Presented by Partners

livingIMPRINT

www.livingimprint.org

UCD Humanities Institute of IrelandUCD Humanities Institute of IrelandUCD Humanities Institute of IrelandUCD Humanities Institute of Ireland

Event Overview and Program

Surviving History: Portraits from Vilna presents the life stories of ten individuals who survived the

Holocaust in Lithuania where ninety-five percent of the 240,000-strong pre-war Jewish population

was annihilated. Jews who survived did so because they joined the partisans or the army, or escaped

to Russia. Or because kind strangers hid them in basements and attics and on farms, because they

slipped unnoticed through a hole in the ghetto gate or crawled out through a sewer, or somehow

lasted in the camps until liberation. All of those presented lost family members to the Holocaust. In

some cases, they are the lone survivors among extended families of over one hundred people to

have come through alive. Their stories are presented in a series of compelling photographs which

capture them as individuals and illuminate the worlds they inhabit.

An accompanying thirty-minute documentary follows Shivaun Woolfson’s research journey to

Vilnius as she interacts with the narrators, visit the cemeteries and mass graves, the archives and

synagogues and listens to people’s stories and memories.

In addition to the photograph exhibition and film, the event will feature a series of talks by

renowned Lithuanian historian Ruta Puisyte, Holocaust expert and UCD Professor of History,

Dr. Robert Gerwarth, Holocaust survivor, Tomi Reichental and more...

If you’d like to know more about the Surviving History project and the ten individuals, please visit:

www.livingimprint.org/survivinghistory/

Partners

This event has been made possible by:

University College Dublin, UCD Humanities Institute of Ireland

Holocaust Educational Trust of Ireland

Program Details

Location

Theatre M, Newman Building, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4

Photo Exhibition Schedule (27th

– 30th

May)

Wed 27th

May 6pm-9pm Thurs 28th

May 10am-9pm

Fri 29th

May 10am-8pm Sat 30th

May 10am-1pm

Evening Seminar Program (27th

May)

6.30pm Launch of exhibition – Holocaust Educational Trust of Ireland

6.40pm Address by H.E. Ms Izolda Bričkovskienė, Lithuanian Ambassador to Ireland

6.45pm The Holocaust in Lithuania - Ruta Puisyte, Yiddish Vilnius Institute

7.15pm Introduction to documentary – Shivaun Woolfson

7.25pm Surviving History – documentary screening

7.55pm Holocaust in Europe - Dr Robert Gerwarth, UCD School of History and Archives

8.25pm Q & A

8.45pm Viewing of photo exhibition and refreshments

To pre-register for the seminar program, please visit: www.livingimprint.org/UCD-HETI-May-09.html

or call Valerie Norton +353 1 716 4690.

Evening Seminar Program (28th

May)

6.30pm Introduction

6.35pm Confronting the Past – Ruta Puisyte, Yiddish Vilnius Institute

7.05pm What Would You Do? (Talking Point video)

7.15pm Talk by survivor Tomi Reichental

7.45pm Q & A

8.00pm Viewing of photo exhibition

To pre-register for the seminar program, please visit: www.livingimprint.org/UCD-HETI-May-09.html

or call Valerie Norton +353 1 716 4690.

Documentary Screening (27th

– 30th

May)

27th

May 6.45pm

28th

May 11am, 1pm, 3pm, 5pm

29th

May 11am, 1pm, 3pm, 5pm, 7pm

30th

May 11am, 12nn

Event Elements

Photo Exhibition

A selection of evocative and thoughtful photos will serve as an introduction to the narrators – in their

homes, with their biographical objects, and in some instances, in the places they brought us to, such

as former shtetls, the cemetery, or mass graves.

The images will be displayed as mounted prints. These frameless prints will be split batten mounted

onto a portable wall display system. In total, there are 3 panel systems, measuring approximately

2.1m wide x 2.4m high. Forty-five photos have been carefully selected to present a comprehensive

and thought-provoking glimpse of the narrators’ worlds. Captions and brief bios serve to introduce

the audience to the narrators.

Above: Some examples of the photos that will be exhibited

Documentary screening

This short artistic documentary traces the journey of the researcher, Shivaun Woolfson, in her quest

to collect and collate the living imprints of the Jewish presence in Lithuania.

It begins with a poignant reflection on her findings at Ponar, the largest mass killing site in Lithuania.

