Holocaust survivor’s artifacts to find a home at an Anaheim high school
Mel Mermelstein kept looking for pieces from a place that tried to kill him.
Stones and bits of barbed fence. Forks and spoons for whatever scraps he and others were fed. A photo of him, squeezed among dozens of other prisoners, in the Buchenwald concentration camp.
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Mermelstein, a Long Beach resident, collected more than 650 Holocaust artifacts in more than 40 trips to Europe, crafting many of them into sculptures as a way to heal.
“I am liberated,” Edie Mermelstein remembers her father saying, “purely in a physical sense.”
Soon, a converted classroom of Cornelia Connelly High School will display those pieces, the Mermelstein family and Anaheim officials announced Tuesday during a ceremony at City Hall.
Also at the event was Dr. William Kott, of Anaheim, who as a U.S. soldier was part of the liberation of the Buchenwald prisoners. Kott painted a picture of horror in the camps for those in attendance.
Kott and Mermelstein each found their way to Southern California after their war experiences in Germany, living within miles of each other. It was hoped the two would meet for the first time at Tuesday’s event, but Mermelstein wasn’t able to attend, citing health.
Edie Mermelstein gave Kott a signed copy of her father’s autobiography, saying: “Without you, my family wouldn’t be here today.”
Looking at a photo of Mermelstein in one of the camp’s crowded barracks, Kott said, “I really remember those … it was something.”
Mermelstein was the only one of his family to survive the Holocaust.
After he moved to Southern California and found stability, Mermelstein wanted to recover what he had lost and empower himself, his daughter said.
He collected sections of barbed wire and turned them into the Star of David. Forks and bits of metal became a scene of warriors.
“(The museum) is like a window into a tortured soul,” Edie Mermelstein said. “It’s his way of dealing with trauma.”
Mermelstein also also know for filing a lawsuit in 1981 against a Holocaust denial organization, the Institute for Historical Review. The judge declared the Holocaust is simply a fact and “not reasonably subject to dispute.”
The artifacts were also a way to share his experiences and recovery with his children and grandchildren, and later the community.
“Seeing them coming out of the frame and seeing the texture of the barbed wire… is something that’s really emotionally engaging for young people,” Mermelstein’s grandson, Michael, said.
A museum was built at his pallet manufacturing firm in Huntington Beach.
But now that the firm’s land is leased off, the Mermelsteins have been looking for a new home for the collection.
If the collection was lost, it would be “like losing parts of humanity,” Edie Mermelstein said. “It’s his legacy. His artworks stand as a testament to his message to students.”
An opportunity for the collection to stay in Orange County and remain accessible for education arose from her friendship with Cornelia Connelly’s head of school, Cheri Wood.
“Any way we can keep the history alive and make sure that students understand this history is what matters the most to me,” said Cathy Rauterkus, the school’s assistant head administrator.
The school hopes to train some of its students to be the museum’s docents, she said. The museum is expected to open in the spring.
The Mermelstein family hopes the museum will not only teach students about the Holocaust, but also encourage them to heal the divides that could lead to similar tragedies.
“Students need to keep learning,” Edie Mermelstein said her father told her. “They need to not close their eyes and look away.”