- [Michael] Tonight on "WPBS Weekly: Inside the Stories," we talk with author Ann Callahan Allen, whose latest book tells us the harrowing story of how Port Ontario and Oswego gave shelter to hundreds of desperate Holocaust survivors.

And the Kingston Potters Guild encourages its members to explore new techniques and creative expression in pottery.

Also discover the improvisational sound of Messina New York's jam band Atom Ghost as they perform their original tune "Big Hand."

Your stories, your region coming up right now on "WPBS Weekly: Inside the stories."

(bright music) - [Announcer] "WPBS Weekly: Inside the Stories" is brought to you by.

- [Narrator] When you're unable to see your primary care provider, the Carthage Walk-in Clinic is here for you.

Located off Route 26 across from Carthage Middle School.

Comfort and healing close to home when you need it most.

- [Narrator] North Country Orthopedic Group is there for your urgent ortho or sports-related injuries.

With our onsite surgical center and same or next day appointments, we're ready to provide care for patients of all ages.

Your health matters to us.

North Country Orthopedic Group, keeping healthcare local.

- [Narrator] We are the North Country, where protecting one another like family is who we are.

And where our tomorrow will always be worth defending.

Find out how we keep the North County strong at claxtonhepburn.org today.

- [Announcer] Select musical performances are made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the office of the Governor and the New York State legislator administered by the St. Lawrence County Arts Council.

- Good Tuesday evening, everyone, and welcome to this edition of "WPBS Weekly: Inside the Stories."

I'm Michael Riecke.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day is Monday, January 27th.

We talk with author Ann Callahan Allen, whose book, "Holocaust Refugees in Oswego From Nazi Europe to Lake Ontario," tells how the community of Oswego and Fort Ontario stepped up during World War II, sheltering 982 refugees rescued from the horrors of the Holocaust.

Here's producer Luke Smith with this very poignant interview.

(bright music) - Yes, thank you.

And welcome back to the studio.

We are sitting here with Ann Callahan Allen.

She's a retired teacher and author.

Ann, welcome back to the studio.

This isn't your first time here, is it?

- Yeah, thank you.

No, it's not, but it feels very familiar.

- Yeah, the last time we had you in here, we were interviewing you about "The Madam's Business."

And now here we are interviewing you about your second book, "Holocaust Refugees in Oswego."

And I'm curious, where did the inspiration for this book begin?

- Well, it's quite a leap obviously from the 1800s to the war years, but it really started because I was kind of curious about the events that were happening around that time.

But honestly, I have to say that what really sparked it was a Facebook post.

So you gotta love the world of social media or not.

- 50/50.

- So my husband was on the board of the Safe Haven Holocaust Refugee Shelter Museum that's housed within the grounds of Fort Ontario and Oswego.

And it chronicles the story of the only shelter that was established by the federal government during World War II to rescue victims of the Holocaust.

And it's a unique historic event.

It's a wonderful museum.

But my husband was talking about as a board member, how do we get more people from the area to learn about this story and to come visit?

And so I just kind of offhand suggested maybe you should talk about the people who lived in Oswego at the time, because that was part of the story that really wasn't as well known.

They must have interacted with the refugees, as it turns out they certainly did.

And what part did they play in the successful transition of these people?

It was a group of 982 from a number of different countries in Europe.

What part did they play in their successful transition into the United States?

And he said, "Well yeah, that's kind of a good idea.

You could do an exhibit, you could do a display, you could do a program."

And then I didn't think too much about it, but a couple weeks later there was a Facebook post kind of random from a man named Ron Sparino and his dad, Joseph Sparino.

He said, who I didn't know him, but I knew of his business, owned a tailor shop in downtown Oswego.

And he said, "My dad was trained by one of the refugees from the fort."

And when this man, Jake Silver, and his family left Oswego and moved to California, my dad took over the tailor shop.

And I said to my husband, "Look at that, here's a situation where two people who, except for the extraordinary circumstances of war, their paths probably never would've crossed, and yet they did in of all places Oswego, New York."

And it benefited this family that owned this tailor shop for several decades in Oswego.

So then I can't leave anything alone.

And I thought I've gotta find out more about this.

So I searched the Palladium Times, the local newspaper records, and I found a story about this refugee, Jake Silver, who had left the tailor shop to Joseph Sparino.

And his story was remarkable.

He was a tailor in Paris before the war.

He joined the French Army, ended up at the Battle of Dunkirk, captured by the German army, put on a train to a concentration camp and likely death because Jake Silver was Jewish.

Before he got to this camp, he jumped out of the window of the train he was on.

