27 (12/2019) EMORIA MEMORY • HISTORY • EDUCATION

CAPITAL OF TRUST, COOPERATION AND FRIENDSHIP. 10 YEARS OF THE AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU FOUNDATION.

THE ROLE OF CIVIL DO NOT FORGET YOUR ARTIFACTS FROM JEWISH THE POWER OF ART: SOCIETY IN DISCLOSING NAME. EXHIBITION IN HERITAGE MUSEUM AT FORBIDDEN ART & THE THE AUSCHWITZ NUREMBERG „AUSCHWITZ” NATIONAL LIBERTY PROTOCOLS EXHIBITION IN MUSEUM CITY IN PHILADELPHIA

Noa Gutow-Ellis, Andrea Schnelzauer and Treva Walsh ARTIFACTS FROM JEWISH HERITAGE MUSEUM AT "AUSCHWITZ" EXHIBITION IN NEW YORK CITY

Following its world premiere in Madrid, the groundbreaking exhibition Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away. opened in New York City in May 2019 to critical acclaim: praised by as “illuminat[ing] the topography of evil,” while “also highlighting the strenuous struggle for survival.” Produced by the international exhibition firm Musealia and the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Poland, the show features 700 objects and 400 photographs from over 20 lenders, and from the collection of the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to .

As of mid-November, over 125,000 people before the gathering of Holocaust testimony have visited Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far became popular in later decades. She saved away. and the Museum has extended the objects and stories from older survivors before exhibition through August 30, 2020. This level it was too late – before others even began of visitation offers a newfound visibility for conceiving of similar projects. objects on display, particularly for artifacts in the Museum of Jewish Heritage collection One of these objects is a pair of pajamas – an whose provenance dates back to Dr. Yaffa ordinary piece of clothing with an extraordinary Eliach’s pioneering work at the Center for story. Holocaust Studies. Anna Warzecha Tenenbaum, a dressmaker from The Center for Holocaust Studies, established Tomaszów Marzowiecki, was ghettoized with by Dr. Eliach in , New York in 1974 as her husband Joseph, a tailor, and their two the first organization in the United States daughters, Dorka and Freida. After dedicated to the study of the Holocaust, ghettoization, Anna and her family were merged with the Museum of Jewish Heritage in deported to Blizyn concentration camp. In 1990. The Museum is privileged to hold the Blizyn, Dorka was taken from Anna’s arms rich collections of artifacts and testimony during an Aktion and killed, and the family was steeped in deep community outreach by Dr. separated when Joseph was transferred to Eliach, a noted scholar, and her team. Dr. Eliach Płaszów concentration camp. Later on, Anna and was one of the first researchers to collect her remaining daughter Freida were deported testimony in the United States. to Auschwitz where they managed to survive until liberation by the Red Army in January Beginning her work in the 1970s, she recorded 1945. the stories of many survivors who passed away Photo. Musseum of Jewish Heritage Photo. Musseum of Jewish Heritage After liberation, Anna found in the organization the belief in striving to warehouse of the “Kanada” section “restore human dignity to the of Birkenau, where the robbed victims” of the Holocaust. It is this belongings of the deported and belief that guides the Museum of murdered were collected Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial before being sent to the Reich, a to the Holocaust in collecting and fine pair of white, gray, and maroon exhibiting artifacts like Anna and striped men’s pajama bottoms. Joseph Tenenbaum’s pajama Perhaps she felt attracted to the bottoms. high quality garment due to her former profession and knowledge The Museum of Jewish Heritage’s of fabrics. She later told curators collecting practice focuses on that she took them in the hope that twentieth century Jewish history if she had a gift for her husband – a anchored in the Holocaust, segulah (an amulet) – she would concentrating on the time periods find him and reunite her family. before, during, and immediately With her surviving daughter Freida, after the war. Within this scope, the Anna returned to Tomaszów collection specializes in family and Marzowiecki, to the town where she social histories. The acquisitions and Joseph had married and lived staff work to obtain as many before the German occupation. artifacts from a family as possible, so that through a variety of media – Anna spent two years unaware of objects, documents, photographs – Joseph’s fate during the war, and the collection communicates the finally reunited with him in July fullness of each person’s life, and 1945. Joseph, who had been the various items inform each other imprisoned in various camps and and illuminate the family’s story. was liberated by American soldiers in a sub-camp of Mauthausen, made To listen to these kinds of objects his way on foot over 500 miles back and to understand stories of the to Tomaszów as well. Anna and people who once held them sits at Joseph later immigrated with Freida the core of memorial work. Much to New York City, where they both has been said about Auschwitz, and worked in the garment business there is much more yet to say – and and eventually settled in Forest to be heard. Hills, New York. Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far Anna and Joseph Tenenbaum’s away. is a far-reaching, wide- pajama bottoms are one of the ranging exhibition that attracted nearly 100 artifacts from the over 600,000 visitors in Madrid Museum of Jewish Heritage where the exhibition had its world collection on display in Auschwitz. premiere, and currently is receiving Not long ago. Not far away. This a record-breaking number of artifact allows Museum visitors to visitors at the Museum of Jewish encounter Auschwitz through the Heritage – A Living Memorial to the personal history it represents. Holocaust in New York City. The artifacts added to the New York City It is these personal histories that presentation emphasize stories of Dr. Yaffa Eliach sought to illuminate family, of humanity, of the lives of and that the Museum of Jewish individuals tragically cut short or Heritage – A Living Memorial to the changed forever at Auschwitz. Holocaust now preserves and displays. Dr. Eliach instilled in her More: auschwitz.nyc

MEMORIA MEMORY • HISTORY • EDUCATION

memoria.auschwitz.org

PUBLISHER

Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Paweł Sawicki

ASSISTANT EDITOR

Agnieszka Juskowiak-Sawicka

EDITED BY

Bartosz Bartyzel Imogen Dalziel Marek Lach Łukasz Lipiński

CONTACT

[email protected]

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