What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/1405208
FAQ 8 WHAT'S UP! AUGUST 29-SEPTEMBER 4, 2021 FEATURE Titanic Connections Branson museum honors Jewish passengers, remembers Holocaust BECCA MARTIN-BROWN NWA Democrat-Gazette F orget the fictional Jack and Rose. The real love story on the Titanic took place between 67-year-old Isidor Straus, co-owner of Macy's department store, and his wife Ida, who was 63. The couple's great-grandson Paul A. Kurzman, interviewed by Today in December 2017, explained that on that fateful night in 1912, as the world's most luxurious and "unsinkable" ocean liner began to take on the frigid waters of the north Atlantic, Ida was offered a spot on a lifeboat. "My great-grandmother Ida stepped into the lifeboat expecting that her husband would follow. When he didn't follow, she was very concerned, and the ship's officer in charge of lowering that particular lifeboat said, 'Well, Mr. Straus, you're an elderly man … and we all know who you are … Of course you can enter the lifeboat with your wife,'" Kurzman told Today. "And, my great-grandfather said, 'No. Until I see that every woman and child on board this ship is in a lifeboat, I will not enter into a lifeboat myself.'" And then Ida stepped back onto the Titanic to spend the rest of her life with her husband of 40 years. "If you know the Bible, in the tradition of the Book of Ruth, she basically said, 'We have lived our whole life together and if you are going to remain on the boat and to die as the boat sinks, I will remain on the boat with you. We will not leave one another after our long and wonderful marriage together,'" Kurzman told Today. Ida's body was never found. But the Strauses are being remembered in a new exhibit currently on show at the Titanic Museum Attraction in Branson. They were two among the 69 known Jewish people aboard the ship and two of the 39 who perished. Research for the exhibition honoring the Jewish passengers and two Jewish crew members also revealed fascinating connections with the Holocaust, says Mary Kellogg, president and chief operating officer of the Titanic museum. In James Cameron's 1997 film "Titanic," the central romance is the fictional story of Jack and Rose. In the real 1912 sinking of the massive ocean liner, Isidor and Ida Straus decided to go down with the ship — together. The Strauses are remembered in the current tribute to Jewish passengers at the Titanic Museum Attraction in Branson. (Courtesy Photo) The Titanic Museum Attraction has taken the opportunity to explore the Holocaust through its connections to the 1912 ocean liner's demise. A nationwide survey in 2020 showed 1 in 10 respondents did not recall ever having heard the word "Holocaust" before. (Courtesy Photo) Titanic Museum Attraction WHEN — Daily except Christmas Day through 2021 WHERE — 3235 76 Country Blvd. in Branson COST — $15-$28; family pass, $100; reserva- tions are required INFO — titanicbranson.com FYI — Face masks are required for all visi- tors 5 and older.