Leave to Land Exhibition Opening

The Kitchener Camp has been largely forgotten today, but in 1939, this derelict army base on the Kent coast in southeastern England became the scene of an extraordinary rescue in which 4,000 men were saved from the Holocaust.

The Leave to Land traveling exhibition was authored by Clare Weissenberg and was based on materials collected through The Kitchener Camp Project, a unique online resource that brings together archival records and family treasures to build a moving and compelling picture of this unlikely sanctuary.

The exhibition premiered at London's Jewish Museum on September 1, 2019, and LBI New York is bringing a version of the exhibition to the Center for Jewish History in Manhattan on January 16, 2024.

Beginning at 6:00 PM EST on January 31, we invite you to visit this exhibit in the Katherine and Clifford H. Goldsmith Gallery. At 6:30 PM EST, we will hear special remarks from Dan Green (Director General and CEO, World ORT, UK) and a panel discussion with Emary Aronson (LBI Board Member and Chief Knowledge Officer and Senior Advisor to the CEO at Robin Hood) and Ronnie Wolf (Senior Adviser of the Leave to Land Exhibition) and moderated by Frank Mecklenburg (Mark M. and Lottie Salton Senior Historian at the Leo Baeck Institute).

Panelists will then take questions from the live audience.

Cosponsored by ORT America.

Please note that this event will be held in person at the Center for Jewish History. We invite you to join us after the program for a light reception.

For those who cannot come in person, the program will also be streamed on our Zoom at 6:30PM EST. If you would like to receive the streaming link, please select "Virtual Admission" when you register on Eventbrite.

Speakers

Dan was appointed as ORT’s Director General and CEO in 2020, having previously been Chief Operating Officer since 2016.
He is responsible for representing the organization internationally and for leading its professional staff and strategic direction from its London headquarters, ORT House. Dan joined the ORT family in 2012 as CEO of ORT UK, where he was responsible for raising funds for ORT projects around the world.
Prior to his roles at ORT, Dan worked in Consumer Media running sales departments across newspapers, magazines and digital at Time Inc Media, BBC Magazines, and The Jewish Chronicle.

Dan is married with three children and follows Arsenal Football Club. He collects whisky in his spare time.

Emary Aronson is the Chief Knowledge Officer and Senior Advisor to the CEO of Robin Hood. Founded in 1988, Robin Hood is New York City’s largest poverty-fighting organization, which finds, funds, and partners with programs that are proven to be effective remedies to poverty and a consistent force for good in the lives of New Yorkers in need. Prior to her current role, Emary was the Chief Program Officer. Emary joined Robin Hood in 1999 as the Managing Director for Education as Robin Hood supports a variety of schools and education-related programs which achieve academic outcomes as well as social and emotional learning competencies.

Emary holds a BA in History from Smith College, an MSc in Economic History from the London School of Economics, a MPPM from the Yale School of Management, and a PhD in History from the University of Chicago. She chairs the board of directors of the New York City Charter Schools Center, serves on the Mayor’s Advisory Board on Community Schools and is a member of the executive committee of the board of directors of the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO), a job training program for ex-offenders. Emary is a Pahara-Aspen Fellow.

The daughter of refugees, Emary’s late father left Germany on a Kindertransport in 1939 and her late mother immigrated from Vienna in December 1938.

Ronnie Wolf, Senior Adviser of the Leave to Land Exhibition, is a Glass Artist by trade with work in Museum collections, books, and magazines. She was raised in Puerto Rico and today lives in NYC. She is a wife, mother, and grandmother. From an early age, she has been interested in reading stories about the Holocaust, but up until 14 years ago, she could never imagine she had a personal connection to it; her father and his classmates from the Berlin ORT school were among the close to 4,000 men who survived because of the Kitchener Camp.

Moderator

Dr. Frank Mecklenburg is the Mark M. and Lottie Salton Senior Historian at the LBI. He joined LBI in 1984 as an archivist and took on his current role in 1996. He supervises the Berlin Branch of the LBI Archives at the Jewish Museum in Berlin, and he represents LBI New York in the LBI International Executive Committee, which coordinates the efforts of the international Leo Baeck Institutes.