Blog

April 18, 2016

A Generational Shift is Underway

Curators Shannon Biederman, Roslyn Sugarman and Project Director Avril Alba

Work has begun on the new permanent Holocaust exhibition at the Sydney Jewish Museum. Marking the first major redevelopment of the Holocaust display since its opening in 1992, the new exhibition is meaningful not only in terms of what it contains but also in what it signifies.

While we are still lucky enough to have Survivors both witness and participate in this change, we do know that this will not be the case forever. This new exhibition, therefore, embodies not only the fruits of five years of historical research but also personifies an historical moment—the transfer of the custodianship of Holocaust commemoration by Survivors to the next generation.

In each and every aspect of the new display the voices of the Survivors will ‘speak’ through and to a new generation. The objects they and the SJM curators have lovingly preserved will tell their stories, their testimony will enhance each display through an App that comprises a world first in both content and approach and their wish that their memories be primarily a tool for education in a world still in dire need of its message will be transmitted by dedicated educators and guides from the second and third generations.

In the Jewish tradition when speaking of those passed, one immediately adds the words, ‘May their memory be for a blessing’. As we begin to build the new permanent exhibition, the blessing of the Survivors’ memories accompanies and guides us every step of the way.

Author Avril Alba – Project Director/Consulting Curator