Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum hosting one-of-a kind conversation between Holocaust survivor, Nazi descendant

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Coming up this month, a local museum is putting together an unlikely pair for an event: a Holocaust survivor will share the stage with a descendent of a Nazi.

St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum on Thursday, May 16, will host a first-of-a kind discussion between Holocaust survivor Oskar Jakob, who was forced into slave labor and worked on the V-1 Flying Bomb while imprisoned in the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp, and granddaughter of the creator of that said V-1 flying bomb, Suzanne Rico.

Scott Miller, host of the event who is the former Director of Curatorial Affairs at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and now consulting curator at the Hilton Family Holocaust Education Center in Phoenix and the Tree of Life Memorial in Pittsburgh, says the event is unprecedented scenario and unique opportunity.

"In any scenario when you have a Holocaust survivor with a descendant with a Nazi, it's always a extraordinary event, but this event is unprecedented because of Suzanne's grandfather being the creator of the bomb and Jakob (who lives in St. Louis) was a slave laborer where these bombers was created," said Miller. "We're as close as possible to in a certain way to having a survivor face his perpetrator, but in this case, it's the granddaughter to did so much research and went on a journey of discovery and re-discovery to learn what her grandfather did."

Miller says that both Jakob and Rico have met previously, but the event at the Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum will be the first time their stories will be revealed to the public.

"It's really a case where history intersects with humanity," said Miller. "It's about learning about Oskar and Suzanne as a person and can there be any healing and forgiveness? And what are the lessons for the future? I think the audience, to understand that history is really now in the present and what can we learn for the future?"

Miller thinks the event will help create a further bonding between Jakob and Rice despite their tragic histories.

"(Jakob and Rice) are each of a case of perseverance and courage," said Miller. "I think each will appreciate the perseverance and courage of the other. Oskar of course by surviving the Holocaust and the courage to talk about his horrible horrible experience publicly, while Rice has the courage go back into her family's past and had the courage to look for a victim of her family's past."

The event is free to the public and for tickets to the event, you can click here .