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| The research group at SHMA is working on how to link the information about the Holocaust survivors transported to Sweden during White Buses and White Boat missions from Swedish archives with documents available from the Arolsen Archives. Here at KB archives in Stockholm. |
SUMMARY OF THE ACTIVITIES 2019-2020 OF THE SWEDISH HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION AND KORCZAK LIVING HERITAGE ASSOCIATION
I. Holocaust Memorial at the Northern Cemetery in Stockholm - "The Six Stone Monument"
The Swedish Memorial Association (SHMA) has made great efforts to honor the 75th anniversary of the deaths of the young victims buried in the Northern Cemetery in Stockholm. The SHMA erected a Holocaust Monument in October 2019 in Stockholm to commemorate the lost lives of the Holocaust victims brought to Sweden from Bergen Belsen in 1945. The Monument was established jointly with the Jewish Congregation of Stockholm and supported by the Heckscherska Foundation as well as other private funds. The Jewish Congregation of Stockholm specifically approved the design and site of the Monument, as it was previously jointly presented to the Stockholm City Council in January 2019. The Monument unveiling ceremony took place on October 6, 2019, at the Northern Jewish Cemetery in Stockholm, and was attended by many. The Monument consists of six simple memorial stone columns representing six death camps as well as six million Jews who perished. The stones were placed among the graves of about 80 Holocaust victims who died shortly after arriving in Stockholm and were buried at the Cemetery. They were among approximately 10,000 Holocaust survivors brought from Germany to Stockholm Harbor in UNRRA White Boats to receive medical care. As part of the Monument, these 80 gravestones, hidden for almost 75 years, were dug out, uncovered, and cleaned, and some were fully restored by SHMA. Each uncovered tombstone contains personal information about the victim, including date of birth, country of origin, and date of death. Many of the victims were in their early teens when WWII started and thus were very young when they died in 1945-46 in Sweden. Poland, Hungary, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Germany, Yugoslavia, and Greece were among the countries of birth. The assembly of these newly unearthed tombstones together with the memorial stones provided unique and precious information about the otherwise completely lost individuals and their tragic histories.
The personalized experience and the testimonies (direct or indirect) of the fate of single individuals seem absolutely crucial in efforts to educate future generations about the Holocaust and to preserve the memory of the Holocaust. The Research Group at SHMA began gathering this information from the Swedish archives in 2018.
It is inexplicable why the Jewish Congregation of Stockholm would suddenly remove in July 2020 the six memorial stones of the Holocaust Monument, representing Auschwitz, Majdanek, Belzec, Chelmno, Treblinka, and Sobibor, thus destroying the Holocaust Monument.
Main events in 2019-2020:
October 6, 2019, Unveiling of the Holocaust Monument 6 stones - 6 million - Opening Ceremony
November 9, 2019. Stockholm. SHMA commemorates the anniversary of Kristallnacht (German: “Crystal Night”), also called Night of Broken Glass, illuminating the graves of the Holocaust victims and the "Six Stone Monument” - the six memorial stones of the Holocaust Monument, representing Auschwitz, Majdanek, Belzec, Chelmno, Treblinka, and Sobibor and 6 million murdered Jews.
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| November 9, 2019. Stockholm. SHMA commemorates the anniversary of Kristallnacht |
April 20, 2020. Stockholm. North Jewish Cemetery. The Swedish Holocaust Association commemorates, Yom HaShoah, a Memorial Day for the Holocaust survivors who were buried on Swedish soil. This day, almost exactly 75 years ago (April 15, 1945) marks the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen camp and the transport of the Holocaust survivors into Sweden sadly resulting in many deaths and burials in the Swedish towns. Despite the coronavirus epidemics, a symbolic ceremony was held at the "Six Stone Monument” at the Stockholm North Cemetery to commemorate the lives of some 80 survivors who were brought to Stockholm from Bergen Belsen 75 years ago but died shortly after arrival and were buried in Stockholm. The ceremony consisted of placing the soil brought from Israel on the graves of the victims to symbolize their link with Israel, as many survivors chose to settle there.
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| II. Virtual Exhibition, "The Befriade 1945" or "The Liberated 1945" available on www.shma.online |
II. Virtual Exhibition, "The Befriade 1945" or "The Liberated 1945" available on www.shma.online
2020. This exhibition is to preserve the memory of the Holocaust survivors who came to Sweden after the liberation when WWII was over. They were young people, mostly women, and many of them died after the liberation despite the care received here in Sweden. Those who survived managed to resume their lives in different lands after long and complicated journeys. The stories of the seven of them are described and illustrated herein in great detail.
