On Sunday, January 22nd, 2023, I had the privilege to attend a presentation organized by the Ghetto Fighters’ House museum. The Ghetto Fighters’ House—Itzhak Katzenelson Holocaust and Jewish Resistance Heritage Museum—known as the House—is not only the first Holocaust museum in the world but also the first of its kind to be founded by Holocaust survivors.
The presentation was titled “Being a Refugee: The Case of Ukraine Then and Now”
Guest Speakers:
Dr Marta Havryshko – Institute Director, Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center. Gender and Genocide: Sexual Assaults during the Holocaust and the Search for Justice in Post-War Soviet Ukraine
Chuck Fishman – Award-Winning Photographer
Survivors Saving Survivors:
Photographing the Ukrainian Refugee Experience in Poland
Jonathan Ornstein – CEO of the JCC Krakow
Tikkun Olam: The Response of JCC Krakow to the Ukrainian Crisis
This special Talking Memory program, marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day, focused on the experiences of Jewish refugees in Soviet Ukraine after the Holocaust and Ukrainian refugees today.
Dr Marta Havryshko explored sexual violence during the Holocaust from the point of view of its immediate victims and witnesses —Jewish women and men who survived the Holocaust and became witnesses in postwar trials in Soviet Ukraine (the 1940s-1980s). She also shares her experiences as a refugee who had to leave Ukraine as a result of the Russian invasion in February 2022.
Jonathan Ornstein shared the incredible story of how JCC Krakow which has been taking in refugees from Ukraine since the Russian invasion is directly helping and supporting over one hundred and fifty thousand Ukrainians over the last eight months.
Chuck Fishman, who is an award-winning photographer, presented a photographic slice of the Ukrainian refugee experience in Poland, as seen, felt, and interpreted by a ripened American photographer.
This program is in partnership with Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Israel.
Today I had the honour and privilege to interview Dr Marta Havryshko. This post includes both presentation and the interview.
sources
History of Sorts 