The True Wartime Escape: Margret and H.A. Rey’s Journey from France
Open through 2026
Most of us are familiar with the stories of Curious George. But why did so many people feel that the story of his creators should be told in a book and an exhibition? The True Wartime Escape: Margret and H.A. Rey’s Journey from France is more than just a tribute to the tale of a rousing escape from wartime Europe. The exhibition celebrates a timeless story of survival and reminds us of the power of the human spirit and creativity.
Following the German occupation of France in 1940, Jews were subject to exclusion from public life, forced to wear the yellow star badge, and experienced other unimaginable forms of persecution.
The Reys’ work was not the only creative voice to survive the darkness of this time. Some voices, like that of the diarist Anne Frank, still speak to us even though their creators did not survive. The True Wartime Escape reminds us of the human dimension found in the most inhuman of events. The story of the Reys is reminiscent of other voices that survived or were silenced by the global events of the 1940s.
This exhibit is a traveling exhibit from the Institute for Holocaust Education in Omaha, NE, and is on display in tandem with the Portraits of Survival exhibit.
This exhibit is supported by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Harris Center for Judaic Studies.
