Since it opened 30 years ago, hundreds of thousands of people from different walks of life have come to the Sydney Jewish Museum to bear witness to the testimony of Holocaust survivors, and the many stories of courage, endurance and resilience they reveal.
The immersive new high-tech exhibition, Reverberations: A future for memory, shines a light on the humanity and life experiences of 43 Holocaust survivors who have shared their stories at the museum in recent years.
This is not an exhibition focussed on the events of the Holocaust – it’s about the people who experienced it – and the painful decision they make each time they choose to relive stories of unimaginable loss for the betterment of humanity.
An interactive tech-enabled experience
The exhibition takes you on a journey through a high-definition gallery of recorded footage, where you’ll encounter Holocaust survivors’ thought-provoking answers to questions like:
- Why do survivors choose to share their experiences?
- Is it difficult to talk about what happened to them?
- Can they forgive? Was there justice?
- What is their responsibility to those who were murdered?
You’ll immerse yourself in conversation with the interactive biographies of three Holocaust survivors: including the late Eddie Jaku OAM, which uses cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology to respond directly to any question they ask.
This will give you a glimpse into how future generations will be able to engage with Holocaust survivor testimony, for when the time comes that there are sadly no more survivors alive to tell their own stories.
The stories told in this exhibition, direct from Holocaust survivors, are deeply moving and will stay with you. You’ll leave contemplating the powerful role of those who survived and their role in keeping alive the memory of the six million Jewish people who were murdered in the Holocaust.
The Sydney Jewish Museum’s Senior Curator, Shannon Biederman said Reverberations, and the stories it reveals will have a powerful impact on how the dark chapter in history is remembered and understood.
“Our community of Holocaust survivors live with the constant and everlasting trauma of what they went through. Telling their stories to visitors, especially children, is often very painful but they choose to endure this pain in the hope that listeners will learn lessons and stand up for peace, kindness and humanity.”
Find out more about the exhibition here.