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

No Antelope at Sidewalk in Bell Air

Yesterday, after we'd finished at the centre, Richard took us to a cafe off the tourist beaten track called Sidewalk Cafe. It was on Bell Air Road. And no this is not a typo. He used the word 'quirky' to describe it. Very nice, exuding boho chic by the buckets. And really super friendly people. Actually come to think of it, everyone we've met so far has been really terrific and amazing.

Nestled within a valley and overlooked by Table Mountain range, the food was yummy, yummy, yummy! But no, no springbok, no antelope. (Confused? See blog entry)  And the sun came out as well eventually, which was great :) 

See the sign? B-e-l-l Air, not Bel Air :) [Click to see larger image]

I like this split door which reminds me of a farm house.

Corrugated sheets, copper pans, decor made from stones painted pink. And a copy of the New Yorker in the magazine rack. Is this boho or what?

Maggie scans the menu... no, no, no... no springbok...

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.

Sweden - A Tale of Planes, Trains, Luggage, and A Conference

Shivaun and I are back in London after a stimulating and eye-opening conference in Vaxjo, Sweden. This was the ESREA conference at Linneaus University from 4th to 7th March. It was titled: ESREA 2010 Conference - Representing Lives and Learning -The science and poetics of our work. At this conference, Shivaun was able to present a glimpse into the research work that she had done on Lithuanian Holocaust survivor testimony. (See abstract here). It was an amazing trip with a lot of new experiences to absorb, interesting ideas to sift through and information that can only be gleaned when you have 40 knowledgeable people in one room and willing to share.

However, as you can imagine, not all trips are undertaken without a hitch. Considering that we have traveled quite some in the last 2 years and managed to evade any misfortune, I suppose it was time for us to experience some.

We flew into Copenhagen in Denmark and caught the train to Vaxjo (pronounced like "vacuum" without the 'm'). The flight was easy enough, one and a half hours. The train we caught from the airport, so that was easy peesy too. The 2.5 hours train ride was uneventful, which is what you really want when you need to arrive somewhere in time for the opening on the same day.

As you can see the landscape rolling past was an idyllic one, with huge swathes of snow and poking out every now and then from the undisturbed pale, a yellow house, a red barn...

 

The passing landscape - wide, open and snowy 

 

Why Shivaun insists on lugging not one but two hardbacks that weigh a ton is a mystery to me :) I generally choose to read magazines or paperbacks that can squeeze into my bag

Anyways, the drama began as soon as we arrived at Vaxjo; I think I must have fallen into a stupor staring out the window, 'cos we got off the train, and I was fussing over Shivaun's bag as she had brought a large suitcase, and as we trundled off across the rail crossings, I looked over at her and her large red bag trailing behind her and suddenly had an awful sinking feeling that all I had on me was my backpack - I had left my hand luggage in the overhead cabin - eeeeek! As I watched the train speed off, my heart sank into my boots.

To cut a long story short, here's what I learned about rail travel in Sweden:

1) The company that operates the trains are not the same company that handles station affairs

2) There is no lost-and-found at the train stations, all missing items get routed to a holding department in Stockholm!!!

3) The trains don't always run on time.

I waited 40 minutes on the freezing platform that evening because I was informed that at Kalmar station, someone would put my bag on the next train back, but anxiety got the better of me and I was at the station at Vaxjo 15 minutes early. Alas, the train was 20 minutes late and I had also forgotten to ask which platform the train would arrive at. I spent that 40 minutes fretting if I was waiting for the right train and climbing on board another train waiting at the station, peering into cabins, hoping to catch sight of my bag. Finally the train arrived and I ran from cabin to cabin but no bag. I was afraid of staying too long on board, what if the train took off with me in it all the way back to Copenhagen? My mobile wasn't working so there was no way to tell Shivaun, who was by now at the Emigre Museum where the conference had kicked off. I have to admit I was a little frantic now; I jumped off the train, ran up the platform, thinking I would plead my case to the driver and hold the train while I did another search. A woman in uniform saw me and after listening to me, pointed to the other end of the platform. In the faint light, I could see a man holding my bag, hurrah! I can't imagine I would have seen my bag again if this was London, much less be able to enlist the help of so many to make sure my bag got back to me. Here, I must mention Larrs, owner at Carisma Hotel. Without him I would never have gotten my bag back; he was patient and diligent in calling Kalmar Station, having someone confirm my bag was on board, making sure it got on to another train back, and confirming the time it would be on.

Does this jacket make me look fat or...? Outside Carisma Hotel

This leaving my bag on the train business plus other experiences which followed has impressed me about the Swedes and this part of Sweden I visited, Smaaland. People were really helpful and friendly and the town, being quite small, had a nice warmth and a relaxed atmosphere about it.

I'll try not to bore you with too much detail of what happened at the conference or the rest of our trip but suffice to say, I came home with lots of ideas about the use of biography in adult education and its importance as a historical tool. 

