Exhibition dedicated to Holocaust victims inaugurated in Moldovan capital

Chisinau, 31 January /MOLDPRES/ - An exhibition of photos titled, Above the Duty. Diplomats Recognized as Righteous Among the Nations, was inaugurated at the National Ethnography and Natural History Museum today.  

The event is part of the Memory Week, dedicated to the commemoration of the Holocaust’s victims, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp. Attending the action were representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited in Chisinau and of the Jewish Community of Moldova, culture and art people.   

Contacted by MOLDPRES, the deputy director of the aforementioned museum, exhibition’s coordinator Elena Cojocari said that the exhibition comprised 20 pictures and commemorated diplomats and officials in the foreign affairs sector from various countries, who during the World War II proved kindness and courage, putting at risk their lives for the rescue of people subjected to repressions on behalf of the Nazi regime.

”These drawings show cases in which members of diplomatic corps from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Switzerland, Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Poland, Spain, USA, Sweden and Hungary hesitated to fulfill commands by the Reich or sought various ways of issuing documents, passports, permits for people persecuted by the Nazi regime. The exhibition is meant, first of all, for pupils, students, teachers and all people from the civil society, who want to know pages from the history of the 20th century and be aware of the important role of the peaceful inter-ethnic cooperation,” Elena Cojocari stressed.  

In the context, visitors had possibility to watch the film, Holocaust, which clears up the causes and consequences of this phenomenon. The film was made by young representatives of the KEDEM Jewish Cultural Centre within the Fenix programme. The film’s director is Anatol Ignatenco and the project managers are S. Harmelin and M. Fincheli. The movie is subtitled in English and Russian. The event was preceded by a classical music concert, given by pupils from the Chisinau-based republican boarding music lyceums C. Porumbescu and S. Rachmaninoff.      

The exhibition is organized by the National Ethnography and Natural History Museum, jointly with the KEDEM Jewish Cultural Centre and will be open till 16 February.