"Wooden Synagogues of Poland & The Florida Connection" Exhibit Now Open at the Jewish Museum of Florida

Gombin synagogue model

The Jewish Museum of Florida's newest public exhibition tells the stories of Polish shtetls (small towns in Eastern Europe with a sizable Jewish population) and some of their Jewish families who settled in Florida. 


The exhibit runs through March 18, 2012.


The genesis of the exhibit was the donation by Englishman Peter Maurice of 10 models of 17th-18th century Polish wooden synagogues. He researched and built the 1/40th-scale models  from 2003-2007.


Jews have lived in Poland for more than 1,000 years. About 80 percent of the American Jewish community has origins in Poland. That is not surprising, as we know that this was the center of the European Jewish world with more than three million Jews before the Holocaust. The focus of life for these Polish Jews was their synagogue. For 400 years prior to World War II, the Jews of the shtetls built approximately 1,000 wooden synagogues, because timber was plentiful. According to some art historians, the wooden synagogues of Poland, with their painted and carved interiors, were a truly original and organic manifestation of artistic expression-the only real Jewish folk art in history.


These beautiful and unique 17th and 18th century Polish wooden synagogues no longer exist. During World War II, the Nazis burned to the ground those still standing. Some synagogues built in the 19th and 20th centuries have been found in Poland and what is now Lithuania and are in deteriorated conditions.


This exhibit conveys the enormity of what was lost during World War II. Poland was the place where the Nazis built most of the death camps. This is the place where most of Europe's Jews perished.


The Museum's founding executive director and chief curator, Marcia Jo Zerivitz, said, "While we have various models in our collections, from a kosher bakery in Lakeland to a model of our very own Beth Jacob synagogue, this donation is so unique in that it brings a taste of old Polish Jewish life to modern day Miami Beach. So many Floridian Jews have a family history from Polish shtetls. These beautiful, unique models evoke memories of our heritage. When you look at them, you can almost hear the davening (praying) from within the walls and recall the pain of suffering of all Eastern European Jews from the period of the Holocaust when the Nazis destroyed these structures and most of the Jewish people. Through the creation of these models, Peter Maurice ensured that an element of Jewish life in Poland would not be forgotten. And we are so honored that Maurice chose the Jewish Museum of Florida from all the museums in the world to tell this compelling, significant story."

Dombek Family, Sosnowice, Poland, c.1910

Many Floridian Jews have a family history from Polish shtetls. To make the Florida connection, the Jewish Museum of Florida invited Jewish families to submit material evidence of their Polish roots for this exhibition. The curatorial staff researched each of the towns represented by the wooden synagogue models and by the families, so the story includes photographs, artifacts and documents from more than 30 towns and nearly 40 families.


The Jewish Museum of Florida on South Beach is housed in two adjacent lovingly restored historic buildings that were once synagogues for Miami Beach's first Jewish congregation. The focal point of the Museum is its core exhibit "MOSAIC: Jewish Life in Florida 1763 to the Present" and temporary history and art exhibits that change periodically. Current exhibits are "Seeking Justice: The Leo Frank Case Revisited" through August 14 and "Isaac Bashevis Singer & His Artists" through August 28. A Collections & Research Center, several films, Timeline Wall of Jewish history, Museum Store and Bessie's Bistro complete the experience for visitors of all ages and backgrounds.


Accredited by the American Association of Museums, the Jewish Museum of Florida is located at 301 Washington Avenue, South Beach and is open daily 10am-5pm, except Mondays and Civil and Jewish holidays. Admission: Adults/$6; Seniors/$5; Families/$12; Members and children under 6/Always Free; Saturdays/Free. For information call 305-672-5044 or visit www.jewishmuseum.com.


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Jewish Museum of Florida Presents Panel On Nazi-Looted Art

"Die Blonde Venus," 1932, is part of The Florida Connection. Hans Sachs collected 12,500 posters that were confiscated by the Nazis in 1938.

Experts in the field of Nazi-looted art will discuss the ongoing restitution process at at the Jewish Museum of Florida on Sunday, Feb. 20, at 2 p.m. This public program complements a current exhibition, "Auktion 392: Reclaiming the Galerie Stern, Dusseldorf."

