Athens Hosts Outdoor Exhibitions in Memory of the Holocaust Victims

Photo source: Athens Municipality.

The Municipality of Athens and the Jewish Museum of Greece recently inaugurated a double outdoor photo exhibition to commemorate the International Holocaust Remembrance Day that is held annually on January 27.

Hosted on Vasilissis Olgas Avenue near Syntagma Square in Athens, the exhibitions are titled: “Greek Jews Holocaust 1941- 1944” and “Trauma as Memory and Life”.

The first exhibition includes a series of photographs depicting different occasions –school, religious, professional or family moments – from the lives of Greek Jews, before and during the Second World War.

Taken from the Greek Jewish Museum archive, the photographs visually capture happy moments from people’s lives who were displaced or lost forever during the war.

Artemis Alkalay while introducing her work. Photo source: Athens Municipality.

The second exhibition, created by artist Artemis Alkalay, uses visual metaphors and material like fabric, canvas, thread, and wood to create a storytelling language connecting the past with the present through Greece’s handicrafts cultural tradition and the memory of the Holocaust.

Both exhibitions will run until the end of February.

“I am afraid, I am hungry, I am cold ” from the “Trauma as Memory and Life” by Artemis Alkalay. Photo source: Athens Municipality.

“Art resists and life wins,” said Athens Mayor Kostas Bakoyannis during the exhibitions’ opening, underlining the importance of preserving the historic memory of the Holocaust victims and arts’ role against ignorance and its contribution to building tolerant and inclusive societies.

On that note, Ambassador of Israel to Greece, Noam Katz, talked about the importance of memory as a concept of hope and art’s role in capturing and processing past fears.

Athens Mayor Kostas Bakoyannis. Photo source: Athens Municipality.

The exhibitions’ opening was also attended by, among others, the President of the Greek Jewish Museum Makis Matsas, artist Artemis Alkalai the President of the Greek-Israeli Friendship Parliamentary Group, Dimitris Kairidis and its Vice-President Olga Kefalogianni, the Representative of the Central Israeli Council of Greece, Daniel Benardout, the President of the Israelite Community of Athens, Albertos Taramboulous, the Community Director Tally Mair and the Director of the Greek Jewish Museum Janet Battinou.