Family & Education
New site launched for Shoah stories
Online exhibition will feature the experiences of four refugees through some of the objects that belonged to them
June 26, 2022 12:38
Online exhibition will feature the experiences of four refugees through some of the objects that belonged to them
June 26, 2022 12:38The National Holocaust Centre & Museum has created a new website which tells the story of four refugees from Nazi Europe, using some of the objects they owned.
Ordinary Objects, Extraordinary Journeys, set up jointly with the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust and with sponsorship from the Arts Council, was launched on Tuesday to coincide with Refugee Week.
Marc Cave, chief executive of the NHCM, which has been at the forefront of digital education about the Holocaust, said, “It is the human stories that we venerate”.
The centre gradually became a museum as survivors began to entrust it with their artefacts and it was “now produce to house a collection of uniquely personal meaning”.
When the centre agreed to do a collections-based project with the HMDT, “we wanted to ensure it was in the service of telling the stories of some lesser known survivors of the Holocaust,” he said.
“Some of the objects seem mundane. Some seem beautiful. But all are priceless in what they tell us about the annihilation of normal Jewish family life right across Europe. There is a common misperception that the Holocaust just took place in Germany - and maybe Poland.
“This exhibition tells four stories spanning Greece, France, Austria, Germany, Poland, England and Scotland.”
Among the survivors featured on the site is Julie Weiss, who was 27 when the Nazis took over Austria. Pregnant from a short-lived marriage, she made her way alone to the UK to join her brother Oswald, gave birth to her son David in London and went to Leicester to escape the Blitz. Later she settled in Scotland, where she died in 1993.
The interactive online exhibition uses “storytelling properties like 360-degree spin-rounds which would not be possible in real life”, Mr Cave said.
“It's a rich digital experience using strong interaction and graphic design. It portrays epic journeys which crystallised the destruction and rebirth of the Jewish family unit. Hopefully it will make us think about what matters most in our relationships as mothers, fathers, children, siblings and spouses.”
Visit ooej.org