This year marks the 80th Anniversary of the Allied victory in World War II. Take a look back on the momentous events of a tumultuous era through the lived experience of Americans and Delawareans. Featuring photographs, letters, oral histories, and films that explore stories and bring the major events and personal moments of the war to life.
Exhibit Overview
World War II had a profound effect on every aspect of American social, political, and cultural life. For many who served, the war provided opportunities to learn new skills, experience new places, and escape the poverty that hung over life during the Great Depression.
It was also a war fought by a segregated military, rife with racism and antisemitism. A war that large segments of the American public were loath to enter before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, despite widespread knowledge of the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and Fascist Italy.
The war’s aftermath spawned a new age of American Democracy as the G.I. Bill expanded access to higher education and home ownership and the Civil Rights Movement fought racial hatred and staked new claims to equality and freedom.
However, the costs for victory were steep and not all of the results matched the dreams of those who fought for Democracy. More than 410,000 American service members and civilians lost their lives, including 784 from the state of Delaware. Many more returned home wounded and many would cope with trauma for the rest of their lives. Not all service members benefited equally from the G.I. Bill. Benefits were often denied to African-Americans and the Merchant Marines were excluded for decades. Hopes of a lasting peace were overshadowed by the dawn of the Cold War and the nuclear age.
The JHSD Voices of Service explores the impact of the tumultuous events of World War II, on an intimate scale. The letters of seven Jewish American service members, written to Mollye Sklut at the Delaware YM-YWHA, provide a glimpse of their lived experiences. Their words shed light on their experiences, concerns, and aspirations. They illustrate how one woman played a major role in helping maintain the close-knit Jewish American community in Wilmington, Delaware during a time of international crisis. Ultimately, they offer a glimpse of humanity forced to participate in the most inhumane of endeavors.
The Dear Mollye Collection
The Dear Mollye Collection contains correspondence and artifacts from nearly 350 Jewish World War II service members from Wilmington, Delaware, sent to Mollye Sklut, secretary of the Wilmington YM-YWHA, throughout the war. Letters appear in the Y Recorder from nearly 100 additional service members whose original correspondence is not contained in the collection. Letter excerpts were printed in the Y Recorder. Distributed locally and to those serving throughout the war, Mollye’s letters connected the homefront and the battlefront, creating a pre-internet version of social media for families, friends, and service members hungry for news of one another. The collection is an excellent resource to understanding the lived experience of Jewish American service members on the homefront, in training, and on the front lines. The items selected for the World War II Voices exhibit present only a small sample of the collection and touch on only a few of the topics addressed in the letters. The service members who wrote Molly share experiences from basic training to the frontlines. They offer the opportunity to gain an understanding of their feelings of pride in service, homesickness, Jewish life in the military, racism and antisemitism, the Holocaust, and engaging in combat. Through their correspondence the deep bonds of the community become apparent, as they mention, inquire about, and even meet up with each other at far flung locations around the globe. They illustrate the importance of Wilmington to their lives through reminiscing and fretting about the local basketball and baseball teams, celebrating wedding and birth announcements, and grieving over the loss of friends and loved ones.
The Y Recorder, April 30, 1942