2009Annual Report The Shoah Memorial (Mémorial de la Shoah) 17, rue Geoffroy-l’Asnier 75004 Paris Tel. : 01 42 77 44 72 Fax : 01 53 01 17 44 E-mail : [email protected] Website : www.memorialdelashoah.org Editorial1 The mission of the Shoah Memorial and several thousand new books consists in safeguarding, transmitting either purchased or donated by private and teaching the history of the individuals or institutions. Holocaust. In spite of this year’s budgetary constraints due to the economic situation, In order to provide fi nancial the Memorial continued to strive to fulfi ll support for this work, a money-raising this mission, receiving school groups campaign was organized in 2009 and individual visitors (170,000 visitors), which lead to a 69% increase in private while concentrating on developing teacher donations enabling the Memorial training courses. to do more and better. First and foremost the Memorial However, none of these projects focused on developing teacher could have come to fruition without training in France but in addition, the support of our permanent partners: this year specialized training courses the Foundation for the Memory were organized for new target groups: of the Shoah (FMS) in particular, civil servants from the Ministry the City of Paris, the Île-de-France region, of Defense and the National Police. the Ministry of Education and the renewed In parallel, numerous seminars generosity of private donors. were organized with several European countries: Spain, Romania, Ukraine I would like to express my deepest and Italy which took place either gratitude to all of those partners in Paris or in the various countries. and special thanks to the Memorial team for having done such essential work Travelling exhibitions have contributed in spite of limited means. to the reknown of the Memorial both in the French provinces and abroad. Éric de Rothschild Some fi fty travelling exhibitions President of The Shoah Memorial were presented in the provinces and 15 conferences were organized. About a dozen exhibitions were held this year outside of France. The documentary archives were enhanced with close to 600,000 new documents © A. Borges 2 The Year 2009 in Numbers 3 • 170,000 visitors in 2009 • More than 530,000 archive items (180,000 in 2008) were acquired including 662 from individual donors. 427,000 documents • 1,189 groups were welcomed: from the 13 French Department archives 35,500 persons (in 1,217 groups and more than 100,000 from compared to 36,200 persons in 2008) the Yivo New York and 6% primary school pupils, Iwo Buenos Aires collections 36% junior high school and 37% high school, • 32,256 new photographs were acquired 54% from Île-de -France, including 18,265 which were collected 39% from the provinces during various missions abroad; and 7% from other countries 3,727 came from individual donors, 6,216 were purchases, as well as • 103 training courses 237 original posters and 228 postcards. for 4,550 participants of which 3,250 were put on the website, 2,500 teachers (101 training courses 5,690 images were digitized, for 5,280 participants in 2008) 1,610 photographs catalogued • 20 excursions to Auschwitz (27 in 2008) • 10% additional documents enriched were organized leaving from Paris the library collection or the provinces: 12 fl ights for school children, 4 fl ights for teachers, • The reading room registered 4 fl ights for private persons 4,324 consultations of documents, (4,597 in 2008), received 4,869 readers • 4 new temporary exhibitions including (5,723 in 2008) including 2,115 researchers 2 presented at the Memorial (2,247 researchers in 2008) of which and 2 travelling exhibitions 566 new (564 new researchers in 2008), which lead to 400 pieces of work • 96 events organized in the Auditorium (97 in 2008), 8,127 attendees, • 298,000 hits on the website (9,492 in 2008) (290,439 in 2008) and 1,745,000 pages read (1,800,000 pages in 2008) • 63 different venues (48 in 2008) presented the Memorial’s travelling • 5 Commemoration ceremonies exhibitions including 8 abroad were organized at the Memorial Cultural Program 5 Temporary Exhibitions 4 new exhibitions were created Benjamin Fondane this year, 2 were shown at the Memorial: Poet, essayist, fi lm-maker Benjamin Fondane and Hélène Berr; and philosopher and 2 travelling exhibitions: an abridged Romania – Paris – Auschwitz, version of Kristallnacht, and an exhibition 1898-1944 called Vision lycéenne, which described the high school study trips from October 14, 2009 – January 31, 2010 the Île-de-France region in 2009. The temporary exhibitions presented Benjamin Fondane was a poet, at the Memorial in 2009 attracted philosopher, fi lm-maker and critic. A Jew Benjamin Fondane Poet, essayist, fi lm-maker a total of 15,800 visitors. of Romanian origin, Benjamin Fondane and philosopher. settled in Paris in 1923 at the age of 25. Romania – Paris – Auschwitz, 1898-1944 The exhibition Kristallnacht He was close to the avant-garde October 14, 2009 – (The Night of Broken Glass), which movements but shied away from groups January 31, 2010 opened November 9, 2008 and was or schools developing his own original Institutional Partners: to close in January 2009 was extended work in various fi elds. Fondane was Société d’Études Benjamin Fondane, Romanian Cultural on an exceptional basis until August 31, a disciple of the Russian philosopher Institute in Paris 2009 because if its success but also Leon Chestov and was one of the main Media Partner: because of the contraction of the annual representatives of existential thought Le Magazine Littéraire budget. 