COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (March 5, 2008) — Tennessee Tech University’s history department is joining forces with the Cookeville History Museum to bring an exhibit to town that puts faces on Holocaust survivors and liberators now living in Tennessee.

The Living On: Portraits of Tennessee Survivors and Liberators multimedia exhibit runs from 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 13, through the end of May at the Cookeville History Museum, located at 40 E. Broad St.

A kick-off reception is set for 6 p.m. on the opening night of the exhibit at the Cookeville First Presbyterian Church.

A project of the Tennessee Holocaust Commission, the Cookeville exhibit will feature 36 portrait images and biographies of Holocaust survivors, refugees, hidden children, liberators and U.S. military witnesses.

All photographs were taken by Robert Heller, associate professor of communication and information at the University of Tennessee, and journalist Dawn Weiss Smith conducted, recorded and transcribed the interviews.

In addition, the Cookeville exhibit will be enhanced by personal witness features from several local residents, such as photographs by liberator Gaskell Warren and a video interview of survivor Herman Godes.

A teachers’ workshop for teaching World War II and Holocaust topics will coincide with the exhibit and is set for April 5. It’s sponsored by the TTU history department’s Teaching American History grant and will be open to a total of 60 area teachers.

The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, and admission is free.

For more information about the exhibit, call the museum at 931/520-5455.

For more information about the teachers’ workshop, call TTU history professor Michael Birdwell at 931/372-3356.

--Tracey Hackett
This information posted 11 March 2008