The exhibition tells their detailed life stories after the liberation through the photographs and documents often created in Sweden and preserved in the Swedish archives. Among them are the medical histories taken by the Swedish doctors as well as various entry and exit documents issued at different times during each person's journey. Moving through these original documents and pictures we learn not only about the journey -- from point to point-- towards the final destination either in Israel or elsewhere in the world, but we are also able to recreate the family histories of the seven protagonists prior to liberation. Importantly, these are recorded objectively in the presented documents, creating a unique record of the experience. Access to the original documents allows the viewer to establish intimate contact with each of the survivors.
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| III. Completion of the book: "The Liberated 1945, White Boat Mission from Bergen-Belsen to Sweden" by Roman Wasserman Wroblewski to be published in 2020. |
III. Completion of the book: "The Liberated 1945, White Boat Mission from Bergen-Belsen to Sweden" by Roman Wasserman Wroblewski to be published in 2020.
2020. SHMA is currently completing an illustrated book under the title "The Liberated 1945, White Boat Mission from Bergen-Belsen to Sweden" telling a largely unknown story of the important humanitarian mission to rescue the Holocaust survivors from Bergen-Belsen and bring them to Sweden in the context of the end-of-the War political maneuvering. The book, in English (170 pages and 85 photos) tells the story based on archival photographs, using historical records such as testimonies, and archival materials such as passenger lists, registration documents, and Swedish medical records that allow reconstruction of the journeys of the individual survivors and the fates of their families who perished earlier in the death camps.
IV. The research group at the Swedish Holocaust Memorial Association - SHMA scientific projects.
The research group at SHMA is working on how to link the information about the Holocaust survivors transported to Sweden during White Buses and White Boat missions from Swedish archives with documents available from the Arolsen Archives. The Swedish documents that are not digitalized are mainly at two archives in Stockholm. There are three different types of documents in Stockholm, among others the Arrival cards, Doctors Medical Cards, and Police records. We found that these documents should be digitalized and added to individual data about each survivor stored at Arolsen archives. The Swedish documents such as Doctors Medical Cards include information about the survivors prior to and during WWII and after the arrival in Sweden via White Buses or White Boat missions, see https://www.shma.online/anamnes.
V. Supporting the Mural project at the location adjoining the former Korczak Summer camp, “Rózyczka”.
The first phase of the project was initiated by the local Community and consists of a beautiful Mural with Korczak motives painted on the concrete wall previously bordering Rózyczka camp.
In November 2019, the Korczak Living Heritage Association (KLHA) created a Committee to Support the Korczak Mural Project in Marysin Wawerski (“KOMITET”), the location adjoining the former Korczak Summer camp, “Rózyczka”.
The first phase of the project was initiated by the local Community and consists of a beautiful Mural with Korczak motives painted on the concrete wall previously bordering Rozyczka camp. In the Korczak spirit, neighborhood children themselves were engaged as helpers in its making. The Project is the creation of the artist, Bartosz Milewski, and the photographer, Anna Gezik, with the help of the local historical researcher, Adam Matysiak, and the local politician, Lucan Zakrzewski, and others. Mr. Norbert Szczepanski, the Mayor of Wawer, has been praised for his support for this Project and its educational value in the fight against prejudice.
The KOMITET has proposed to extend the Mural in the westward direction to cover the otherwise unsightly bare cement of the existing wall. With this purpose in mind, the KOMITET will meet in the first week of January 2020 in Warsaw. The work on the extension of the mural is largely completed but it was temporarily halted by the pandemic of Coronavirus.
VI. Exhibition of the models of the buildings where Korczak Dom Sierot was located and also other spots associated with Janusz Korczak such as Bersohn & Baumans Hospital. The models are built in a scale 1:25 and include also Rózyczka Summer Camp, a Wooden bridge over Chlodna Street, and Cattle cars at Umschlagplatz. Continued to 2021.
VII. SHMA Research Group trip to the Ghetto Fighters House Museum, Lohamei HaGeta'ot, in Israel to consult archival materials and photographs relating to Korczak (the end of 2019)
VIII. The 9th International Conference on the Educational Legacy of Janusz Korczak was held on November 26-27 in Tel Aviv - activ participation.
