The Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York is presenting a new exhibit on Jewish Holocaust survivor and professional soccer player Paul Mahrer. The display runs from May 31 through July 31, with museum officials making the announcement in May.

Titled Tell Our Boy That I Played Soccer Again, the installation draws on archival photos, letters, and documents from the museum collection to follow Mahrer's path as a professional footballer and survivor of Theresienstadt.

Central to the exhibit are letters secretly exchanged between Mahrer and his wife while they were held in separate concentration camps. The title stems from a letter in which Mahrer hoped his son would learn of his deep love for family and the sport that shaped his career.

"Tell our boy that I played soccer again and even played well and was successful," Mahrer wrote from inside the Nazi transit camp.

Before the Gestapo deported him in 1942, Mahrer represented the Czechoslovakian national team at the 1924 Paris Olympics. He competed in numerous international matches during the 1920s and 1930s before becoming one of 140,000 Jewish people held at the Theresienstadt concentration camp. Although he survived, more than three-quarters of those imprisoned with him perished.

The museum chose to mount this exhibit as New York hosts soccer teams from across the globe for the current World Cup matches. For many viewers, Mahrer's story underscores that sports can represent far more than simply moving a ball.

"Paul Mahrer's story reminds us of the power of sport, and the rituals that sustain us, in times of joy and through unimaginable hardship," said Jack Kliger, president and CEO of the Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust.

More on The Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust

The museum first opened in 1997 as New York's contribution to the Never Forget movement. It serves thousands of school children each year and stands as a leading educational resource for the tri-state area.

To highlight Jewish life before, during, and after the Holocaust, the museum features multiple installations drawn from the Peter and Mary Kalikow Jewish Genealogy Resource Center, which holds nearly 40,000 artifacts, photographs, films, and survivor testimonies.

Besides Paul Mahrer's life story, current offerings include Art of Freedom: The Life and Work of Arthur Szyk, which celebrates anti-fascist artist Arthur Szyk, Courage to Act: Rescue in Denmark, which focuses on the rescue of Denmark's Jewish population in 1943, and The Holocaust: What Hate Can Do, which presents a full account of Holocaust history in the context of ongoing global antisemitism.

For details on exhibitions and tickets to Tell Our Boy That I Played Soccer Again, visit the museum website.