At Krohn, Fragility Takes Flight

At Krohn, Fragility Takes Flight

Destination Monarch brings color, movement, and wonder back to Cincinnati’s conservatory

Butterflies have returned to Krohn Conservatory, and with them comes one of Cincinnati’s loveliest seasonal rituals. This year’s show, Destination Monarch, is cheerful, crowded, warm, and visually generous—a reminder that some of creation’s most memorable lessons arrive on delicate wings.

The show opened on May 9 and runs through August 9, 2026. Sponsored by ScherZinger Termite and Pest Control, Cincinnati Parks Foundation, and Friends of Krohn, the exhibit continues Krohn’s tradition of inviting visitors into close contact with butterflies from around the world. One practical change is worth noting before making the trip: tickets are no longer sold at the door, as they were in previous years. Visitors should check Krohn’s website in advance and reserve a timed entry.

The sense of arrival begins outside. A larger-than-life butterfly sculpture greets visitors near the entrance, and the surrounding landscaping makes the conservatory feel immediately inviting. It is a well-designed welcome—bright enough to delight children, polished enough to suit the setting, and clear enough to announce that the experience begins before anyone steps into the butterfly room.

Inside, the exhibit quickly becomes immersive. The butterfly area is very warm, as it must be for the stars of the show, and the heat adds to the feeling of stepping into another environment. Visitors slow down. Children scan the air. Adults become unusually patient. Everyone seems to be waiting for the same small miracle: a butterfly landing close enough to see.

Each guest is given a piece of cardboard to use when reaching toward the butterflies, a simple instruction that says a great deal about the spirit of the show. These creatures are not decorations, even in a room designed around spectacle. They are living things to be approached carefully. That small piece of cardboard turns excitement into attentiveness.

The exhibit is also thoughtfully arranged for families. A scavenger hunt encourages children to look closely rather than rush from one sight to the next. Large charts and laminated guides list the names of the winged insects visitors hope to see, and some guests use phone apps to identify species in real time. It was a pleasant reminder that, at its best, technology can sharpen attention rather than replace it.

Staff and volunteers deserve credit for keeping an enormous flow of visitors moving with warmth and calm. Seasonal exhibits can easily become chaotic, but Krohn’s team helped keep the crowd manageable. Before exiting, each person is checked to make sure no butterfly is attempting an unauthorized departure. It is a charming final moment, but also a necessary one. The beauty of the show depends on care.

Krohn’s appeal extends beyond the butterfly room. The conservatory’s other spaces offer botanical beauty of their own, including koi-filled streams, an impressive waterfall, and sculptural metalwork. 

For readers formed by Scripture, butterflies naturally invite reflection—not because they should be forced into an allegory, but because their transformation is hard to ignore. A creature that begins low to the ground becomes winged and luminous. Scripture, too, sometimes uses lowly imagery to describe human frailty. Jacob is called “worm Jacob” and is immediately told, “Fear not.” The point is not that weakness is beautiful in itself. The point is that weakness is not beyond God’s help.

That makes Destination Monarch more than a pleasant summer outing. It is a vivid encounter with small lives that command attention precisely because they are fragile. A butterfly can be damaged by careless handling, yet it can also stop a room in its tracks.

At Krohn, that tension is part of the beauty. Children lift their cardboard circles with surprising seriousness. Adults bend low to look more closely. Volunteers guide the crowd. Wings open and close in the warm air.

The show is accessible, colorful, and genuinely enjoyable for all ages. It does not need to make a grand argument. It simply invites visitors to notice what is small, living, vulnerable, and astonishing. Sometimes that is enough. Creation has always known how to teach quietly.

Yom HaShoah Commemoration Calls Community to Remember—and to Speak

CINCINNATI — In a city where history is not merely preserved but actively told, the Yom HaShoah Community Commemoration on Sunday, April 12, at the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center offered a solemn and necessary charge: remembrance must be honest enough to include not only the crimes of perpetrators, but the silence of those who stood by.

