HHRC
Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine
| Fall 2019 Newsletter
The Michael Klahr Center • 46 University Drive, Augusta, ME 04330 • (207) 621-3530
Open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Evenings and weekends by appointment.
Get Connected: hhrcmaine.org
HHRC Exhibit Makes The New York Times
It’s not every day that the HHRC makes the New
York Times, but Finding Our Voices: Breaking the
Silence of Domestic Abuse is an extraordinary exhibit.
Photojournalist, artist and domestic violence survivor
Patrisha McLean has created a multimedia exhibit with
gorgeous portraits and compelling audio recordings of
a broad array of Maine women from all walks of life and
backgrounds with one thing in common – they too are
survivors of domestic violence. Patrisha, who was married
to Don McLean of American Pie fame, bravely tells her
own story. She also empowers 20 other women to share
theirs – women like Mary Lou Smith featured in a column
by Bill Nemitz in the Portland Press Herald. Mary Lou
was 65 when she left her abusive husband, and in the
exhibit she proclaims, “It’s never too late to leave.”
The New York Times said, “The exhibit represents
something new and risky: A large number of women
coming forward, using their own names and photographs,
often in their own communities, to describe abuse in their
relationships.”
Patrisha McLean, Photojournalist and Artist
HHRC FALL 2019 NEWSLETTER
/HHRCMaine @HHRCMaine @HHRCMaine
Photo Credit: SARAH RICE/The New York Times/Redux
In October, as part of Domestic Violence Awareness
Month, we hosted a panel of women telling their stories.
Amber Hatch, who is featured in the exhibit and works at
the Maine State Prison in Warren, told the audience that
it’s important to have these conversations: “It’s ugly and
it’s violent and it’s horrible, and it’s a conversation we all
need to have.”
That’s because domestic violence is a human rights
issue. In Maine, almost half of all homicides are
attributed to domestic violence. As a society, we have a
moral obligation to protect individuals from violence.
And at the HHRC, we specialize in creating the space
where challenging conversations can occur to inspire
people to reflect and act upon their responsibility to stand
up for human rights.
We were proud to partner with the Maine Coalition
to End Domestic Violence to host this exhibit, and we
are grateful to the New York Times, Downeast Magazine,
Maine Women, Bill Nemitz, the Kennebec Journal, 207
on WCSH and Maine Public Radio’s MaineCalling for
covering the exhibit and this vitally important issue.
We’re also grateful that the Augusta-based Family
Violence Project has embraced the exhibit and held
numerous meetings and trainings at the Klahr Center this
fall to ensure that all of their clients and partners can be
inspired by the messages. Most of all, we are grateful to
Patrisha and to the 20 women who shared their stories
so publicly in the exhibit. The exhibit will be up through
December 13.
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 PAGE 2 STAFF UPDATES

From the Desk of the Executive Director

Executive Director Shenna Bellows with
Holocaust survivor Marthe Cohn
HHRC IS GROWING!
Our Board Members:
Ragnhild Baade • Stephen Black
Emily Breitner • Tam Huynh, Vice President
Phyllis Jalbert • Robert Katz • Joan Kidman
Megan Ladd • Richard Lyons
Peter Mendall, Treasurer • Nick Mills
Adelaide Solomon-Jordan
Nancy Spiegel, President
Sheri Stevens, Secretary • Jenna Vendil
Our Staff:
Shenna Bellows
Executive Director
David Greenham
Associate Director
Marpheen Chann
Southern Maine Educator
Piper Dumont
Western Maine Educator
Philip Fishman
Office Manager
Erica Nadelhaft
Northern Maine Educator
In Behind Enemy Lines, Holocaust survivor Marthe Cohn
tells the dramatic story of her experiences as a spy for French
intelligence in Nazi-occupied Germany. It was a privilege
to cosponsor a sold-out event featuring Marthe Cohn at the
University of Southern Maine in collaboration with Chabad Maine
and the Maine Jewish Museum.
While a bill that we supported to mandate Holocaust education
in Maine schools is still unfunded, we continue to do broad teacher
education at the Michael Klahr Center each summer. This summer
139 Maine teachers took our summer seminars!
How do we know we’re making a difference? Teachers are
cultivating the art of the thank you note with their students, and
the feedback this fall from teacher and students following HHRC
presentations has been wonderful. Earlier this fall, our western
Maine educator Piper Dumont went to Mt. Blue High School for
workshops with 93 ninth graders in collaboration with Mr. Tyler
Brown’s World History & Culture class. Mr. Brown had taken two
teacher seminars this summer at the Michael Klahr Center, and
he was eager to have the HHRC come for a visit. Piper delivered
“Yearning to Breathe Free,” a workshop that highlights Maine’s
immigrant history and explores topics including xenophobia,
racism and bias.
Mr. Brown called the experience “incredible.” “Yearning to
Breathe Free was so impactful to my classroom that it became a
regular point of reference for students in class conversations that
followed. Having a grasp of the history, the controversy, and the
local impact of immigration has allowed my students to speak
more confidently and persuasively about other sensitive social
issues,” he said.
That’s exactly what we’re seeking to do with our educational
programming. We have now hired three regional educators
including our newest hire, Erica Nadelhaft of Fort Kent! Erica
studied the Holocaust in her undergraduate work at Brandeis
University and in her graduate studies at Hebrew University, so
she’s a real asset to our team!
Of course, we can’t do any of this work without your
commitment and support. Want to know more about how you can
support the work of the HHRC? Let’s grab coffee at the Michael
Klahr Center! I’m always happy to meet with HHRC supporters,
and I can be reached at shenna.bellows@maine.edu.

