New Cutting-Edge Exhibition at Museum

Can you forgive? Do you want revenge? Was there justice?

Is it difficult to share your experiences with others?

These are just some of the questions posed to Holocaust survivors in the Sydney Jewish Museum’s major feature exhibition, Reverberations: A future for memory.

In a cutting-edge testimo ny gal lery, visitors have the opportunity to witness dozens of Sydney-based survivors answering major questions about their life experiences and hopes for the future. Each survivor appears life-sized on screen, and as they speak, images from their life stories pepper their words. There’s also a space to interact directly with the “digitised versions” of three survivors: Olga Horak OAM, Yvonne Engelman OAM, and the late Eddie Jaku OAM, who also appear on life-sized screens and use artificial intelligence (AI) to directly answer any questions you ask.

Watching the testimony and interacting with the AI technology, visitors are struck by the diversity of perspectives held by the Holocaust survivors. It’s clear that some survivors feel an imperative to forgive, while others feel it is important that perpetrators receive justice. For some, the stories just pour out, and for others, it can be a little more difficult to find the right words to say. While each survivor has a unique perspective, there is a shared sense among them that the painful work they are doing – reliving their trauma – is helping to make the world a better place.

Holocaust survivor Jack M eister has been volunteering at the Museum for nearly 30 years. Jack admits that he has struggled for many of those years to talk about his experiences in Buchenwald, Buna and Auschwitz concentration camps. It was only recently that he began sharing his story with our visitors.

“I’ve been coming to the Museum for nearly 30 years, standing in the same place and spot. It’s my second home. Having the chance to tell people my story and what I went through all my life has helped me a lot. It feels incredible to have my story in this exhibition. I can't tell you how much it means to us survivors”.

Senior Curator, Shannon Biederman, points out that while Reverberations highlights the courage, endurance and resilience of Holocaust survivors, it also showcases the profound impact that this incredible group of people have made on the world, and on the study of history.

“Numbers, dates and facts provide important historical information, but they can’t express what it felt like for those who lived through it. Story by story and memory by memory, survivor testimony has helped to paint a fuller picture of how the events of the Holocaust have impacted survivors, their families and wider society – and the force with which these impacts continue to reverberate to this day.”

Reverberations: A future for memory will be exhibited at the Sydney Jewish Museum until late Oct 2023.

THE SYDNEY JEWISH MUSEUM 148 DARLINGHURST RD, DARLINGHURST www.sydneyjewishmuseum.com.au

Open every day except Saturday.

To purchase tickets visit: sydneyjewishmuseum.com.au/tickets