And even though he hurt his back in the fall, he made his way back to Paris, joined his wife and his son there, they joined the French resistance, and then eventually the family made their way south to Italy and they were selected among this group of 982 people to come to Fort Ontario and to remain there for the duration of the war.

And I read this story in the local Palladium Times and I said, "Wow, I wonder what Joseph Sparino was doing during that time," because their paths crossed.

- And that's just one of the stories that you feature in this book.

And I wanna know what was it like compiling all the stories into this one book?

What was that process like?

- Well, it was satisfying really because the more I learned about these individual stories and the more I learned about the arcs of these stories where these Europeans who had suffered so much suddenly encountered great people in Oswego, New York who made their life so much better and vice versa, the more proud I was really of my hometown.

And I thought, why did it work in Oswego then?

And why is there so much division now over the refugee question in so many places, not just in this country, but throughout the world because Oswego was a place where it worked.

So I guess kind of subconsciously, I was thinking about that the whole time, but really what I like, I'm not a historian.

I like stories, I've always loved stories.

I was an English major.

I really wanted to tell people stories.

But in the telling of the people stories, I came to learn some things about why it did work in Oswego.

- Are there any parallels between Oswego's World War II experience with the Holocaust refugees and what is happening in the world today?

- Absolutely.

I mean, when I became interested in pursuing these stories, the refugee crisis was raging at our southern border.

And I know that the situations are different, but it's still a very modern problem that we're all wrestling with.

And so I guess that kind of spurred me on.

For myself, I wanted to learn more about this and why people were resisting so much.

I delivered the manuscript I think about two weeks before Hamas attacked Israel.

And then there was this alarming rise, again, in antisemitism.

And both of those things were happening in the World War II era United States.

And certainly in Oswego, I mean, Oswego was not a perfect community.

There is no perfect community.

But I also, I did look for the flaws, and people, there were people who were fearful, who didn't know how it was going to impact them.

The country had just come out of the Great Depression.

They were worried about their own economic security and what would happen if there was this sudden influx of refugees, would they be able to continue to keep their jobs, would they be able to care for their families?

And so what was interesting to me though was it was more economic issues than other issues with people in Oswego.

There was no, at least there was none that I could find, no organized opposition like you find today.

The local newspaper was really the forum for any kind of discussion about what was happening in Oswego with the refugees and with the Oswegonians.

And so that was the place where if people were frustrated at all, they vented their frustration, but they also exhibited a lot of support.

And the paper covered the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter and the people who lived there very closely.

So people were well informed in Oswego.

And actually there's a myth about the fact that the refugees were confined to the fort for the 18 months they lived in Oswego.

That wasn't the case.

They were quarantined for a month.

But after that, they were able to go into the city.

They were able to interact with businesses and residents, go to restaurants.

I mean, they didn't have a whole lot of money, but they could do that.

And the kids, the shelter age, school age population were all integrated into the Oswego public schools and also one of the Catholic schools.

So that really made a big difference.

And people got to know them as fellow human beings.

And the sort of shared human experiences were what I love most about writing the book.

- Well I'm getting the wrap up signal from the people behind the camera, but before I let you go, there's one thing I gotta ask you.

What's the biggest takeaway that you want people to take away from this story?

- Okay, there was a woman who wrote a story years ago based on the shelter, and she said Oswego to her represented all that is open-hearted in a community, all that is open-hearted in ourselves if we keep the door to our souls open.

And what I found was that Oswego and its people at that time kept the door to their souls open.

And I think that's a lesson not just for Oswego, but it's a lesson really for the world.

- Well folks, go ahead and check out this book.

It's worth the read.

It's worth checking out.

Ann, thank you so much for your time in coming to the studio again.

We appreciate your time.

- Thanks for having me again.

- Ann's book is available online and at local bookstores.

You can also learn more about the refugees who took shelter at Fort Ontario through the Safe Haven Holocaust Refugee Shelter Museum in Oswego.

You can learn more at safehavenmuseum.com.

Well the Kingston Potter's Guild promotes the ceramic arts by providing educational opportunities, fostering a sense of community among potters, and contributing to the cultural landscape of Kingston.

Here's WPBS producer Gail Pickett with more.

(bright music) (people chatting) - [Gail] The Kingston Potter's Guild, one of Ontario's oldest pottery guilds, was founded in 1967 by six local potters.

Today the guild resides in the renovated Tet Center for Creativity and Learning, equipped with the latest tools and technology.

- Not only are we fortunate to have this space because a lot of guilds in Ontario do not have a space where you can work.

They have a guild and they have their sales and they meet in a place for their meetings, but they do not have a space like this.

