On May 18, the Museum “Jewish Memory and Holocaust in Ukraine” held a series of events dedicated to International Museum Day. In addition to free admission, during this day our guests were treated to the opening of the temporary exhibition “The Ukrainian-Jewish Century: Photos and Stories 1920–2024”, prepared by the International Institute of Jewish History Centropa. The exhibition was solemnly presented by the Director of the Museum “Jewish Memory and Holocaust in Ukraine”, Dr. Iryna Radchenko.

The main idea of ​​the exhibition is to show the history of Jewry in Ukraine during the 20th century through the prism of photos and oral histories, to reveal the lives and experiences of people. The exhibition is presented on 29 stands, which contain information, life stories, and archival and contemporary photographs of Jews who witnessed and participated in important historical events in the period 1920–2024. The first part documents the life of Jewish communities in Ukraine before and during the Holocaust - it is based on more than 260 interviews and 3,000 archival photographs. The second part includes contemporary photographs by American photographer Edward Serotta and Ukrainian photographers M. Levin and T. Kovalchuk, who recorded the life of Jewish communities in Lviv, Kyiv, Chernihiv, Odesa, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Kharkiv during the full-scale Russian invasion. The new exhibition did not leave visitors indifferent, because it is not only about the past, but also about our present.

The festive program was continued by the traditional sightseeing tour of the Museum for all comers, many of whom came despite the bad weather.

At the end of the celebration, a raffle of valuable prizes awaited the guests; each visitor had the opportunity to test their luck and receive pleasant and useful gifts.

We sincerely thank everyone who shared this day with us! We hope that it became a special day for each of the guests.