”LIVING MEMORY”
EXHIBITION
Yad Vashem
The artifacts, artworks, documents, photographs and testimonies on display in the exhibition invite reflection on the preservation and shaping of Holocaust memory, and on our sacred responsibility to pass the torch of memory to future generations.
"My dear brother, hello! […] Remember what I said to you: if you live — I would live within you."
From the farewell letter seventeen-year-old Pinchas Eisner left for his brother, Mordechai. Approximately one month after writing the letter, Pinchas and another seventy Jews were led to a nearby forest and shot to death
Some 400 rare items from the Yad Vashem Collections are displayed for the first time in
a unique exhibition that focuses on the collections themselves. Artifacts, documents, photographs and artworks ̶ each one bearing witness to a world that no longer exists, and telling a story about people, families and entire communities.
This exhibition takes the viewer on a journey traversing three layers of memory: documentation in real time, testimony and commemoration after the Shoah, and the creation of a visual language that has become an integral part of our collective memory. Alongside the authentic artifacts, the survivor testimony videos on display add their living voices to the experience, creating an emotionally-charged atmosphere.
The last section of the exhibition provides a "behind-the-scenes" glimpse of the new Shapell Family Collections Center. In this space, storage and preservation methodologies are showcased via several authentic artifacts, reflecting the diversity and depth of the collections. Interactive stations invite visitors to discover the work that is performed on a daily basis ̶ preservation, cataloging and research ̶ which enables the continued existence of Holocaust memory and its transmission to future generations.
In a period in which the Holocaust survivor generation is dwindling, the exhibition offers
a rare experience: a firsthand encounter with authentic artifacts bearing Holocaust memory. This also serves as
a timely reminder of our obligation to remember, to preserve Holocaust memory and to pass it down through the generations. As Elie Wiesel put it: "We have to be the messengers' messengers."
The ”Living Memory” exhibition provides a unique glimpse into the depths of the Yad Vashem Collections and the ongoing endeavors to discover the identities and the stories behind the rare items that have been collected over the years.
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