Exhibition dedicated to Jewish presence in Moldova's history, culture opened in Chisinau

Chisinau, 12 October /MOLDPRES/ - An exhibition titled, Jewish presences in the history, culture and memory of Moldova, was inaugurated at the National History Museum today. The exhibition turns to good account the Jewish historical and cultural heritage in the institution’s collections.   

Contacted by MOLDPRES, the museum’s deputy director, Elena Postica, said that the exhibition had diverse heritage pieces: documents, photos, decorations, art works, books, clothes, memorial objects and other relics meant to reconstitute some aspects of the history of the Jewish community from Moldova and pay homage to the famous personalities who had a special contribution to the development of the culture, science and the Moldovan society, on the whole. The pieces reconstitute aspects of the life and work of personalities from diverse sectors of culture and science: scientists, architects, composers, singers, writers, sculptors, actors, physicians, etc.    

According to Postica, among the Jews who fully got involved in the life of the Moldovan society, created and left immortal works to the future, there were: sculptors Lazăr Dubinovski, Claudia Cobizeva and Lev Averbuh, architects Valentin Voiţehovschi, David Palatnic and Valentin Mednic, composers David Gherşfeld, Solomon Lobel, David Fedov and Zlata Tkaci, painters Moisei Gamburg and Ada Zevina, actress Ninel Kameneva, stage managers Mihail Izrailev, Eugeniu Vengre and Olga Uliţcaia Zevina, singers Maria Dailis (Braido), Lidia Babici, and Ghita Stratilevici, writers and dramatists Ihil Şraibman, Liviu Deleanu and Leonid Corneanu, scientists Pavel Sovetov, Lazăr Polevoi and Isaak Rafalovici, physicians  Moisei Ghehtman and Dimitrii Tumarkin and many others. The exhibition includes a string of documentary evidence from the fund of the History Museum of Jews from Moldova as to the pogroms against Jews in Chisinau of the years 1903 and 1906, some of which were taken over  from the National Archive of Moldova.   

”A distinct section of the exhibition re-brings to public space terrible pictures about Holocaust and encourages the public to be aware of the need to know the truth about the crimes of the fascism. According to estimations of the phenomenon’s researchers, about 6 million Jews, of whom 1.5 million children,  became victims of the Holocaust. About 270,000 Jews died in ghettos and camps from Bessarabia and Transnistria. This section reminds the contemporaries to recover the memory of the Holocaust victims and is a social desideratum, which must be taken into account by any institution in charge of preserving the historical memory,’’ Elena Postica stressed.  

Attending the event, Culture Minister Sergiu Prodan highly appreciated the contribution of Jews to Moldova’s culture. The official spoke out for the setting up of a Memory Institute. For her part, the director of the Jewish Community from Moldova, Iulia Seiman, offered sincere thanks to the institution for the organization of this event.  

The exhibition, Jewish presences in the history, culture and memory of Moldova, fits into the series of events scheduled in the action plan on the implementation of the Moldovan parliament’s declaration on the acceptance of the Report of the International Commission for Studying the Holocaust, presided over by Elie Wiesel. The exhibition will be opened till late next December.