‘Visions of Holocaust’ Exhibition: Past Needs to Be Faced to Prevent its Recurrence

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January 27, the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, marks the 74th anniversary of the closure of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.

"Visions of the Holocaust" Photography and Images Exhibition, featuring the Holocaust photographs colored by Yusuf Tolga Ünker upon the permission of Yad Vashem and New York Holocaust Jewish Museum, have opened at the Quincentennial Foundation Museum of Turkish Jews under the sponsorship of Consulate General of Germany in İstanbul.

At the opening ceremony of the exhibition, Chief Rabbi of the Jews in Turkey Rav İsak Haleva and İstanbul Consul General of Federal Republic of Germany Michael Reiffenstuel made a statement. Pianist Renan Koen also played her piece "Holocaust Remembrance & Before Sleep."

* The symbolic photograph showing the 'Kristalnacht' has also been colorized. 

Haleva: I would like to thank for his tough stance

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Chief Rabbi Rav İsak Haleva said:

"Seeing and hearing are not the same things; though many things are the same, we experience different feelings when we see them with our eyes.

"That is why, I am also looking at you right in the eye; there is sorrow in everyone's eyes. When a person sees the photographs exhibited here, he or she is unavoidably influenced by them.

"I would like to extend my thanks to the İstanbul Consul General of Germany for his tough stance in facing this pitch-black era of human history presented here at the exhibition of "Visions of the Holocaust".

"I would also like to thank Tolga Ünker and Quincentennial Foundation for their work. I hope God won't give humanity such great sorrows again."

Consul General: Sorrows should be remembered

Taking the floor after Chief Rabbi Haleva, Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany in İstanbul Michael Reiffenstuel also stated:

"The support given to this museum is a very heartfelt support, because I believe that the sorrows which people go through have to be remembered and, that is why, I am of the conviction that everything that needs to be done has to be done."

Referring to the statement of Minister of Foreign Affairs Heiko Maas, "Germany bears the responsibility for the most barbarous crime in the history of humanity. The Shoah remains a warning and duty to us to campaign for human rights and tolerance worldwide," Reiffenstuel continued as follows:

"By coloring these black-white photographs, artist Tolga Ünker wanted to make the happenings of the past more concrete and vivid.

"The coloring of these photographs gives us the feeling that what was lived in the past did not remain in the past, but can also be experienced in the present. The aim of the artist here is to help us feel the historical realities more strongly and, in the meanwhile, to contribute to the prevention of such a terror from recurring in the future.

"Realities can sometimes be shocking, but overlooking those realities might cause them to recur. In order to prevent the recurrence of such a shame of humanity, we need to face it and take a lesson from it."

* "Visions Of The Holocaust" Photography and Images Exhibition, colorized by Yusuf Tolga Ünker can be visited in the Quincentennial Foundation Museum of Turkish Jews between January 24 and March 30, 2019.

(PT/SD)