“Bill Graham and the Rock & Roll Revolution” at the Florida Holocaust Museum
***EXHIBITION ANNOUNCEMENT***
The Florida Holocaust Museum is thrilled to announce “Bill Graham and the Rock & Roll Revolution” is coming to the Museum in the fall of 2018! This exhibition explores the extraordinary life of renowned music promoter Bill Graham (1931- 1991) who helped launch and promote the careers of countless rock & roll artists. It also traces the indomitable spirit of a man brought to the United States as an eleven-year-old Jewish refugee fleeing the Nazis, fueling a lifelong passion and advocacy for social justice.
Named one of the best museum shows of 2017 by the Chicago Tribune, The FHM is proud to present this iconic exhibition, organized and circulated by the Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, in association with the Bill Graham Memorial Foundation, and made possible by the support of Alex Graham, David Graham, and Danny Scher.
Due to the increasing peril to Jews in Germany, Graham’s mother placed her son and her youngest daughter, Tanya “Tolla”, in a Berlin orphanage, which sent them to France in a pre-Holocaust exchange of Jewish children for Christian orphans. Graham’s older sisters Sonja and Ester stayed behind with their mother. After the fall of France, Graham was among a group of Jewish orphans spirited out of France, some of whom finally reached the United States. But a majority, including his sister Tolla, did not survive the difficult journey. He was one of the One Thousand Children (OTC), those mainly Jewish children who managed to flee Hitler and Europe, and come directly to North America, but whose parents were forced to stay behind. Nearly all of these OTC parents were killed by the Reich. Graham’s mother died at Auschwitz. Graham had five sisters, Rita, Evelyn, Sonia, Ester and Tolla, the elder four whom Survived the Holocaust.
“Bill Graham and the Rock & Roll Revolution” is the first comprehensive retrospective about the life and career of renowned music industry impresario Bill Graham. Recognized as one of the most influential concert promoters in history, Graham launched the careers of countless rock & roll legends in the 1960s at his famed Fillmore Auditorium. He conceived rock & roll as a powerful force for supporting humanitarian causes and was instrumental in the production of milestone benefit concerts such as Live Aid (1985) and Human Rights Now! (1988). As a promoter and manager, he worked with iconic artists including the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Santana, Fleetwood Mac, the Who, Led Zeppelin, the Doors, and the Rolling Stones.
***”Bill Graham and the Rock & Roll Revolution” opens to the public on August 18, 2018 and will be on display through February 10, 2019 at The Florida Holocaust Museum.