So we are so, so fortunate to have this.

And on top of that, we have this gas kiln, and we are the only guild in Ontario that has a gas kiln.

- [Gail] As a cooperative pottery studio, the shared workspace is organized and managed by its members who collaborate to maintain the studio's operations and resources.

- People do take classes to begin with and then become a member because then they have a good idea of the operating of the studio and how we work and helping out.

We have monthly meetings of course, and we have our traditional sales every year.

We have the holiday sale and the spring sale, - [Gail] As well as biannual sales events.

The guild also engages in charitable activities, such as donating bowls for fundraising events and opening up their doors to their community every year to support local culture and education.

- We also get together and produce probably about 300 bowls for Martha's Table.

And that's a huge fundraiser for them.

And we always participate in doors open and culture days.

So people come through and we'll have people throwing at the wheel and they'll come over and ask questions and want to know about classes.

- [Gail] People are attracted to pottery for various reasons, and the craft often becomes an obsession due to its unique combination of tactile engagement, creativity, and personal satisfaction.

- It was a hobby.

After I graduated from university, I thought, oh, like I should do something, some sort of hobby.

And after the first day I thought, oh my goodness, this is what I really want to do.

So a hobby turned into a profession.

- I just fell in love.

Was never on my radar.

I never wanted to be a potter, but it just, as soon as I sat down at that wheel, it grabbed me, and I retired.

So I've had lots of time and I am just playing with mud.

I'm going back to my childhood.

- [Gail] The Kingston Potters Guild offers a variety of educational programs designed to cater to different skill levels and interests within the pottery community.

These include classes, workshops, and mentorship programs.

- The light that comes into the students' eyes when they've created something that they can one, use every morning for their coffee and look at and say, "I made this," or two, when the glass melts all around this clay and creates this incredible shiny piece that's gonna last thousands of years possibly, we might be leaving a little history.

- [Gail] Leaving a piece of history is exactly what the guild did.

A public art installation known as "The Renewal" was unveiled in 2023.

This project took several years to complete and is a testament to the Potter's Guild commitment to public art, community engagement, and the promotion of ceramic arts.

- To honor our 50th anniversary, we were thinking we wanted to do something for the city.

We wanted to produce something that would commemorate that.

Then they talked about refurbishing the Richardson Bathhouse, and we'd said, "Oh my goodness, that would be the place to do it."

Because that's where we began, at the Richardson Bathhouse in 1967 because of where the Richardson Bathhouse is situated, straight on the lake.

So we were thinking, you know, land and water.

So we did sort of like waves and water on one side, on the water side.

And then on the other side, we went through the changes in the season with leaves and branches and things.

So it's really something to see.

And it's thousands and thousands of tiles.

- [Gail] Joining a pottery guild offers opportunities for networking, learning, and participating in exhibitions and sales.

Perhaps you will leave a piece of history, but more than that, you will most definitely learn more about yourself.

- I discovered that I love to learn.

That is why I'm here.

And pottery is something that somebody said to me once, you can never learn all there is to learn in pottery in a lifetime.

And I'm like, I take on this challenge.

I love that.

Even when I'm teaching, I'm learning.

I'm constantly having aha moments and learning, and I just find it so exciting.

I love my classes to be just kind of open and get back to your childhood.

Here's a chunk of mud and let's just play with it and let's see what comes out of it and be okay if it fails and be okay if it didn't turn out exactly like they wanted because clay, you can just roll it up in a ball and do it again - [Gail] For WPBS Weekly, I'm Gail Pickett.

- We wrap things up tonight with some improvisational rock out of Messina.

Meet Atom Ghost, the three-man rock band sharing their philosophy of creativity, community, and inspiration throughout the North Country and beyond.

Here they are tonight with their original song, "Big Hand."

(upbeat music) - I'm Kevin O'Brien.

I'm the lead guitar player for Atom Ghost.

Atom Ghost started as the idea of, again, creativity and the human nature of creating spontaneous energy.

For us, it became music, but initially it was me and Ryan Murphy, our bass player, just together, just having great conversations about life and humanity and what it means to be human.

And we both shared a love for music.

So Atom Ghost became that way of expressing those ideas through music.

Something I would really want people to understand about Atom Ghost is that it's not just about jamming in endless songs, it's really about the creativity of in the moment, and when we may be improvising stuff that you've never heard before, we are doing it for you in a live environment.

And it's your energy if you're coming to see us, that's really creating that, you're just as much a part of the music as we are on the stage.

The song "Big Hand" is about not wasting your time.

The idea of a big hand is the big hand on the clock.

So don't let the big hand slap you.