On Linnaeus University campus

Fancy some caviar from a tube? An offering for breakfast which I skipped, only because I wasn't sure what to put it on

 

Last night: dinner at the Kosta glass factory floor, with entertainment provided by this family. Some ditties were sung to accompany schnap drinking (did I spell schnap right? I don't drink you see...)

Dinner: sausages, bacon (or something that was kinda like thick bacon or ham), pickled herring, cheese, rye crackers and potato. 

I actually thought they had baked the potatoes and grilled the sausages in the furnace they used as part of the glass blowing exercise, but that's probably unlikely right? :)

Glass blowing demonstration. It takes ages to make, and ages to cool down when made.

 

Above: Scenes from downtown Vaxjo on Sunday morning. 

On our travel home, we had another slight mishap, having read the train schedules wrong; apparently, our return ticket was for the 12:12 train and not the 11:06 - two different companies. We ambled about the streets looking for a cafe but these were scarce, hardly anything was open, so we had to make do with a coffee dispensing machine and hot dogs at a shop at the train station. Plus the train was about 10 minutes late. This started the ball rolling on misadventures and getting back to London was a mini epic with train delays and a mad dash to check in. 

Suffice to say we're glad to be home safe and sound. Our luggage however still has not made it.

Surviving History: Portraits from Vilna at UCD Humanities Institute, LJCC, Spiro Ark and University of Sussex

[NOTE: THIS IS AN OLD BLOG ENTRY WHICH I ONLY JUST DISCOVERED WAS SITTING IN MY DRAFT FOLDER - EEEK! IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN POSTED IN JULY 09...]

I haven't updated this blog for so long now, I wouldn't know where to begin. But it is fair to say that we had a pretty busy period from late May to June, so perhaps an events wrap up is in order...

We were in Dublin for a few days between the 27-30 May at University College Dublin, in partnership with UCD Humanities Institute of Ireland (UCD HII) and Holocaust Educational Trust of Ireland HETI). We had two evenings of talks by Holocaust academics Dr Robert Gerwarth, Ruta Puisyte from the Vilnius Yiddish Institute, survivor Tomi Reichental, as well as Shivaun. On the opening evening, we had a few luminaries in the form of ambassadors, including the Lithuanian ambassador.

Now, I must admit that the run up to the event was quite a hectic one. There was a mad rush with the logistics, organising the exhibition display units... all the usual stuff associated with an event. But I must say it was well worth it.

In all, about 150 people attended the evening talks. There was a mixed bag of feelings and responses to the Surviving History documentary and the short educational clip we put together titled What Would You Do. Most of the comments we received bordered on shock horror as well as disbelief. There was also a palpable sense of sadness about man's inhumane treatment of others, and about persistent racism.


Ruta speaking to the Lithuanian ambassador to Ireland and her husband


Ruta, Dr Gerwarth and Shivaun

On one of the days we were there, a lady who happened to take her morning walks on the grounds of UCD, chanced upon the photo exhibition. She then watched the film. By the time the credits were rolling, she was in tears. She half-waved at us as she was leaving, she was so moved she couldn't even leave a comment. I felt kinda bad, almost as if we had spoilt her idyllic morning walk. But then again, these stories are very powerful and I have been rendered speechless though I have seen them over and over again. And then there were the few visitors, who couldn't make it to the evening talks, who had made a special trip from outside Dublin to come. It was gratifying to know that for some people, the historical past was worth revisiting.


Visitors looking at the photos on display


Me, Shivaun, Lynn Jackson from HETI and Valerie Norton from UCD HII

Shortly after Dublin, we were at the London Jewish Cultural Centre. The event had a larger turnout than expected - about 80 people attended the afternoon talks on 4 June and our hosts had to bring in extra chairs and open the partitions between the rooms. We had Rachel Kostanian from the Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum, herself a survivor, speak, as well as Ruta and Shivaun.


Rachel speaking at LJCC


A close up of one section of the audience


LJCC's Stephanie Rose, Ruta, Shivaun and Rachel fielding questions

Not long after the event at LJCC, we held a photo exhibition and cultural event at Spiro Ark, where Nitza Spiro spoke, Rachel spoke, and Ruta and Rachel answered questions. It was very heartwarming as cantor Steven Leas sang El Malei Rachamim so beautifully there was scant a dry eye in the house. And then Polina Shepherd whipped up the crowd with Yiddish favourites. After the events, most of the visitors stayed back to chat with us and speak to Rachel and Ruta. It was a nice note to end on, as Rachel and Ruta would be returning to Vilnius the day after.

 

Nitza Spiro welcomes guests to Spiro Ark

Rachel speaks to the crowd

 

Steven Leas tells us about his Litvak connections 

Polina Shepherd launches into a medley of Yiddish favourites