On Holocaust Remembrance Day, an identical image of the notorious cattle wagons that carried inmates to concentration camps was displayed for the general public in the middle of Times Square in New York City, bringing the horrors of World War II to life in an authentic way.
On April 18, the boxcar, on Broadway between 45th and 46th Streets, will offer a fully immersive 360-degree experience with images and video from World War II and recorded films with Holocaust survivors telling their tales.
The cattle vehicle is a project of Hate Ends Now and is touring the United States to refute the narrative of Holocaust deniers and to prevent hate crimes.
It was developed in collaboration with ShadowLight, a Toronto-based group dedicated to Holocaust education, and Southern NCSY.
Ari Scharf, a New York businessman who spent years giving tours of Auschwitz, was drawn to the display because he is a historian and well-known tour guide.
He wanted to bring it to the hub of the world’s biggest metropolis. Scharf received the “green-light” after making a few crucial phone calls and waiting a while. Tens of thousands of people have already seen the exhibit over the previous four months in Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia at high schools, universities, and other sites, but tens of thousands will view it in just one day in Times Square.
Scharf, a grandson of Holocaust survivors, is enthusiastic about teaching adults and kids about the horrors of World War II, but he has witnessed how difficult it can be.
The number of Holocaust survivors still alive and able to share their memories is declining yearly.
Thus, it is impeveryone must be it today, according to Scharf. We owe much of what we have today to those who struggled mightily to rebuild their lives and communities after losing everything.
Scharf saw an opportunity to convey at least a portion of the Auschwitz experience to New Yorkers on their own soil as bias crimes and anti-Semitic occurrences increased, so he worked tirelessly to bring the cattle vehicle to Times Square on Holocaust Remembrance Day.
The exhibit will be open from 8 AM to 9 PM, and speakers throughout the day will include survivors, liberators, educators, public figures, and dignitaries from Israel.
After spending years attempting to encourage people to visit Auschwitz, Scharf stated, “I realized that the best way to communicate the Holocaust’s message to the general public was to bring it to them directly, in the most public place of all — Times Square.”
JOIN US ON WHAT'SAPP, TO GET INSTANT STATUS UPDATES AND BE IN THE KNOW.
CLICK HERE
