Exhibition puts survivors in the picture - The Jewish Chronicle

Intimate portraits of survivors in their everyday lives are featured in a new exhibition at the Imperial War Museum in London.

More than 50 contemporary images are on show, depicting survivors inside their home or garden, often surrounded by loved ones, either physically or on Zoom.

One of the subjects, Dr Martin Stern, 82, travelled from Leicester for the launch event on Wednesday. He told the JC he was taken aback by the “superb photographs”.

The retired doctor said the portraits brought to mind “fine paintings on the walls of an art gallery”. But he added that each picture was also a painful reminder of the many who were murdered by the Nazis.

“We are the ones that got away. We are a tiny minority,” said Dr Stern, who survived the Westerbork and Theresienstadt camps. “We represent the millions who didn’t and the descendants they never had.”

His own exhibit — a video installation by photographer Simon Roberts — shows him seated, his 17-year-old granddaughter Isobel standing behind him with her hand on his shoulder.

Mr Stern initially did not fully appreciate the concept. But after seeing the video, he suggested the medium “engages the viewer in a way that a still picture doesn’t”.

Another of those featured, Joan Salter, 81, recalled braving the cold to have her photo taken in her garden last winter. “We had a visiting cat who photobombed us and we got a wonderful photo of it falling off the table and us laughing,” she said, although the image was not among those selected for the exhibition.

Photographer Frederic Aranda captured the North Londoner with her husband Martin and their eldest daughter Shelley.

Ms Salter confessed to mixed feelings about the emphasis often placed on the stories of survivors who went on to lead successful lives.

“There were those that worked in the supermarkets or in the shops. Their survival is just as important,” she said.

Having fled the Nazis as a child, she has been sharing her testimony for decades. “I feel it’s important for me to speak and to put my head above the parapet,” she explained.

Most of the images in the exhibition were shot between April and June this year. However, a few — including survivor photos by the Duchess of Cambridge — were taken in 2020.

Curator Tracy Marshall-Grant said the project had led to friendships between the photographers and their subjects.

“In some cases, the photographers have sent me photos from their day and they’ve always got food in it. Cakes and big dinners have been made.

“When the families could be involved, they all brought gifts.”

Because of lockdown restrictions, many of the photos were taken outside, imbuing them with a relevant sense of freedom, she added.

Dr Michael Pritchard, director of education at the Royal Photographic Society — which was involved in co-ordinating the photographers — said the project was “really about legacy. We wanted to bring children or grandchildren into pictures. In some cases, the photographer asked the survivor to come up with an object that was important to them and part of their story so often they’re in the picture somewhere.”

Exhibition funder, businessman and philanthropist David Dangoor, believed the photos delivered a “message of hope, of rebirth.

“My favourite pictures are the ones where you see the young generations full of life.”

Generations: Portraits of Holocaust Survivors is at the Imperial War Museum, London, until January 7, 2022