DALLAS — In anticipation of its upcoming exhibition, “Walk This Way,” and ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum installed very special artifacts in its lobby Thursday.
“When Jews arrived at the Nazi death camps, the first thing that happened is they were stripped of their personal belongings,” Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum President Mary Pat Higgins told WFAA.
Clothes were exchanged for uniforms, and names were exchanged for numbers. Six million Jews were dehumanized, a tactic used by Nazis, before they were murdered.
“These were individual people that should be remembered,” Higgins said.
Part of her work, done along with her staff, is to make that large number feel personal. To honor every individual soul.
“Shoes something about our personality,” Higgins said.
Immediately after the holocaust, hundreds of thousands of shoes were recovered from the camps. Thursday, just ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day, five shoes were put carefully in a display case in Dallas.
The museum staff don’t know who they belonged to or which camps they came from. They just know they’re from Poland and deeply precious.
Director of Library and Archives Felicia Williamson installed them in the museum lobby.
“Shoes can be a personal artifact that communicates part of our humanity,” Williamson said.
“It makes history in a real in a way that large numbers just can’t do,” Higgins added.
Starting in February, the museum will host an exhibition called “Walk This Way,” examining the history of women’s rights -- spanning over 200 years -- through shoes.
Admittance to the Museum will be free this weekend in honor of Remembrance Day, thanks to the support of Waters Kraus & Paul, staff said.
Tickets can be purchased online here.
Other headlines: