Next year, exhibition “Portraits and Memories of the Jewish Community in Serbia before the Holocaust” within the project funded by EU Delegation to Serbia, will be on display in various cities, as a part of culture of remembrance, with a primary aim to introduce these events to young people, elementary school final year pupils and high school students, and engage them in a discussion within workshops organised specifically for that occasion.
Project seeks to build up an archive of photographs and testimonies of survivors and other -non-Jewish- witnesses of the life of the vibrant community that existed before the Holocaust, as a resource for the faithful commemoration of the victims of the Holocaust and as a basis for Holocaust education in the future.
Many photographs and a great deal of information have already been gathered from members of the Jewish community.
Photographs are currently being gathered, as well as any other remembrance of people in them so as to form an accompanying legend containing the names of places in which photographs were taken, biographies of people in them, said Robert Fuks President of Association of Jewish Communities of Serbia during the project presentation held at the press conference.
He stressed that it was the way to fully comprehend the greatness of the tragedy because figures were not enough.
Head rabbi of Serbia Isak Asiel noted an incredibly strong permeation of Serbian culture and Jewish heritage in Serbia back then, because Jews “were breathing Serbian language,” recalling some of the great names from that period such as Stanislav Vinaver.
The project is implemented by Association of Jewish Communities of Serbia, with the support from Serbian Ministry of Culture and European Union.
In 1940, there were 33000 Jews living in Serbia; by May 1942, the Nazis and their collaborators have murdered 83 per cent of Jewish population in this region.
