In 1953, the Israeli parliament established Yad Vashem, a memorial museum for the victims of the Holocaust, within the framework of which ten years later the Commission to Proclaim the Righteous Among the Nations was established. Recognitions in the form of medals and documents testify to the courage of persons, exclusively non-Jews, who risked their lives and the lives of their loved ones during the Second World War to save people of Jewish descent, whom they often did not even know.
On the occasion of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we are opening the traveling exhibition of the Jewish community from Zemun Traveling exhibition about good people. The exhibition, co-created by Nenad and Milan Fogel, is dedicated to the righteous from the area of the former Yugoslavia, people of different nationalities and religions – non-Jews who helped Jews during the Nazi occupation and saved them from certain death. Later, for their brave actions, they were awarded the Israeli state recognition of Righteous Among the Nations.
The exhibition introduces the fate of Jews in the former Yugoslavia in a concise manner, from the emergence and rise of fascism and Nazism to the end of the Second World War. As part of the introductory historical insight, chapters on the awakening of anti-Semitism in Yugoslavia, the occupation of Yugoslavia, the first measures against Jews and deportations to concentration camps, and the escape of collaborationists are thus covered. The central part presents the stories of some righteous people from the area of the former commonwealth, their good deeds and the fates of the saved Jews with their help.
The keynote speaker at the opening will be State Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office Tadej Slapnik, responsible for establishing a dialogue with civil society and coordinating civic initiatives and social entrepreneurship. He will address the audience on behalf of the honorary patron of the Shoah – Let Us Remember 2015 project dr. Miro Cerar, Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia. The exhibition will be presented by its co-author and president of the Jewish community of Zemun, Nenad Fogel. The cultural program will feature the students of Draga Kobala Elementary School Maribor under the mentorship of Marjetka Berlič and students of the First Gymnasium Maribor under the mentorship of Polona Meka Ožinger.
The exhibition will be on display in the Synagogue Maribor until 31 March 2015, from Monday to Friday between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.
The exhibition is organized as part of the Shoah – Let Us Remember 2015 project, which was supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia, the Municipality of Maribor and the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance – IHRA. The honorary sponsor of the project is dr. Miro Cerar, Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia.