17,388 visitors went to the at the end of the 1930s. Portraits Catalog: exhibition throughout the entire period. of him done by Brauner, Man Ray or Benjamin Fondane Poet, essayist, Brancusi, his photos, fi lms, poems and fi lm-maker and philosopher. Benjamin Fondane, the new major correspondence with Tzara, Artaud, Romania – Paris – Auschwitz, 1898-1944 exhibition in 2009, opened on October 14, Sernet, Cioran and Camus, illustrate 128 pages, published by Shoah 2009 until January 31, 2010 and his contacts with the most eminent Memorial, 2009 was viewed by 5,010 people. intellectual and artistic fi gures as well Poster Campaign as his active participation in the major 1 m x 1.50 m posters in the corridors debates of his time. The exhibition of the Paris Metro describes this essential work, his in October 13-19 passionate defense of the individual and December 22-28, 2009. confronted with the powers of reason Mini-website devoted to the exhibition. and history, brutally interrupted by his deportation to Auschwitz in 1944. Guided tours Benjamin Fondane circa 1935, Anonymous photographer © D.R. 6 Hélène Berr Events in the Life confi scated Edmond J. Safra November 10, 2009 – March 31, 2010 Auditorium Hélène Berr was 21 in 1942 when The pace of events scheduled in she began keeping a diary. the auditorium remained intense this year, The Occupation and the anti-Jewish laws equal in number to the previous year were to gradually change her life. Each (96 events). A key change occurred day until February 1944, just three weeks in that part of the program scheduled before her arrest, she wrote in her diary. is no longer free of charge which led Deported to Auschwitz with her parents, to a drop in the number of attendees Hélène died in 1945 in Bergen-Belsen. during the fi rst quarter. However during Sixty years later, her niece, Mariette Job, the two following quarters, there were decided to entrust the diary manuscript on average 84 persons per event, which to the Shoah Memorial. When the diary is 70% of capacity. was published in January 2008 it was an immense success. The exhibition goes As years past, the program included beyond the scope of Hélène Berr’s diary temporary-exhibitions related series and her personality to include the overall of events as well as other scientifi c context of the Occupation and the and editorial subjects, the celebration persecution of the Jews in France. The of major anniversaries and screenings. original manuscript is presented as well Such events were an opportunity as numerous family archives which have to develop partnerships with institutions been entrusted to the Shoah Memorial. such as INA (National Audiovisual Institute), the Toulouse Cinémathèque, UNESCO, the Polish Institute, the Romanian Cultural Institute, Arte, AB Group, etc. Hélène Berr, circa 1942 © Mémorial de la Shoah/CDJC, coll. Job The Director of the Memorial, Jacques Fredj, Mariette Job, Hélène Berr’s niece, and Christophe Girard, Deputy Mayor of Paris in charge of culture at the inauguration of the Hélène Berr exhibition © S. Saragoussi 7 Exhibition-Related Screenings Programs This year the Memorial began a series of theme-based fi lms screenings. Two series of events and projections From March 15-22, as part of a major accompanied temporary exhibitions in retrospective also taking place at 2009. The Kristallnacht (Night of Broken the Museum of Jewish Art and History Glass) related events, scheduled and the Toulouse Cinémathèque, from the opening of the exhibition the Kinojudaica series included in November 2008 until March 2009 a selection of 14 Russian fi lms referring included a total of 22 projections, directly or indirectly, and sometimes conferences and lectures in the presence in anecdotic fashion, to the situation of the best specialists on the subject of Jews in Russia and abroad. This event, and witnesses of that period in history. which was a major success was organized A series of 6 conferences and readings by the Toulouse cinémathèque with by the actor Daniel Mesguich were also Gosfi lmofond in Russia and the Russian scheduled in parallel to the exhibition documentary fi lm archives (RGAKFD).