The Wartime Escape: Margret And H.A. Rey’s Journey From France

Known for creating world-famous character Curious George, Jewish couple Margret and H.A. Rey embarked on little-known five-month odyssey when they fled the Nazi invasion of Paris at the start of World War II. Featuring 27 framed art prints by artist Allan Drummond and supplemental archival images from the holdings of the DeGrummond Collection of Children’s Literature at the University of Southern Mississippi.

Based in part on the 2005 publication The Journey that Saved Curious George: The True Wartime Escape of Margret and H.A. Rey, written by Louise Borden and illustrated by Allan Drummond (Houghton Mifflin Company, New York). Organized and curated by Beth Seldin Dotan, Director of the Institute for Holocaust Education in Omaha, Nebraska. A program of ExhibitsUSA, a national division of Mid-America Arts Alliance and The National Endowment for the Arts. Generously brought to the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center by the McCormick Foundation.