The
Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center has announced the Midwest
premiere of Through
Soviet Jewish Eyes: Photography, War, and the Holocaust, a photographic
exhibition that reveals a rarely seen perspective of World War II through the
lens of the most important Soviet Jewish photojournalists. In order to reach Chicagoland’s
significant Russian-speaking community, the Illinois Holocaust Museum will be
the first museum in the world to present the entire exhibition with Russian
translation.
Based on the award-winning book “Through Soviet Jewish Eyes,” written
by curator David Shneer, the exhibition presents more than 60 photographs
that span the Nazi-Soviet war, from June 22, 1941 until Victory Day on May 9,
1945. The photographs range from large-scale, dramatic prints in which the fine
line between art and photojournalism is blurred, to intimate-scaled vintage
prints that compel a close reading of the images.
“Through Soviet Jewish Eyes shows us that by
looking through the camera lenses of liberator-photographers in the Soviet
Union, we see another chilling image of the Holocaust—one made up of prosaic,
intimate landscapes and emptiness that genocide leaves behind,” said Shneer.
The
Russian-American community is an integral part of the World War II story:
- 62%
of World War II survivors in the Chicago-area were born in the former Soviet
Union
- The
Russian-American population in the United States is estimated at nearly 2.9
million people
- 464,000
plus Russian-Americans live in Illinois
- 40,000
Russian speaking Jews reside in the Chicagoland area
“This
exhibition which presents the Soviet Jewish experience of the Holocaust is a
unique opportunity not only for our large Russian speaking Jewish population to
explore their dual identity, but for people of all backgrounds to recognize the
efforts and extend gratitude to those who fought so valiantly,” said Michael
Polsky, presenting sponsor of the exhibition and Invenergy CEO.
World War
II was one of the most documented global conflicts, yet western audiences know
little about the Soviet Jewish photojournalists who captured some of the most
riveting images of the war in the former Soviet Union. These wartime
photographers were the first to witness Nazi atrocities from the liberator’s
perspective, three years before Americans arrived at concentration camps like
Buchenwald and Dachau.
“We feel honored to be the first museum in
the Midwest to present the works of photographers
including Evgenii Khaldei, Georgii Zelma, and Dmitrii Baltermants,” said
Arielle Weininger, Museum Chief Curator of Collections and Exhibitions. “These
brave liberators, charged by the Stalinist state to tell the visual story of
the unprecedented horror we now call the Holocaust, merged documentary photography with avant-garde
sensibilities to create works that had a profound influence on 20th century art
and beyond.”
The exhibition opening event and book signing
will take place at the Illinois Holocaust Museum at 2 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 22, and
will feature curator and author David Shneer, Director of the Program in Jewish
Studies at theUniversity of
Colorado, Boulder, with special remarks by Michael Polsky, President and CEO of
Invenergy and presenting sponsor of the exhibition. The event is free with
Museum admission, and reservations are required at tsje.eventbrite.com.
In honor of Holocaust survivors and World War II veterans, the Museum is
pleased to offer them free admission to visit the exhibition. To view other
exhibition related programming, visit http://www.ilholocaustmuseum.org/pages/exhibitions/special-exhibitions.
