Opening of the exhibition "More Important Than Life: The Underground Archive of the Warsaw Ghetto"
14.08.2025
Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Center hosted the official opening of the temporary exhibition "More Important Than Life: The Underground Archive of the Warsaw Ghetto." on 14 August 2025. The exhibition was prepared by the NSDOK Munich and the Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute, with the support of the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland. The opening ceremony was attended by, among others, JH&CG Director Tali Nates, Head of the Polish Embassy in Pretoria Jacek Chodorowicz, and German Ambassador Andreas Peschke.
Speeches were delivered by Dr. Yohai Cohen (Yad Vashem), Tal Bruttmann (historian), Dr. Jens-Christian Wagner (Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation), and Dr. Michał Trębacz (Director of the Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute).
The exhibition tells the story of the work of Emanuel Ringelblum and the Oneg Shabbat group, who created the priceless Underground Archive of the Warsaw Ghetto during the war. The exhibition presents a look at the ghetto from a Jewish perspective, placing the Underground Archive of the Warsaw Ghetto at the center of the story.
The exhibition will be on view in Johannesburg until the end of this year, and in Cape Town and Durban next year.
Photos: Grażyna Koornhof/Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Pretoria
