International Museum Day 2017
“Museums and contested histories:
Saying the unspeakable in museums”.
“Human Stories”
The Jewish Museum of Greece participated in the celebration of the International Museum Day (Thursday 18 May 2017) and offered free entrance as well as the specially designed programme entitled “Human Stories”, lasting 45′. The programme took place from 10:30 to 11:30 with the participation of 20 students of the History of Religions course from Mathesis Internet Courses, offered by the University Publications of Crete, and from 12:30 to 13:30 to 22 individual adult visitors. In total, 84 people visited the JMG and participated in actions and screenings.
The program began with an initial acquaintance with the Jewish religion and continued with the brief presentation of an art exhibition, which was created on the occasion of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day (27th January) by the students of the 2nd Junior High School of Ilioupoli. In the framework of the teaching of History and Arts, the students, the teachers in charge, Dora Kefalas and Eleftherios Dafnos, worked on a cross-thematic project entitled “The fate of Greek Jewish communities”. Through the process of the specific programme, the students pondered over complex aspects of history and contributed with their creations to the healing approach of traumatic stories, which promotes social reconciliation. The process led to the creation of an establishment, a monument devoted to the Greek Jews who perished (1941-1944), consisting of 260 paintings and a video. The works of the students were dedicated to the JMG, where they were set up by the children themselves, and are hosted “In Memory”. After explaining the JMG’s educational programmes in a very broad sense, as well as their importance, we presented this important collective work to the visitors.
Then, after a brief presentation of the events of the Holocaust, the “Human Stories” that took place in Greece during World War II, were presented to the public. Through them an attempt was made to become acquainted not only with the historical events of the Holocaust, which is a difficult and traumatic issue, but also with the multiple reactions of the social environment. Stories of resistance and rescue were selected, which promote social alertness and reconciliation.
The programme will be repeated on Sunday 4th June 2017, at 11:00, 12:00 and 13:00.
