What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1439772
Editor's Note: This story originally appeared Sept. 12, 2021, in What's Up! ––– "Auschwitz did not start with gas chambers. Hatred does not happen overnight; it builds up slowly among people. It does so with words and thoughts, with small everyday acts, with prejudices. When we had the vision to create the exhibition, we conceived its narrative as an opportunity to better understand how such a place could come to exist, and as a warning of where hatred can take us to. Therefore, it is of vital importance to remember the road that led to Auschwitz and the consequences it had." — Luis Ferreiro BECCA MARTIN-BROWN NWA Democrat-Gazette L uis Ferreiro is the driving force behind an exhibition currently on show at Kansas City's Union Station. Titled "Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away," it was nearly six years in conception, and Kansas City is the last of only two stops it will make in the United States. Since it opened June 14, it has been sold out to maximum capacity most days, and Ferreiro advises visitors they'll leave with more questions "than simple and digested answers." "There are many different layers in the exhibit, and it will be up to each visitor to decide how deep they will like to go in the understanding of what Auschwitz was, how such a place came to exist and what it means for us today," he says. "In that regard, the exhibition is first and foremost a tribute to the memory of the victims. But we also hope this stay in our very recent past gives visitors the tools to critically analyze our own present." The Conception "Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away." features more than 700 original artifacts, 400 photographs and unpublished memoirs, many of which have never been available to the public. The idea for the exhibition started with Ferreiro, whose family founded an exhibition company called Musealia 21 years ago in their home country of Spain. It is the only career Ferreiro, who was born in 1982, has ever known. "It has been an incredible journey full of learning and creativity, that gave us also the chance to work with the best professionals in the different topics we created exhibitions about," he says. "From historians to architects, conservators or designers, leading groups of very talented individuals into a vision for a particular exhibition has been an incredible experience." Everything changed for the family when Luis' brother Jesus died of a sudden heart attack in 2008 at the age of 26. "One year later, in April in 2009, I was given for my birthday the book 'Man in Search of Meaning' by Viktor Frankl," Ferreiro remembers. "Although it took me some months to make the decision to read it, I did so that summer, and I was profoundly touched by the way he narrates his experience of being deported to several Nazi camps, specially Auschwitz. The moment I closed the book, I felt an urgency to create an exhibition that would explain the story of Auschwitz — somehow, to take Auschwitz to the world. To do something. "The story of creating the exhibition is full of pain — for the subject matter and the relationship to my brother — but it is also a sincere story of gratitude," he adds. "It would be impossible to name all the institutions and individuals who decided to come together to make the exhibition possible. The Auschwitz- Birkenau State Museum is not only the co-producer of the exhibition, but also the source of most of the original objects displayed. And as important as that, they made available their expertise, historical research and knowledge." JANUARY 2-8, 2022 WHAT'S UP! 7 YEAR IN REVIEW See Auschwitz Page 39 Not Long Ago, Not Far Away FAQ 'Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away.' WHEN — Through March 20, 2022 WHERE — Union Station, 30 W. Pershing Road in Kansas City, Mo. COST — $15-$25 INFO — unionstation. org/event/auschwitz/ Many visitors to the "Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away." exhibit currently open at Union Station in Kansas City, Mo., talk about a single little shoe, with a tiny sock tucked neatly inside it, as the most poignant artifact of the World War II death camp, imagining a child expecting to put his shoes back on after a "shower." (Pawel Sawicki, Auschwitz Memorial) KC exhibition goes inside walls, minds of Auschwitz