A somber reminder

War museum unveils Holocaust exhibit on anniversary of formal end of WW II

Within arms reach of a blue-striped uniform worn by a Jewish prisoner in a concentration camp during World War II, Sandra Reitz was overcome with emotion Wednesday morning at the Berks Military History Museum in Mohnton.

Her uncle, Harry Piersol, formerly of Shillington, had worn a similar uniform. She no longer remembers the name of the camp, but cannot forget that he was “skin and bones” when the camp was liberated in 1945.

“Oh my gosh, how sad for all those people,” uttered Reitz, 79, of Mohnton. “So sad.”

Reitz was among visitors to the museum’s exhibit on the Holocaust, unveiled on the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II.

Over the past nine months, the museum assembled a large collection of Holocaust memorabilia that fills an entire gallery.

Laid out chronologically, the exhibit charts the history of the Holocaust from

Hitler’s rise to power in 1933 to the settlement of Israel as a Jewish homeland in 1948.

State Rep. Mark M. Gillen, museum president, said the Holocaust exhibit fills a void in the museum’s mission to tell the story of World War II.

“We realized that the Holocaust cannot be separated from World War II,” said Gillen, a certified teacher who serves on the House Education Committee.

The world at war

World War II began when

Germany invaded Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, 81 years ago.

The U.S. entered the war on Dec. 8, 1941, the day after the Japanese surprise attack that devastated the Pacific naval fleet at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

The U.S. joined England and the Soviet Union to comprise the Allied Powers. The adversaries, Germany, Italy and Japan, were known as the Axis Powers.

The war ended in Europe on May 7, 1945, known as Victory in Europe, or V-E

Day. It continued in the Pacific Theater until Aug. 15, 1945, when Japan surrendered six days after the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, a few days after another bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. The date is known as Victory Over Japan, or V-J Day.

Japan’s formal surrender was held aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Harbor on Sept. 2, 1945, 75 years ago Wednesday.

Gen. Carl “Tooey” Spaatz of Boyertown, commander of U.S. Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific during the final days of the war, was part of the U.S. delegation aboard the Missouri during the surrender proceeding.

Statistics differ, but it is generally regarded there were 60 million to 75 million military and civilian deaths during World War II.

The museum marked the 75th anniversary in an outdoor ceremony with the Veterans Riders Association honor guard presenting the colors.

In brief remarks, Gillen