Event includes opening of six-week exhibit of photos and artifacts from a Dominican priest and a Providence rabbi – U.S. Army chaplains who accompanied American troops as they liberated the Nordhausen and Dachau camps- Musical performance will feature songs from the camps and excerpts of writings by Auschwitz survivor Alice Lok Cahana, performed by Rabbi Michael Cahana and Cantor Ida Rae Cahana
- Readings from articles and letters written by the chaplains and about their experiences also will be presented
Providence, RI – Providence College and the Rhode Island Holocaust Museum will host a commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps with a performance and exhibition opening on Tuesday, April 19, 2005, beginning at 7 p.m.
The program – Local Liberators: A Providence Priest and a Rhode Island Rabbi Confront the Camps: A Commemoration of the Liberation of the Nazi Concentration Camps July 23, 1944-May 5, 1945 – draws on the experiences of Rev. Edward P. Doyle, O.P. (1907-1997) and Rabbi Eli Bohnen (1909-1992). Both men had ties to the Providence area.
Father Doyle, a faculty member at Providence College from 1941-1954, served as a U.S. Army chaplain with the 104th Infantry Timberwolf Division. He entered the camp at Nordhausen when it was liberated on April 11, 1945.
Rabbi Bohnen, who served as senior rabbi of Providence's Temple Emanu-El from 1948 to 1973, was an assistant chaplain with the 42nd Infantry Rainbow Division of the U.S. Army. He was with the troops who liberated the Dachau concentration camp near Munich, Germany on April 29, 1945. Rabbi Bohnen subsequently was posted at the Badgastein Displaced Persons Camp near Salzburg, Austria.
The event begins at 7 p.m. with a performance of “Through My Mother’s Eyes: Stories and Songs based on the Writings of Alice Lok Cahana" in the Concert Hall of the Smith Center for the Arts, located on Providence College’s East Campus.
Alice Cahana survived two years in the Auschwitz concentration camps as a teenager, and was featured in Stephen Spielberg’s Academy Award-winning documentary, The Last Days. Cahana’s son, Rabbi Michael Cahana of Temple Israel, New Rochelle, NY, will read excerpts from her writings. Rabbi Cahana’s wife, Cantor Ida Rae Cahana of Central Synagogue, Manhattan, will accompany the readings with songs from the camps.
The program also will include Providence College students – who are completing a semester-long course in Holocaust Literature – reading from remarks by Father Doyle on the Holocaust and on the liberation of Nordhausen and other camps. These readings include, most notably, Father Doyle’s testimony at the 1981 International Liberators Conference.
A tribute to Rabbi Bohnen will be read by Rabbi Alvin Kaunfer of Temple Emanu-el, Providence. Rabbi Bohnen’s son Michael will read the letter his father wrote to his mother two days after entering Dachau. The program closes with a rendition of Five Hebrew Love Songs, performed by Providence College's I Cantori choral group.
The musical program will be followed by a reception and, at 8:30 p.m., by the opening of the photography and artifact exhibit in Providence College's Phillips Memorial Library. (Shuttle transportation to the library will be provided).
The exhibit is arranged in custom display cases flanking the entrance to the library. The selected materials – including photos of the camps at Dachau and Nordhausen – illustrate the similar experiences of Father Doyle and Rabbi Bohnen at the liberation of the concentration camps. The photos and writings reflect the determination of the two men to preserve their memories and educate others about what they witnessed.
Items selected from the Doyle Collection, which is maintained at Providence College, include photographs of Nordhausen at the time of its liberation; photographs of Father Doyle as an army chaplain; and book and magazine articles featuring remarks by Father Doyle on the Holocaust.
The artifacts and materials relating to Rabbi Bohnen’s experiences include a copy of the letter he wrote to his wife on May 1, 1945, two days after the camp at Dachau was liberated; the prayer shawl (tallis) he wore when praying with American Jewish soldiers and later, with Holocaust survivors in the Displaced Persons Camp; and a special prayer book (haggadah) he created that was the first book published in Hebrew in Germany since before the Holocaust.
The exhibit will be open from April 19 to May 31 during regular library hours. It has been designed by two Providence College undergraduates, junior Kyle Seltzer and sophomore Allison Spivack; and Rachel Deblinger, a graduate student from Brandeis University interning with the Rhode Island Holocaust Museum. Library hours are available on the College’s Web site at www.providence.edu/Academics/Phillips+Memorial+Library/About+the+Library/Hours.htm, or by calling (401) 865-2242.
The “Local Liberators” commemoration is sponsored by the Rhode Island Holocaust Museum and by the Women’s Studies Program; the Department of Theatre, Dance and Film; the Department of Music; and the College Archives at Providence College . The performance and exhibit are free and open to the public.
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