From Oct 5th, 2010 through Jan 2nd, 2011.
The Jewish Museum of Florida opens the world premiere of a temporary exhibit on October 5th about a unique story of the Catskills. In 1978, nearly 100 Polish, Russian and Hungarian Holocaust survivors bought 44 acres in the Catskill Mountains of New York where they created a refuge called The Four Seasons Lodge. For 30 years, this was one of the only bungalow colonies of its kind in the Borscht Belt – a community built by and for survivors. But in 2008, with their numbers dwindling and the condition of their property decaying, the lodgers voted to sell and disband.
Photographed and recorded at the lodge, acclaimed documentarian Rick Nahmias (Golden State of Grace and The Migrant Project) captures their final summers together. The images place the lodgers’ zest for life in direct counterpoint to the incredible loss in their youth, having witnessed the complete destruction of their world by the Nazis. Nahmias sensitively preserves the character, color pallet, textures, and traditions of this iconic place where shared experience became the starting point for a deep and lasting bond.
Through large format photographs of their musings on politics, playful romancing, ritualized card games and weekly parties, all set against the decay of the Catskills Culture, Nahmias tells the counter intuitive story of a tight-knit group of vivacious Holocaust survivors who rediscovered family and community and created a sense of place all their own. The exhibit is tied together with a soundtrack of recordings, interviews and text, as well as recovered items from The Four Seasons Lodge, which became a haven where old friendships were rekindled, love was rediscovered and a community aged without growing old.
Jewish Museum of Florida
301 Washington Avenue
Miami Beach, FL 33139
305.672.5044
www.jewishmuseum.com
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