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Survivors: Faces of Life After the Holocaust, currently on view in its first major museum exhibition in the United States at The Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York, has received a four month extension. Originally set to close on June 18, the deeply affecting exhibition featuring 75 portraits by award-winning photographer Martin Schoeller will now remain on view at the Museum through October 22, 2023.
The exhibition first opened on September 18, 2022 in the Museum's Rita Lowenstein gallery, with its soaring skylight that floods the exhibition with an ethereal, natural light. This unflinching series features Holocaust survivors captured in Schoeller's signature style of extreme close-up portraiture and bright lighting. His subjects gaze directly at the viewer, revealing their humanity- their pain, struggle, hope, and resilience. Each portrait is paired with a biography and personal statement from each survivor. The exhibition additionally features a video documenting the making of the portraits at Yad Vashem, where the project originated in 2019, and features live interviews with many of the sitters.
''We are pleased and not at all surprised that this exhibition has struck a chord with our visitors,'' said Jack Kliger, President and CEO of the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. ''Schoeller's intimate portraits inspire reverence for the resilience of the human spirit, and insist we remember the atrocities survivors, some of whom have since passed away since the start of this project, have endured and the messages they have shared from those experiences. The soaring skylight and natural light in the Rita Lowenstein gallery accentuate the exhibit. We are proud to extend the exhibition's run at our Museum and invite new and returning visitors to experience Martin Schoeller's extraordinary craft firsthand.''
The Museum centers survivors and the first person accounts they share -an increasingly timely proposition as the final enduring generation of survivors is now elderly. Since 2019 when the portraits were made, more than 20 of the sitters have passed; in this exhibition they continue to connect across generations, building empathy and understanding.
''This project is very close to my heart, born out of my experience growing up in Germany, and I was so proud to bring it to New York's Museum of Jewish Heritage," said photographer Martin Schoeller. "It's been my hope that the series would resonate with the survivor community here and inspire New Yorkers of all backgrounds to envision a more tolerant and peaceful future."
Martin Schoeller, born in Munich, Germany in 1968, is one of the most prominent contemporary portrait photographers and is renowned for his close-up portraits. After studying photography at the Lette-Verein in Berlin and Hamburg, he worked as Annie Leibovitz's assistant from 1993 to1996. Schoeller frequently collaborates with prestigious magazines, such as Rolling Stone, National Geographic, TIME, GQ, Esquire, Entertainment Weekly, and The New York Times Magazine. Like Richard Avedon before him, he also served as The New Yorker's editorial photographer. Schoeller's work can be seen around the world and is included in major collections. He is famous for his ‘big head' portrait photos: full-frontal, hyper-realistic close-ups of faces. He photographs all his subjects – whether public figures or anonymous individuals – in the same serial way, using special lighting and in extreme close-up.
Schoeller created his series with Holocaust survivors to combat rising hate and antisemitism across the globe and drew inspiration from the Holocaust education he received in his youth.
The portraits are on display in the Museum's third floor rotunda, which in 2022 was named in memory of Rita Lowenstein, who survived the Holocaust as a child, hidden under a false identity.
''It is fitting that the first exhibition on display in the Rita Lowenstein Gallery is a tribute to the humanity and resilience of Holocaust survivors,'' said Wendy Lowenstein Sandler, Rita's daughter. ''My mother left a legacy of resilience and a commitment to Holocaust education. She believed strongly in having hope for the future and sharing survivors' stories with the next generation, so that we never forget.''
Surrounded by the portraits, visitors can consider the personal experience of individuals who survived the Holocaust, as well as the collective impact of the 75 together. Though united in their survival, their individual stories diverge in the details, and the breadth of their experiences speaks to the sweeping impact of the Holocaust. The portraits' subjects hail from what are now 23 countries across Europe and North Africa. Some escaped through kindertransports, some were hidden, some survived the camps, and some were partisan fighters. All were children or teenagers at the time. All began anew.
''The images captured by Martin Schoeller peer into the eyes and souls of these 75 Holocaust survivors. Several of these powerful portraits hang in my office on the Mount of Remembrance,'' remarks Yad Vashem Chairman Dani Dayan. ''For decades these survivors have guided Holocaust remembrance, research, and education. Now, nearly 78 years later, they not only continue to inspire me and all of humanity to remember, they also encourage us to act and stand up to injustice and hatred wherever it may be found.''
Sara Leicht z''l (1929–2021) told Schoeller, ''The most important thing we can do is to love. To love more and to love everyone. To be kinder, more humble and more generous, and to be better people. To love our fellow human beings, whoever they are."
Eva Lavi (b. 1937) shared her mandate: ''We have much work to do in order to convince the world that the worst thing is baseless hatred. The world should stay away from hatred, from antisemitism and Holocaust denial, and from all forms of evil.''
Also on display is the Museum's permanent exhibition, The Holocaust: What Hate Can Do, which similarly focuses on individual stories, bringing together over 750 artifacts to tell the history of the Holocaust through personal stories, family objects, archival video, and more.
Visitors to the Museum can use the Bloomberg Connects app to enhance their experience of both exhibitions with an audio guide and artifact details.
Survivors: Faces of Life After the Holocaust is made possible by The Knapp Family Foundation; the Goldie & David Blanksteen Foundation; David Wiener 189897, son of Moishe Chaim and Hannah Wiener; Ben and Victoria Feder; and other generous supporters.
Survivors: Faces of Life After the Holocaust is co-organized by Martin Schoeller and Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. Originated by Yad Vashem on the occasion of the 75th Anniversary Liberation of Auschwitz. Special thanks to Kai Diekmann, Chairman of the German Friends of Yad Vashem, and Anke Degenhard who were instrumental in realizing the project at Yad Vashem.