From Feb. 5 to March 19, the Rawlings branch of the Pueblo City-County library is hosting an exhibit on the place of the U.S. in World War II (WWII), specifically in the Holocaust. The exhibit also provides a speaker series, with members of the local Jewish community and experts to discuss America’s response to Nazism then and now.
One of these speakers is Lizzy Kippur, a board member and lay leader at Temple Emmanuel, the third oldest synagogue in Colorado, which just celebrated its 125th year servicing Pueblo’s Jewish community. Kippur, who stepped in to present on Feb. 22 in place of Temple Emmanuel President Michael Atlas-Acuña, spoke on the history of the temple.
“Jewish people existed in Pueblo before it was even a city,” Kippur said, “before Colorado was a state. The first Jewish family to come to Pueblo were the Goldsmiths in 1864. It’s really remarkable that even though we’re such a small community at this point that we have been here for such a long time.”
Initially, when considering bringing the memorial museum to the library, the Rawlings branch reached out to Temple Emmanuel for collaboration. In order to do justice to the memorial, ensuring the Jewish community was involved with it was a key part of their mission.
“They approached us and another synagogue in town, United Hebrew Center. We both worked together with the Rawlings Library. Personally, I’m the one who kind of spearheaded the Sunday presentations, planning out who would be on which day and who’s going to present. They worked really hand in hand with our synagogue to do the planning.,” Kippur said.
Kippur noted that women played a large part in Pueblo’s Jewish history, with being the guiding force in the building of Temple Emmanuel as Jewish individuals were meeting in everyday places to pray prior to its establishment.
With Yom HaShoah, the Jewish day of remembrance for victims of the Holocaust, coming on April 13, the memorial serves as a reminder of the heroism Jewish people and soldiers had during the Holocaust.
“I think that there are a lot of people in Pueblo that don’t even realize that Jewish families live here,” Kippur said. “We have a lot of grandchildren and children of Holocaust survivors within our community. I don’t know about Pueblo specifically, but I know as a whole there’s a lot of Holocaust denial. It is hard because I do know quite a few people who are children or grandchildren of a holocaust survivor or had family members that were killed in the Holocaust.”
The memorial hosts a variety of standing pillars with digital pads beside them, hosting a wealth of information on American’s involvement in WWII. It stands on the second floor of the Rawlings branch and is open to the public. The speaker series takes place every Sunday until closing, with a variety of speakers throughout the day. Kippur will be on a Q&A panel on March 15, focusing on Pueblo’s Jewish history and antisemitism.
CSU Pueblo hosts an annual Holocaust Remembrance Day event in April, day undetermined, which will also host a variety of speakers and stories from survivors families, experts, and local Jewish figures.
