Metro Voice News Celebrating Faith, Family & Community
Some lessons can only be learned by looking evil in the eye. That’s what Anita Widaman believes students will experience at a powerful new Holocaust education exhibit coming to Kansas City.
“When young people see these images and learn these stories, something changes in them,” says Widaman, director of VisionIsrael.org and publisher of Metro Voice. “They begin to understand why we say ‘never again’ – and why that promise is more important now than ever.”
The exhibit, titled “Shoah: How Was It Humanly Possible?”, will be featured at the 27th annual Midwest Christian College Expo on Saturday, March 1. Through 20 carefully curated panels, it traces the chilling progression of events that led to the systematic murder of six million European Jews during the Holocaust.
Created by Yad Vashem, Israel’s World Holocaust Remembrance Center and in partnership with Vision Israel, the exhibition arrives at a crucial moment. Recent surveys show that knowledge about the Holocaust is fading among younger generations, even as antisemitism surges worldwide.
“Students often ask me how normal people could let this happen,” Widaman explains. “This exhibit answers that question by showing how gradually, step by step, an entire society turned against its neighbors. It’s a warning about how fragile our humanity can be.”
The exhibit will run from 10 AM to noon at Colonial Presbyterian Church on Wornall Road, alongside the college expo itself.
This is the first public showing of the exhibit and culminates four years of fundraising by Vision Israel and Widaman. While the two events might seem an unusual pairing, she sees it as providential.
“These students are about to enter college, where they’ll grapple with big questions about justice, faith, and human nature,” she notes. “Understanding the Holocaust isn’t just about history – it’s about recognizing how bias and hatred can take root in any society, including our own.”
Up to 50 Christian colleges from across the nation will participate in the expo, giving students a chance to explore their educational options while engaging with this profound historical material. Both the expo and the exhibit are free and open to the public.
“Every person who walks through this exhibit becomes a witness,” Widaman says. “They carry these stories forward. In times like these, when antisemitism is rising again, that’s not just important – it’s essential.”
The exhibit is sponsored by Metro Voice, VisionIsrael.org, and Bott Radio Network, organizations committed to building bridges of understanding between Christian and Jewish communities.
For students wrestling with today’s headlines about war, prejudice, and human rights, “Shoah: How Was It Humanly Possible?” offers vital context and uncomfortable but necessary parallels. It reminds us that the Holocaust didn’t begin with gas chambers – it began with words, with silence, with people looking away.
In that light, this exhibit does more than teach history, says Widaman, “It challenges us to examine our own hearts and choices, here and now.”
For more info on the College Expo, check out this more detailed story.
–Lee Hartman | Metro Voice
