World Jewish News

Exhibit items delivered from the former USSR in New York at the exhibition "Jewish Defiance in the Holocaust".

Conducting a Passover seder in a forced labor camp, partisans fighting in the forests, dangerous courier missions, and illegal underground newspapers tell a fascinating, but rarely heard story. The brave act of defying the Nazis — whether with words or with actions — is the subject of the new, extraordinary exhibition Daring to Resist: Jewish Defiance in the Holocaust, opening at the Museum of Jewish Heritage (New York) - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust on April 16, 2007.
During the Holocaust, Jews throughout Europe, in individual and collective acts of resistance, sought to undermine the Nazi goal of annihilating the Jewish people. Jews engaged in a range of resistance activities with the aim of preserving Jewish life and dignity despite unimaginable difficulties. Their efforts powerfully refute the popular perception that Jews were passive victims. Through testimony, archival footage, and authentic artifacts, the exhibition will help visitors to understand the dilemmas that Jews faced under impossible circumstances. Whether praying clandestinely, documenting the experiences of Jews in the ghettos, or taking up arms to fight, these responses took many forms, but each and every one was a courageous act of resistance.
This largescale exhibition, presented in association with Ghetto Fighters' House, Israel, finally brings to light the stories of courageous men, women, and children who risked their lives to protect their communities, their humanity, and in some cases, their right to die with dignity. "This exhibition will reshape the way the public thinks about Jews during the Holocaust by focusing on the Jewish narrative." Museum director Dr. David G. Marwell said. "This exhibition is not about what was done to the Jews by the Nazis, but rather about Jewish responses and actions. The general public has not been exposed to this part of history, this way of thinking. Jews fought Nazi occupation within their homes, their communities, in the ghettos and the forests, in the concentration camps, and in their hearts."
Powerful filmed testimony rounds out the exhibition. The films intersperse archival films and photographs with narrated memoirs and present day interviews with survivors. Survivors from Poland, Latvia, France, Greece, Hungary, and beyond tell their stories of survival and defiance. A lot of exhibit items were delivered from the former USSR including Russia, Ukraine, Belarus.

Источник: naviny.by