Thank you to supporters of our 2019 Education Programs:

MCF
Generations Fund
 NEW EXHIBITS PAGE 3

Save the Date:

Thursday, January 23, 2020, 5:00pm

New Exhibit: Art Saving Lives In the

Holocaust: The Prints of Emil Singer
We’re incredibly excited about our next exhibit at the
Michael Klahr Center. Artist Henry Isaacs curates the
story of his father, Reginald Isaacs, and uncle, Emil
Singer, who rescued many Jews from Austria after
the Nazi annexation, paying for the rescues with the
smuggling and sale of Emil’s prints until Emil himself
and his wife Grete were deported to the Izbica ghetto in
1942, where they were murdered. Henry has spent many
years tracking down the original prints that literally
saved the lives of hundreds of others and will curate
a powerful exhibit of rescue through art. The exhibit
opens with a special event on Thursday, January 23, 2020
at 5:00 pm. Come meet Henry and get a sneak preview
Reginald Isaacs in 1938 drawing the children of the hamlet of Birnberg, Austria.
of the exhibit!

Ellsworth Third Graders Explore Identity & Diversity

This summer, the HHRC was proud to bring Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance to Maine for three
trainings at the Michael Klahr Center offered to Maine teachers statewide. When a couple of third grade teachers
from Ellsworth joined us for a day-long anti-bias training, we were excited. We don’t often work with grades K-6,
but research demonstrates that encouraging young children to see members of other groups positively can have real
benefits. So, that’s exactly what the third grade teachers supported by our regional educator set out to do using the
tools provided by Teaching Tolerance. We were in Ellsworth for anti-bias workshops with 84 kiddos earlier this fall.
The thank you letters from the third graders were precious. “I learned that some people’s opinion can change your
mind to like the same thing they do.” Said another, “I learned that other people have good ideas or opinions.” It was
a sweet day for our educator, and clearly she made an impression! Did you know HHRC programming in schools is
free? Contact our Associate Director David Greenham at david.greenham@maine.edu to schedule a visit.

HHRC In Quotes
“It is no longer enough to be a nonracist,” Shay Stewart-Bouley, Executive Director of Community Change, Inc. at “It’s
Not Over: Slavery Then, Racism Now” talk at the HHRC.

“Some of them were really hard to hear. But then to see the women on these walls…Once they broke the silence,
they’re strong, empowered—and I loved to see that,” Photojournalist and survivor Patrisha McLean about her Finding
Our Voices exhibit to the 207 television program on WCSH and WLBZ.

“This allows them to have a toolbox where they can bring to light these important stories that augment and support
the lessons that they’re already teaching,” said David Greenham, Associate Director of the HHRC to WABI Channel
5 about the HHRC’s teacher trainings. 139 unique teachers from all over Maine came to our teacher trainings this
summer. 70 teachers attended more than one training!

“Maine teachers and students alike benefit tremendously from the work of the HHRC, and we are pleased to support
the HHRC’s anti-bias educational programming,” Grace Leavitt, President, Maine Education Association.
PHOTOS PAGE 4
Audience at the Finding Our Voices exhibit opening.
Photo Credit: SARAH RICE/The New York Times/Redux
Student fills out identity chart during one of our Students engaging in a Structured Academic Controversy of Malaga Island
programs.
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