Sydney Jewish Museum is closed to the general public for redevelopment. We remain open for school excursions and corporate groups.

Blog

April 26, 2016

Educating in the new exhibition

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After a busy 2015, which saw the Museum host a record 25,000 school students, we certainly have not lost any momentum. Despite the construction work, we have continued to educate visitors about Jewish culture and history through powerful Survivor testimony, expert seminars and insightful tours of the remaining three exhibitions.

While we continue to offer our world class education programs, the Education team has also been busy preparing our volunteer guides for the opening of the new permanent Holocaust exhibition.

Volunteers are currently participating in a six month course, which not only promotes object based learning, but also provides opportunities for nuanced discussions about the history of the Holocaust and its contemporary connections.

In addition, new artefact and photographs will allow our guides to deepen the Holocaust narrative by incorporating the experiences of victims, Survivors, witnesses and perpetrators into their tours. In this way we hope to help visitors grapple with the complexities of the Holocaust and consider how the sweeping tragedy was the result of human action (and inaction).

With bigger sections dedicated to pre-war Jewish life and the post-liberation experiences of Survivors and refugees, we hope visitors will not only consider how the atrocities of the Holocaust were committed, but understand more about what was lost as a result of the murder of approximately six million Jewish people – culture, language, ideas, beliefs and ways of life.  Furthermore, these sections will also speak to the resilience and continuity of Jewish life through the Survivors who migrated to Sydney.

As a representative of the Education team, I have been involved in all aspects of planning, offering input into the photographs, testimonies, artefacts and multimedia in the new exhibition. I was conscious throughout to ensure that visitors of all ages could interact with the history of the Holocaust in a way that was age appropriate while also considering the ever-present reverberations of genocide.

This is an exciting chapter in the Museum’s history and it has been a great privilege to work on this project. I can’t wait to work in this brand new space!

Author – Marie Bonardelli, Education Officer