I Met a Survivor
The Sydney Jewish Museum is to launch of a photographic book, “I Met a Survivor”.The photographs in this book, taken by award-winning photographer Nadine Saacks, capture intimate, light- hearted moments shared between Holocaust survivors and children not yet old enough to understand or grapple with the Holocaust.
The generation of Holocaust survivors is dwindling and when today’s young children are old enough to have a conversation about the Holocaust, they may not be able to actually meet a survivor and hear their testimony. “I Met a Survivor” captures the importance of the younger generation’s interactions with Holocaust survivors before it is too late.
The concept for this book was borne from the ponderings of a member of the Jewish community who approached the Sydney Jewish Museum’s Community Stories department, wanting to initiate a project that could help her start a conversation about the Holocaust with her own, now very young, children.
Introducing the Holocaust to young children can be difficult, but these photos, one day, can be a way to start that conversation. When these children, who are representative of all children, are of an age to learn about the Holocaust, they will have the photos in this book to look back on, to make the connection, and say “I met a survivor.”
“I Met a Survivor” is a 145 page soft-cover book that features playful and sentimental photographs of 52 Holocaust survivors with young children, and abridged versions of the survivors’ stories and inspiring quotes.
To coincide with the launch of “I Met a Survivor”, the Sydney Jewish Museum will hold an exhibition of the photographs featured in the book on its Ground Level.
“I Met a Survivor” officially launches on Sunday 30 June.