So it's really about not wasting time and realizing that all you have is today, and you get to choose on how you use that.

We are Atom Ghost and this is "Big Hand."

(upbeat music) ♪ Don't want my name up in lights ♪ ♪ But I got my tale to tell ♪ ♪ You see I got me some stories ♪ ♪ Some of heaven and some of hell ♪ ♪ Not some places that I should go to ♪ ♪ But rather some things that you go through ♪ ♪ Day to day to day ♪ ♪ Don't let the big hand slap you no no ♪ ♪ Don't let the time just slip away ♪ ♪ Don't let the big hand slap you no no ♪ ♪ 'Cause all you got is today ♪ ♪ Don't let the big hand slap you no no ♪ ♪ On your way to tomorrow ♪ ♪ Life's a crazy game of tug of war ♪ ♪ Pulling at your heartstrings ♪ ♪ See I got me some problems ♪ ♪ Now I'm gonna see what tomorrow brings ♪ ♪ Gotta keep dreaming big ♪ ♪ No matter what life hits you with day to day to day ♪ ♪ Don't let the big hand slap you no no ♪ ♪ Don't let the time just slip away ♪ ♪ Don't let the big hand slap you no no ♪ ♪ 'Cause all you got is today ♪ ♪ Don't let the big hand slap you no no ♪ ♪ On your way to tomorrow ♪ ♪ You got today you got today today today ♪ ♪ All you got ♪ ♪ You got today you got today today today ♪ ♪ All you got ♪ ♪ You got today you got today today today ♪ ♪ All you got ♪ ♪ You got today you got today today today ♪ ♪ It's all you got now ♪ ♪ Got today today today ♪ ♪ It's all you got now ♪ ♪ You got today today today ♪ ♪ It's all you got now ♪ ♪ You got today today today ♪ ♪ It's all you got now ♪ ♪ Got today today ♪ ♪ Life's a crazy journey ♪ ♪ You each got a role to play ♪ ♪ See I got me this vision ♪ ♪ No more hate, I'm just here to stay ♪ ♪ Gotta keep us moving ♪ ♪ 'Cause it's the time that we're losing ♪ ♪ Day to day to day ♪ ♪ Don't let the big hand slap you no no ♪ ♪ Don't let the time just slip away ♪ ♪ Don't let the big hand slap you no no ♪ ♪ 'Cause all you got is today today today today ♪ ♪ Don't let the big hand slap you no no ♪ ♪ On your way to tomorrow ♪ ♪ Don't let the big hand slap you no no ♪ ♪ Don't let the time just slip away ♪ ♪ Don't let the big hand slap you no no ♪ ♪ 'Cause all you got is today today today today ♪ ♪ Don't let the big hand slap you no ♪ ♪ On your way to tomorrow ♪ - That does it for this Tuesday night.

Join us next time for a fresh look inside the stories.

Super Bowl 59 is just around the goalpost.

We team up with Johnny Pisano and guest George Ashcraft, head coach for the Watertown Red and Black football team to share some tasty appetizers perfect for your Super Bowl party.

And every person, regardless of background or abilities, possesses unique strengths.

We'll show you how the Bloom Skills Center in Kingston encourages young adults with developmental challenges to achieve their full potential.

Meantime, if you have a story idea you'd like us to explore, we would love to learn more.

All you need to do is send us an email at wpbsweekly@wpbstv.org and let's share it with the region.

That's it for tonight.

On behalf of everyone behind the scenes here at WPBS, I'm Michael Riecke.

Thanks for joining us tonight.

We'll see you soon.

Take care.

(bright music) - [Announcer] "WPBS Weekly: Inside the Stories" is brought to you by.

- [Narrator] When you're unable to see your primary care provider, the Carthage Walk-in Clinic is here for you.

Located off Route 26 across from Carthage Middle School.

Comfort and healing close to home when you need it most.

- [Narrator] North Country Orthopedic Group is there for your urgent ortho or sports-related injuries.

With our onsite surgical center and same or next day appointments, we're ready to provide care for patients of all ages.

Your health matters to us.

North Country Orthopedic Group, keeping healthcare local.

- [Narrator] We are the North Country, where protecting one another like family is who we are.

And where our tomorrow will always be worth defending.

Find out how we keep the North County strong at claxtonhepburn.org today.

- [Announcer] Select musical performances are made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the office of the Governor and the New York State legislator administered by the St. Lawrence County Arts Council.

♪ Pulling at your heartstrings ♪ ♪ See I've got me some problems ♪ ♪ Now I'm gonna see what tomorrow brings ♪ ♪ Gotta keep dreaming big ♪ (gentle music)