A  blend of personal narrative and music took center stage at Vincennes University as part of the Americans and the Holocaust series currently on display at the Shake Learning Resource Center through April 28.

The event, titled Butterflies: A Recital Confronting Our Past, Ensuring Our Future, featured vocalist and Indiana University graduate Kyle Forehand. Through music and storytelling, Forehand confronted his own family history—specifically, his great-grandfather’s membership in the Nazi Party.

“My goal is to give voice to music and text written by Holocaust victims and survivors,” Forehand told the audience. “We must keep these voices alive.”

The recital included musical selections composed in concentration camps, poetry written by imprisoned children, and reflections on German resistance to Nazism. One central image was the butterfly—a recurring symbol in Holocaust writings and art that Forehand used to express the idea of transformation through pain and remembrance.

Forehand shared that his family’s Nazi ties were long kept secret. But after years of personal reflection and guidance from Holocaust scholars, he created the recital to acknowledge the past and promote healing.

The Americans and the Holocaust exhibit and all related events are free and open to the public, supported by the American Library Association and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Vincennes University is one of only 50 libraries in the country selected to host the traveling exhibit.