FAU Reception Held to Open Deadly Medicine Exhibition

The University Galleries at Florida Atlantic University recently held an opening reception for "Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race," a traveling exhibition produced by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Paul Lombardo, Ph.D., professor at Georgia State University and contributor and consultant to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, provided an opening lecture, and music related to the theme of the Holocaust was performed by soprano Birgit Fioravante and pianist Heather Coltman, Dean of FAU's Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters.

The traveling exhibition, which was generously underwritten at FAU by Marilyn and Jay Weinberg, will be on display in the Schmidt Center Gallery, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton campus through Saturday, Feb. 15, 2014 (closed for the holidays from Sunday, Dec. 22 through Monday, Jan. 6). Gallery hours are Tuesdays through Fridays, from 1 to 4 p.m., and Saturdays from 1 to 5 p.m. The exhibition is free and open to the public.

Through reproductions of photographs and documents, films and survivor testimony, "Deadly Medicine" traces how the persecution of groups deemed biologically inferior led to the near annihilation of European Jewry in the 20th century. It also challenges viewers to reflect on the present-day interest in genetic manipulation that promotes the possibility of human perfection.

Lombardo's lecture focused on the early 20^th century practice of Eugenics in the United States which sought to breed out those considered a burden on society. He discussed the 1927 case of Buck v. Bell which allowed states to forcibly sterilize residents in order to prevent "feebleminded and socially inadequate" people from having children. Lombardo has been featured on CNN, CBS, BBC, National Public Radio and elsewhere.

During the reception, Heather Coltman also introduced FAU's new university-wide Peace and Human Rights Initiative.  The initiative is being sponsored in part with support from Lalita and Walter Janke.

 "Deadly Medicine" is cosponsored by FAU's Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters and Center for Holocaust and Human Rights Education. The traveling exhibition is supported in part by the Lester Robbins and Sheila Johnson Robbins Traveling and Special Exhibitions Fund, established in 1990.  Group and class tours are welcome during public hours as well as at other times scheduled by appointment. To make an appointment for these tours or for a docent-led tour, please call 561-995-6773. Galleries exhibitions are sponsored by the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County. For more information, call 561-297-2661, email galleries@fau.edu or visit www.fau.edu/galleries.