental exhibition, titled: "Incarceration and Neutrality: Idahoans Respond to World War II." Inspired by Americans and the Holocaust themes, this exhibit uses documents from Boise State’s Special Collections and Archives to show two responses of Idahoans to World War II. One of the exhibitions includes items from the Robert C. Sims Collection on Minidoka. 

On April 20, 2023, Friends of Minidoka screened their documentary Betrayed: Surviving an American Concentration Camp, followed by a panel discussion with Minidoka survivors Mary (Tanaka) Abo and Karen Hirai Olen, along with the Director of Interpretation and Education at Minidoka National Historic Site, Kurt Ikeda. The panel discussion was moderated by Friends of Minidoka Graduate Fellow Camille Daw and drew on several of the exhibit’s themes, especially regarding resettlement and the acceptance of both Jewish and Japanese individuals throughout the United States. Additionally, just as “Americans and the Holocaust” sought to answer an overarching question of “What more could have been done?” our panelists explained how Japanese Americans ask a similar question regarding their own removal. A huge thank you to Albertsons Library for hosting us and to our panelists for attending!