An exhibition of Remembrance, Reflection, and Hope

April 18–July 6, 2016

Located at Two Allen Center in Houston, Texas. 

There is a fortress situated where the Labe (Elbe) River flows into the Ohre (Eger) River, built by Emperor Joseph II of Austria in 1780. He named this garrison town for his mother, Maria Theresa, and over time the Czechs came to call the place Terezin. With the occupation of German troops in 1939, Terezin was renamed Theresienstadt, and became a designated ghetto.

From the inconceivable darkness of such a place, children would listen to the stories of Friedl Dicker-Brandeis, a Vienna born Bauhaus-trained painter and teacher, and draw the words they heard and the images they contained in their concealed inner worlds. They drew and they wrote. In the eyes of their minds, they escaped. And then, they died.

Of the 15,000 children deported from Theresienstadt to Auschwitz, 100 survived – none under the age of fourteen. Two suitcases of their drawings survived, to later be discovered and exhibited around the world.

In 1995, Holocaust Museum Houston embarked on a far reaching project, a project to connect children with the past, to help them remember those who have preceded all of us. Taking Flight: The Butterfly Project, is a collection of 1.5 million butterflies conceived and created by all ages from all over the world, reflecting a richness and diversity of materials in remembrance of life tragically altered. It is a collection of the ephemeral, translucent delicate beating of wings ever ascending. This exhibition, one of many, is a collection of butterflies in flight toward light. It is a profound statement of hope.

Curated by Sally Reynolds

In cooperation with Holocaust Museum Houston Celebrating its 20th anniversary in Houston

Photographs by Dawn Baxter