In 1935, Dr. Max Stern's license to trade art in Germany was withdrawn because he was Jewish. He was forced to sell his artworks under extreme duress in Auktion 392. Many of the works were "lost." This exhibition tells the story of Stern's family, his struggle to save his art gallery and collection, the forced auction, as well as provenance research and the restitution of Nazi looted art with current international restitution efforts, including in Florida. The Exhibition was conceived and curated by Dr. Catherine Mackenzie of Concordia University, Montreal; adjuncts conceived and curated by Suzanne Lewis of Ben Uri, The London Jewish Museum of Art. The Jewish Museum of Florida is its premiere venue in the southeast US.

Moderated by Holocaust survivors restitution attorney Sam Dubbin of Miami, the participants include Monica Dugot, Vice President & International Director of Restitution for Christie's auction house; Marc Masurovsky, Washington, DC Project Director, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's on-line database of looted art and Co-Founder, Holocaust Art Restitution Project; and Thomas Kline, partner, Andrews Kurth LLP, Washington, DC, a specialist in art and property litigation.
 

Admission to the panel discussion is complimentary with Museum entry ticket. Walk-ins are welcome, but RSVP suggested. Please RSVP to 786-972-3175 or info@jewishmuseum.com.

The Jewish Museum of Florida on South Beach is housed in two adjacent lovingly restored historic buildings that were once synagogues for Miami Beach's first Jewish congregation. The focal point of the Museum is its core exhibit "MOSAIC: Jewish Life in Florida 1763 to the Present" and temporary history and art exhibits that change periodically. Current exhibits are "Seeking Justice: The Leo Frank Case Revisited" through August 14 and "Auktion 392: Restitution of Nazi-looted Art" through April 25. A Collections & Research Center, several films, TimelineWall of Jewish history, Museum Store and Bessie's Bistro complete the experience for visitors of all ages and backgrounds.

Accredited by the American Association of Museums, the Museum is located at 301 Washington Ave., South Beach and is open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., except Mondays and Civil and Jewish holidays.

Admission: Adults/$6; Seniors/$5; Families/$12; Members and children under 6/Free; Saturdays/Free.

For information call 305-672-5044 or visit www.jewishmuseum.com.

Seeking Justice: The Leo Frank Case Revisited

A New Exhibition at the Jewish Museum of Florida

In 1915, in Atlanta, GA, Leo Frank became the only Jew ever lynched in America. His trial, murder, and the aftermath are the subject of a powerful exhibition created and circulated by The Breman Jewish Museum in Atlanta, GA. The Jewish Museum of Florida is the first travel venue from January 19 through August 14, 2011.

The exhibition recounts the racially charged and tragic events surrounding the 1913 murder of thirteen-year-old Mary Phagan, a white Christian girl, and the lynching of Leo Frank two years later. While not drawing conclusions, Seeking Justice presents evidence about Frank, the Jewish factory supervisor found guilty of murder.

After being sentenced to life in prison, Frank was kidnapped from his cell and lynched by prominent citizens of Marietta, Georgia. Leo Frank's plight was a turning point for the Jews of Atlanta, and for all American Jews who had fled Europe to escape antisemitism. The commitment to putting this story into historical context is an important contribution to the study of the history of Jews in this country. The culmination of 20 years of research, the exhibit includes artifacts and documents only recently made public.

The case that sparked decades of debate is outlined utilizing artifacts, photographs, and documents relating to both the murder and the lynching. Original newspapers chronicling the case, and interviews with descendants and friends of Leo Frank, Mary Phagan, and other key players in the trial bring new insight to these unsolved murders and the events that led up to them. About the Case The Leo Frank case had as its backdrop a city torn apart after the Civil War left the economy in ruins.