Marking Yom HaShoah, the evening honored the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust while preserving the voices of those who endured. Through testimony, music, and ritual, the program reflected the day’s dual meaning—catastrophe and courage—while anchoring memory in the present generation.

The commemoration opened with an introduction by second-generation descendant Steve Coppel, who framed the significance of the Yom HaShoah siren and the enduring message of “Zog Nit Kein’mol,” the partisan anthem performed by students of Rockwern Academy under the direction of Rachel Westheimer, with pianist Claire Lee. The song, rooted in resistance, set a tone that would carry throughout the evening: memory is not passive—it is defiant.

Welcome remarks from Jackie Congedo, CEO of the Center, emphasized the institution’s mission to connect Holocaust remembrance with contemporary responsibility. That theme was reinforced in the invocation delivered by Rabbi Sammy Kanter of the Mayerson Jewish Community Center, who grounded the evening in both reverence and moral awareness.

Music continued to play a central role. The Mason High School Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Stephanie Jones, performed the theme from Schindler’s List, offering a restrained and deeply affecting interlude that bridged historical narrative with emotional resonance. Later, pianist Claire Lee returned with “Baym Geto Toyerl (At the Ghetto’s Gate),” further underscoring the cultural and spiritual memory carried through song.

At the heart of the evening was the candlelighting ceremony, where memory was visibly passed from one generation to the next. Readers and candlelighters represented second-, third-, and fourth-generation descendants alongside Holocaust survivors themselves. Among them were survivor participants, including Pasha Sukhareva, Raisa Pustinsky, Zahava Rendler, and Sofia Kobylyansky, whose presence transformed remembrance into living testimony. Younger voices—such as fourth-generation reader Jacob Brafman and third-generation participants including Emily Werbel and the Herman family—demonstrated that the responsibility to remember is not diminishing, but being carried forward.

This generational continuity was one of the evening’s most powerful elements. It was not simply stated; it was seen. Survivors lit candles alongside descendants who will carry their stories into the future, forming a visual and communal bridge between past and present.

The program did not shy away from difficult truths. In addition to recounting the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany, it addressed the broader moral failures that allowed those crimes to unfold. The silence of ordinary Germans—neighbors who watched persecution escalate without resistance—was acknowledged alongside the inaction of many Americans during the same period. As awareness of Jewish suffering grew in the United States, public pressure for intervention remained limited.

That failure was made concrete in references to events such as the MS St. Louis Incident, when more than 900 Jewish refugees were denied entry and forced back toward Europe. While such decisions were made at the governmental level, the absence of widespread public outcry remains a sobering reminder that silence, even when rooted in caution or uncertainty, carries consequences.

The evening’s pledge, led by Barbara Miller, Commemoration Committee Chair, brought these themes into the present. “We vow to tell your story,” attendees affirmed, committing not only to remembrance but to action—standing against prejudice and injustice in all its forms.

Closing prayers, including El Malei Rachamim and the Mourner’s Kaddish, were led by Dr. Albert Weisbrot, followed by a benediction from Rabbi Ezra Goldschmiedt of Congregation Sha’arei Torah. The program concluded with a moving rendition of “Hatikvah” by visiting performers Yarden and Uri of Chaverim M’Israel, reinforcing a sense of continuity and hope.

A keynote address by Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat, titled “The Holocaust: Past, Present, and Future Challenges,” extended the evening’s reflection beyond remembrance into contemporary relevance, urging vigilance in the face of rising antisemitism and global instability.

Closing remarks from Board Chair Nancy Frank returned the focus to community—those gathered, those remembered, and those responsible for carrying the memory forward.

The commemoration, supported by a dedicated committee of community members and descendants, did not present memory as a finished task. Instead, it made clear that remembrance is an ongoing obligation—one that requires both honesty and courage.

At the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center, that obligation was articulated with clarity: to remember fully, to speak when silence is easier, and to ensure that the lessons of history are neither softened nor forgotten.