2011-2012 Season: The Cultures that Disappeared

Genocide destroys more than human life; it demolishes the culture of the targeted group. People and the artifacts they created disappear in order to cleanse a country, a region or a continent. The Holocaust not only systematically annihilated 6 million Jews; it also obliterated the rich cultural heritage of European Jewry, especially the unique Yiddish culture of Eastern Europe. In 2011-2012, the VHM will remember and commemorate the vibrant culture of Europe’s Jews.

A Film Unfinished

April 1 at 2:00 pm

A Film Unfinished is a stark, compelling documentary that emerges as a film within a film. Director Yael Hersonski offers a penetrating look at the now-infamous Nazi-produced film about the Warsaw Ghetto. Discovered after the war, the unfinished work, with no soundtrack, had been filmed to create a propaganda film about the Jews living in the Warsaw Ghetto. Consisting of both documentary and fictionalized sequences (e.g. dozens of Jewish patrons at an elegant restaurant; a luxurious funeral cortege), the propaganda was intended to provide the German people with a powerful indictment of Jews. Heronski’s documentary includes a revealing interview with Willy Wist, the only cinematographer identified with the production (himself caught onscreen in his SS uniform), as well as scenes in which now-elderly former residents of the Warsaw Ghetto review footage, occasionally recognize their former neighbors, or report upon the filmmakers' efforts to stage fantasies of affluence and well-being, or of Jews treating less fortunate compatriots with callous disdain. A film of enormous import, this remarkable documentary will be screened at the Virginia Holocaust Museum on 1 April 2012 at 2:00 PM. The screening is free and open to the public.

Lessons from Rwanda

April 22 – August 31

In 1994, the United States watched as Hutu extremists organized into groups of armed militia and butchered their Tutsi neighbors.  This April, as part of Genocide Prevention Month, the Virginia Holocaust Museum will be hosting a temporary exhibit entitled Lessons from Rwanda.  Designed by Aegis Trust, in partnership with the United Nations Department of Public Information, the exhibit is designed to draw attention to the complex issues surrounding the crime of genocide.    

Das Gesicht Des Gettos (The Face of the Ghetto)

July 1 - August 31

The Virginia Holocaust Museum will host a remarkable photograph exhibit in July and August 2012. Entitled The Face of the Ghetto, the exhibition will feature remarkable photographs taken by Jewish photographers in the Lodz Ghetto from 1940-1944. SS officers frequently photographed the miserable realities in the many ghettos established in Easter Europe. The origins photographs that comprise this exhibit are somewhat unclear. Whatever the case, each photograph represents a moment frozen in time that forms a small part of the grand mosaic depicting the destruction of European Jewry. Powerful, poignant, moving, this exhibit will provide another dimension of the ordinary men, women and children who eventually perished during the Shoah. This exhibit will open on 1 July and remain up until the end of August 2012. The exhibit is free to the public. 

The Ongoing Armenian Genocide:
Death, Denial & Desecration

November 6 - July 30

The Ongoing Armenian Genocide: Death, Denial & Desecration is a traveling exhibit developed and prepared by the Armenian Library and Museum of America (ALMA). Based on materials and books in ALMA's collection, the exhibit depicts the methodically planned annihilation of Armenians in Turkey during World War I.  As we begin to raise funds for a permanent modern genocide space on the second floor, The Ongoing Armenian Genocide exhibit will help us draw attention to mass atrocities outside the Holocaust. 

The exhibit is funded by a grant from Haig and Adele Der Manuelian, Vigen Der Manuelian and Lucy Der Manuelian in loving memory of their parents Manuel and Armenouhy Der Manuelian.

For more information on any of our events, please contact Matthew Simpson at 804.257.5400 ext. 246.