Some articles on Surviving History in Cape Town

The Lithuanian Jewish Spirit Lives On - by Claudia B Braude, SA Jewish Report, 7-14 May 2010

Vilna Exhibition Looks 'Beyond Historical Narrative' - Moira Schneider, SA Jewish Report, 23 Apr 2010

Cape Town Holocaust Centre Photos

An amazing array of photos captured by Amanda Cooper from the Cape Town Holocaust Centre of the teachers workshop and opening launch of the exhibition. Enjoy!

A Briefing at CTHC and Shivaun Is Interviewed, 13 April 2010

Shivaun interviewed by writer Claudia Braude

Yikes, we turned up 15 minutes late for a briefing at the Cape Town Holocaust Centre (CTHC) 'cos we got our schedules mixed up. We were supposed to be there for 2pm but thought it was 2.30pm. Sorry to the many volunteers and CTHC staff who took the time to be there. And also a big thank you, especially to the volunteers, who will be giving their time to guide visitors through the exhibition for the duration of the exhibition (until 29 April). In a way, I feel as if we have passed the baton on to these volunteers and staff members; it is now their turn to share and spread these stories.


Above: An overview of the exhibition space and the various elements

It was a fantastic in-depth session and we were asked great questions - did the artists get to meet the survivors? How many times were they interviewed? and so on. We told them about the artists - Dwora Fried, Katie Dell Kaufman, Lynsey Cleaver, Mike Moran, Birgit Muller - their background, how they approached the stories, their interpretations, and our vision. We also told them about what it was like working with Ruta Puisyte, Fania Brantsovsky, and Dovid Katz at the Vilnius Yiddish Institute, Chasia Spaneflig at the Community Centre, the narrators - Dora Pilianskiene, Berl Glazer, Gita Geseleva, Isroel (Izidor) Galperin, Cholem Sapsai, Rachel Kostanian, Margarita Civuncik, Josef Levinson...

After the briefing, we went for a drink at Mount Nelson as Shivaun was interviewed by Claudia Braude. It was another lovely Capetonian day.

Live music at Mount Nelson

Opening Launch, Cape Town, 12 April 2010

What a night it was! We received a lot of positive feedback and Shivaun was swamped after the official program was over by people wanting to express what the exhibition had given them or their impressions of it. As a picture speaks a thousand words, I will leave the talking to the video below.

Some highlights:

• Selected clip of speech by Richard Freedman, the director of Cape Town Holocaust Centre, which encapsulates succinctly what the Surviving History: Portraits from Vilna exhibition is about.
• Selected clip from Shivaun Woolfson's speech - her touching tribute to the memory of her late father, one of the personal motivations behind this project and exhibition.
• A touching moment - a visitor at the Shoah Memorial installation painstakingly searches for the names of particular massacre sites/shtetls on the side of the bottles and finding the ones she is looking for, again painstakingly searches for their location on the map before placing it there
• A rousing performance of "Vilna" by several members of the Herzlia youth vocal ensemble (I heard Polina Shepherd sing this, once at Spiro Ark in London and when we opened this exhibition at Vilnius last year. Every now and then it still chokes me up, eventhough I don't know why.)
• And selected scenes of the 150 or so who turned up to experience the art installations and/or pay homage to their Litvak roots.

Yom Hashoah V'Hagevurah (Holocaust and Heroism Day) 11 April 2010

It's been a bit of a roller coaster ride over the last few days so I thought I had better hunker down and get up to speed with the blog entries. There was a window of opportunity this morning as we are due to drop into the Cape Town Holocaust Centre only this afternoon for a briefing with the volunteers who will show visitors around the Surviving History: Portraits from Vilna exhibition until the 29 April, before it moves to Johannesburg and finally to Durban.

But I thought I would jot down a few notes about the events over the weekend. Shivaun attended the Yom Hashoah memorial service at Pinelands Jewish Cemetery on Sunday, 11 April. I did not attend so unfortunately we don't have any images to post. But she came back overawed and enthused and said it was truly amazing, that there was pomp, ceremony and a sombre ritual laying of wreaths, people in military attire, and heartrending testimonies. So she said Maggie and I had to come and join her that evening for an informal dinner at the Sephardic Jewish Shul. One main objective of that dinner was to remember the Rhodes survivors who had made it to South Africa and to honour them.

What was amazing to me once again, and for anyone who has followed this blog since the early days in 2008 when we embarked on this project will know, is the Jewish propensity for commemoration, intergenerational transmission of memory, and the reverence paid to such memories. As you will see in the images below, there is a display wall sponsored by a member of the congregation that remembers these survivors and provides a bit of a history lesson to its congregation. How wonderful to have such public commemoration, so that "we shall never forget" the lessons of the Holocaust.



The cantor and rabbi performs for the diners


Survivors Ella Blumenthal and friend celebrate

Day 2 of Set Up at Cape Town Holocaust Centre

Slept like a baby and woke up late - at 9am! Eeek! Quick brekky and out the door. Not great weather today though. It was drizzly and wet, as you can see. Our friend Maggie arrived from the States last night, so she came to help as well. Thanks Maggie!

The centre is home to the Jewish Museum and also the first synagogue in Cape Town, as well as the Albow Centre, where our exhibition will be held.

The posters for the exhibition were up outside the door at the Albow Centre.

As the opening launch on Monday will happen in the hall where the exhibition will be, chairs for 120 people were set up too.

 Here's Shivaun arranging chairs for the opening launch...

Here's Maggie having a chat with the director of the centre, Richard.

This pix - Maggie, Zo, Richard and Shivaun

 Moi taking Maggie's place in this shot

With Vernon the electrician.

Maggie was set loose with the Flip Video and she went around interviewing people :) The team at the centre was great to us, supplying tea and coffee and biscuits for break time, helping us load and move stuff about, what can I say, just great! Many many thanks for your assistance and hospitality.

Below is a short clip of the day's happenings...

'Surviving History: Portraits from Vilna' South Africa - Day 1

Arrived at 8.30am this morning into Cape Town.It's now 11.22pm. Quite discombobulated still. Between the both of us, Shivaun and I, we hardly managed forty winks on the 11-and-half hour flight. About 1, Richard Freedman from the Cape Town Holocaust Centre swung by to give us a lift to the centre. Really awesome campus; too bad I didn't carry the camera today, so will take some photos only tomorrow. We spent about 3 hours doing set up today.



Was too knackered by the end of the day to do anything but soak in the bath as soon as we got back to the hotel. Then we went downstairs for some grub. Noticed springbok showed up a few times on the restaurant menu. Hope to try it before I leave. Shiv asked me what a springbok was, I didn't know how to describe it except say it was kinda like a deer and does these leaps as it runs and as I was simulating these movements with my hands, she said, 'isn't that a kangaroo?' Glad the waiter cleared it up and told her it was an antelope. Ah... antelope. Anyways, am too tired to write much. We will go back to the centre tomorrow to administer the finishing touches and get the lights on. Oh and yes, one other observation from  Day 1. We asked some people who work at the hotel as well as Richard whether it was true that it's not safe to go out at night and walkabout. The verdict is no. Apparently a few places are okay but not to walk to those places, to cab it there, and stay on the main road and not divert to adjacent lanes. After dinner as I was walking towards the lobby, the management trainee who had served us during dinner intercepted me and cautioned, 'you're not going for a walk are you?' She looked relieved when I assured her I wasn't. Hmm. Looks like we should try and squeeze in some sightseeing during the day. What a pity to not be able to explore or see the city at night. Okay. Am babbling senselessly now. Good night.