It was a trying time in the industrial revolution-a time of poverty, disease, and child labor. Race riots ensued in 1906-in part because of sensationalized reports of black men assaulting white women, although Jews were singled out in the riots as well. While Jews had lived comfortably in Atlanta for several decades, anti-Semitism and anti-immigration sentiments were rampant. Many residents blamed Jews for the evils of industrialization, as a few prominent Jews owned or operated some of the city's mills and factories. Yellow journalism spurred-on anti-Jewish sentiment, as did popular entertainment. This is the climate in which the two unsolved murders took place.

On April 26, 1913, Mary Phagan stopped by the National Pencil Company factory where she worked to pick up her paycheck from her supervisor, Leo Frank. Her badly beaten body was found in the factory basement the next morning. The night watchman, Newt Lee, who found her, was the first one implicated. Other suspects included the janitor, Jim Conley, and Leo Frank, who was the last one to see her alive. During the trial, a handwriting analysis of a note left with the body pointed to Conley. However, the jury believed his declaration of innocence because they didn't think a black person had the wherewithal to make up an alibi and a convincing story. The jury then turned their attention to Leo Frank, whom the press had decided was guilty of rape and murder. In less than two hours, the jury of white Christian men had found Leo Frank guilty and sentenced him to hang.

After exhausting the appeals, Frank's new lawyers asked for clemency from Governor John M. Slaton. He reviewed the more than 10,000 pages of documents pertaining to the case and commuted the sentence to life in prison. Enraged, a group made up of a former Georgia governor, a state legislator, and a judge, made a deal with prison officials to hand over Frank. He was lynched. Within an hour and a half, 1,000 onlookers had gathered at the scene. This case, which shook the nation, galvanized the Anti-Defamation League, and revived the Ku Klux Klan. In 1982, new information from a key witness prompted members of Atlanta's Jewish community to petition for a posthumous pardon. The process ended four years later when a pardon was issued on the grounds that the State failed to protect Frank from the lynchers, rather than as a statement of innocence. The story of the trial, lynching, and search for justice for Frank continues to fascinate; it has been the subject of books, plays, movies, and a musical.

Exhibit highlights include the following:

• Frank's stately desk from his office at the National Pencil Company along with his 1906 Cornell University diploma illustrate his success as well as his potential to move up the social and corporate ladder.
• Frank's diary from jail which shows his frustration with the judicial system, and that he knew Jim Conley to be "a dissolute and a lascivious character," who "had been arrested several times," and was "a liar many times over."
• Trial notes and a scrawled deathbed statement from Conley's attorney, William Smith. The desperate deathbed note from 1949 avows, "I believe in the innocence and good character of Leo Frank."
• The door to the infirmary at the State Prison in Milledgeville, Georgia, which was opened to kidnap Leo Frank on the morning of August 16, 1915. It was not damaged in any way, which is clear evidence that the prison guards complied with the mob.
• "Souvenir" wood pick, made from the tree where Frank was lynched and an accompanying note speak to the normalcy of lynching and witnessing the vigilante crime at the time of Leo Frank's murder.
• Filmed interviews with descendants of the major figures including Mary Phagan Kean, Mary Phagan's great-niece; Cathy Smithline, Leo Frank's great-niece; Elizabeth Slaton Wallace, great-niece of Governor John Slaton; Chuck Clay, great-nephew of Eugene Herbert Clay who was a member of the lynch party; Roslyn Spector, great-niece of Lucille Selig Frank who was the wife of Leo Frank.
• Personal objects belonging to Mary Phagan including a bonnet, nightgown, and a pair of baby shoes. The gallery is designed to recreate her close-knit family life in her working class home.
• Letters, including one from Governor Slaton to William Smith, in which he discusses his decision to commute the sentence; and one from Judge Leonard S. Roan to the attorneys for Leo Frank in which he discusses his doubts about Frank's guilt. Gov. Slaton wrote, that the case, "afforded an opportunity to personally carry into effect what I have always thought was the obligation incumbent upon any man - to do what he thought right regardless of the opinions of others." Slaton was hung in effigy and called "king of Jews" for his role in the case.

Local sponsors include Robert Arthur Segall Foundation, David Berg Foundation, Jonathan and Tina Kislak Philanthropic Fund and Miami-Dade County Tourist Development Council, the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor.