The Generations: Portraits of Holocaust Survivors exhibition at Imperial War Museum North will open tomorrow (January 27) to mark Holocaust Memorial Day. The exhibition will display a collection of moving portrait photographs capturing the special connections between Holocaust survivors and the younger generations of their families, shining a light on the full lives they have lived and our collective responsibility to ensure their stories live on.
The big news, however, is that there will be four new portraits in the collection that have never been seen before, highlighting north-west based Holocaust survivors on the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
Generations includes portraits taken by Jillian Edelstein which capture survivors alongside childhood mementoes – passports and teddy bears – or sat in the homes where they have created new lives and memories. Joining these are The Princess of Wales’s intimate portraits of survivors Steven Frank BEM and Yvonne Bernstein, commissioned specially for the Holocaust memorial exhibition.
Simon Hill, the Royal Photographic Society’s President says: “It has been an immense privilege to meet each of these camp survivors and refugees and to explore with them their unique stories. All portrait photographs invite a three-way dialogue – between the subject, the photographer and the viewer.
“I hope that my portraits of these amazing people, pictured with members of their family, will help to encourage a dialogue, with a wider audience, that will ensure their personal stories are never forgotten and subsequent generations can celebrate their incredible perseverance in the face of unimaginable horror and suffering.”
Further, James Bulgin, the Content Leader of IWM’s Holocaust Galleries, says: “These remarkable images of survivors and the generations that have followed them are a powerful and important reminder that despite the catastrophic destruction of the Holocaust, Hitler’s intention to destroy all Jewish life and culture across Europe was ultimately unsuccessful. In showing the dynamism and diversity of those that endured and flourished, we are given cause to reflect on the profound significance of what has continued and the tragic extent of what was lost.”
Generations provides the opportunity for locals to reflect, whether they have a personal connection to the Holocaust or not, and encourages education through personal experience, enhancing what we already know about Nazi genocide and persecution. This harrowing exhibition will run from tomorrow (January 27), marking Holocaust Memorial Day, until the summer.
Entry is free. | IWM North, Trafford Wharf Rd, Trafford Park, Stretford, Manchester, M17 1TZ.