Holocaust Remembrance Events - Winnipeg
The Face of the Ghetto exhibit (January 27 to February 13, 2015) addresses the importance of creating open dialogue between communities about painful periods of history and the education of the general public about historical events. Our goal was to build bridges between the Jewish and Polish communities of Winnipeg.
The Freeman Family Foundation Holocaust Education Centre of the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada is proud to partner with the Ogniwo Polish Museum Society in this year’s commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27th with a trio of special events. The date, chosen by the United Nations coincides with the liberation of Auschwitz on January 27, 1945, 70 years ago this year. We are grateful to our sponsors - the Government of Manitoba, the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Toronto, the Ridd Institute for Religion and Global Policy, University of Winnipeg and the University of Manitoba Faculty of Arts for helping to turn what was an idea into reality.
The first event will be the North American premiere of the documentary film Wielka Szpera (The Great Szpera) on Sunday, January 25th, 2015 at 7:00 p.m. at the Berney Theatre. The second event will be a three week exhibit of The Face of the Ghetto - pictures taken in the Litzmannstadt Ghetto 1940-1944, which will be shown at the Ogniwo Polish Museum from January 27th until February 13th. Docents from both the Jewish and Polish communities will volunteer at the exhibit. The third and final event, will be a community lecture with Dr. Thomas Lutz, the curator of The Face of the Ghetto and senior consultant with the Topography of Terror museum in Berlin, on Wednesday February 11th 7 pm at the Berney Theatre. Dr. Lutz will be speaking about the making of the exhibit and its narrative as well as the history of the Lodz Ghetto. While Dr. Lutz is here, he will also be speaking at both the University of Manitoba and the University of Winnipeg as well. This project represents a historic step forward for our two communities. To quote one of my Polish colleagues on this project: “It’s an opportunity for dialogue, for discovery, and for greater understanding of each other than can lead to future cooperation.”