The audience is then transported into the living rooms of seven narrators, introduced to their

stories, their memories and their current worlds. They are then led on a journey to the cemeteries,

to the last remaining synagogue on Pylimo Street, and to the memorial sites commemorating those

who perished in the Lithuanian Shoah. This documentary explores the complex and layered history

of the Jewish experience in Lithuania including issues of local complicity and collaboration. This

documentary will be distributed by Journeyman Pictures and screened at Festival de Cannes Short

Film Corner from 13-22 May 2009. For more details, please visit the film website at:

http://www.survivinghistory.woolfcub.com

This short video presents contrasting perspectives of the Holocaust in Lithuania and raises

contemporary issues of dealing with the past and racism.

Screenings of the documentary will also be supplemented by a 10-minute ‘What Would You Do?’

video. This short video is meant to stimulate discussion on the complexities of recognising and

addressing racism. It will feature contemporary Lithuanian perspectives from multiple sources,

including government officials, academics and a journalist. Issues such as collaboration, as well as

heroics on the part of Lithuanian rescuers who risked their own lives and those of their families, will

be explored.

Speakers’ Profile

Shivaun Woolfson – Founder, Living Imprint

Shivaun is a writer and lecturer with a special interest in life history

writing, research and practice. In 2002, she published an

autobiography, Home Fires. She has taught extensively in the US and

the UK; most recently at Goldsmiths College, University of London,

where she served as Senior Tutor in Community Studies, and visiting lecturer in life writing. She has

facilitated workshops, seminars, public readings, performances and writing residencies in hospices,

prisons and community centers. She has also developed numerous interdisciplinary arts projects,

based primarily on the life experiences of participants. Living Imprint draws together her interests in

life history, creative arts, social action and the transformational power of testimony. Surviving

History grew out of a PhD research project to discover the remnants of the Jewish presence in

Lithuania. Shivaun was so moved by the testimonies of the narrators that she was compelled to

bring their life stories to a wider public. This exhibition and the attendant learning activities are the

result.

Ruta Puisyte – Assistant Director, Yiddish Vilnius Institute

Ruta is currently engaged as the Assistant Director of the Vilnius Yiddish

Institute, Vilnius University. She has extensive experience and

knowledge of the Holocaust in Lithuania. She has participated in

numerous documentary film productions, academic research and

educational projects involving both Holocaust survivors and

perpetrators. She has also participated in archival work with various organizations, among them the

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem. In

collaboration with multiple NGOs, Ruta has curated a host of educational programs, among them

Anne Frank - History for Today, Jewish Life in Lithuania, Facing History and Ourselves, and Lessons on

Anti-Semitism. Ruta is a well-sought after academic and lecturer. In January of this year, Ruta gave a

lecture on "Lithuania's Views Towards Its Holocaust Past " at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs

and a talk on the "Holocaust in Lithuania" at the Cape Town Holocaust Centre.

Dr Robert Gerwarth - School of History and Archives, UCD

Robert is the founding director of the Centre for War Studies. He is the author

of The Bismarck Myth (2005), and editor of Twisted Paths: Europe 1914-1945

(2007), Terrorism in Twentieth-Century Europe (2007, with H.-G. Haupt),

Wilhelmine Germany and Edwardian Britain (2008, with D. Geppert) and

Constitutions: Civility and Violent Collapse in Europe (2008, with J. Harris and

H. Nehring). His research focuses on the history of German and Central

European political culture in the period between 1871 and 1945, with particular interest in the

history of memory and more generally, the history of violence in Germany and Europe. He is

currently co-directing an IRCHSS project (with John Horne, Trinity College Dublin) on the global

history of paramilitary violence after the Great War (2007-10) and is working on a collaborative book

provisionally entitled ‘Political Violence in Twentieth-Century Europe’ for which he has received

grants from the Guggenheim Foundation (New York), the British Academy and the British Council.

Tomi Reichental - Survivor

Tomi was born in Piestany , Slovakia in 1935. He was captured and sent to

Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1944 when he was nine years old.

Tomi survived along with his mother, aunt and brother. Thirty five members

of his family perished. He has lived in Ireland since 1960. Recently, Tomi

was the subject of the documentary ‘Till the Tenth Generation’ by Oliver

Donohoe and Gerry Gregg, where he broke his 60-year silence and

recounted his experiences in the Nazi death camp of Bergen Belsen.