Finding Thalhimers

Last month, I went to New York City with my daughter Lyla, parents, sister Katherine, and two of my nieces. We took a carriage ride through Central Park, sipped frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity, and made the requisite little-girl pilgrimage to The Plaza to see the portrait of Eloise. But the reason we were there was far more important than being tourists in the big city. We were there to attend the opening of an exhibit at the Museum of Jewish Heritage entitled “Against All Odds: American Jews and the Rescue of Europe’s Refugees, 1933-41.” Among other stories of heroic Americans who went to great lengths to save the lives of total strangers, the exhibit included the story of Gramps (William B. Thalhimer Sr.) and Hyde Farm.

About a year ago, I helped curator Bonnie Gurewitsch with piecing together this story. While newborn Ethan cried and the dog barked at the UPS man, we spread out lots of archival materials and she chose the ones that best conveyed who Gramps was, what Thalhimers was, and how Hyde Farmlands came about. With the help of Bob Gillette and several Hyde Farmlanders and their children, the story was condensed into a single display involving various artifacts, photographs and documents. And, much to my surprise, the display is punctuated with an enormous photograph of Gramps sitting behind his desk at Thalhimers in 1938.

I lost my camera on the train home (NOTE: now no one will believe me when I say that I had my picture taken with Dr. Ruth at the exhibit opening), so I don’t have any personal pictures to share. Fortunately, a kind journalist from the Downtown Express of Lower Manhattan sent me the following photo of me, my dad, Katherine, and the daughter of the late Werner “Tom” Angress, one of the amazing Hyde Farmlanders. I am so glad to have this one photo to remind me of how grateful my family and I are to have represented Gramps and his brave work to save lives when few others stepped forward to do so.

After 75 years of virtual silence, the story Gramps kept quiet is now being told in a stunningly beautiful way. Visit the Museum of Jewish Heritage anytime before Spring 2014 and see it for yourself.