May 01, 2013
"Witness to the Holocaust" 2013 Library Tour
The Commission's exhibit "Witness to the Holocaust: WWII Veteran William Alexander Scott III at Buchenwald” is touring the state of Georgia. The tour is presented in cooperation with the Georgia Public Library Service. The exhibit will visit 9 libraries across the state from May until November 2013. Admission is free at all locations.
This project is supported by the Georgia Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities and through appropriations from the Georgia General Assembly.
| Location | Display Dates |
|---|---|
| Dade County Public Library -Trenton | May 16 - May 29 |
| Vidalia-Toombs County Library - Vidalia | June 4 - June 14 |
| Jeff Davis County Library - Hazlehurst | June 14 - June 24 |
| Bull Street Library - Savannah | June 24 - July 13 |
| Washington Memorial Library - Macon | July 22 - August 9 |
| Centerville Public Library - Centerville | August 9 - 23 |
| Oakland Library - Leesburg | September 9 - 20 |
| Northwest Library - Albany | September 20 - October 4 |
| Porter Memorial Library - Covington | October 7 - November 15 |
Special Presentations
The exhibit will be presented to the community at some locations with an opening program. All events are free and open to the public.
- May 16, 7 p.m. - Dade County Public Library, Trenton
- June 3, 7 p.m. - Vidalia-Toombs Public Library, Vidalia
- June 25, 6:30 p.m. - Bull Street Library, Savannah
- September 12, 7 p.m. - Oakland Library, Leesburg
- October 21, 7 p.m. - Porter Memorial Library, Covington
About the Exhibit
William Alexander Scott III was a student at Morehouse College in 1943 when he was drafted into the U.S. Army. During World War II, he served as a photographer in the Intelligence Section of the 183rd Engineer Combat Battalion. He witnessed the liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp through the lens of his camera.
Buchenwald was one of the largest concentration camps established within German borders. Scott entered the camp in April 1945 on a convoy with the 8th Corps of General George S. Patton’s 3rd Army.
After witnessing the horrors of the Holocaust, Scott returned to Atlanta and joined the Civil Rights Movement. In 1948, he became the circulation manager of the Atlanta Daily World. The newspaper was founded by his father in 1928. It is one of the first black-owned newspapers in the U.S.
Scott served on the committee for the first official national holiday commemorating Martin Luther King, Jr. Scott was appointed to the Georgia Commission on the Holocaust by Georgia Governors Joe Frank Harris and Zell Miller. He was appointed to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council by President George H.W. Bush.
About Dr. Legge
Jerry Legge was born in Brooklyn and raised in Queens and Long Island. He received a Ph.D. in Political Science at Emory and has taught at the University of Georgia since 1980. His research has focused on the Holocaust in Italy, the Malmédy Massacre of U.S. Army troops, and war criminals who fled Europe after the war.