The Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre

“Echoes Across Time: Voices of Survival and Lessons for Our Future” Session 6
2025-09-17 21:00 - 22:00 UTC | Online
As we stand on the cusp of history, the voices of Holocaust and genocide survivors grow ever more urgent, reminding us of the cost of silence, the value of empathy, and the power of resilience. Echoes Across Time invites audiences to explore the crucial lessons these testimonies offer—on values, democracy, and the warning signs of oppression. Through monthly episodes, each centred around a survivor’s testimony about their life experiences, this series poses the question: Are we truly listening?

Join us as we amplify stories from the Holocaust to Rwanda, Cambodia, and beyond, engaging with survivors, scholars, and advocates who work tirelessly to preserve these legacies and inspire a more compassionate future.

Srebrenica: Capturing Memories in the Face of Denial

Featuring: A survivor and memory activist Hasan Hasanović, working at the Genocide Memorial in Srebrenica will recount their personal story as well as the process of gathering testimonies at present, shedding light on the ongoing struggle of preserving memories amidst a culture of denial and revisionism. This session will address the challenges faced by survivors in ensuring their voices are heard and respected, especially as they fight against misinformation and a lack of acknowledgment. Participants will discuss the impact of Srebrenica’s legacy and the critical importance of listening, believing, and preserving survivor stories in the face of denial.

Hasan Hasanović is a Srebrenica genocide survivor, and a curator and interpreter at the Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial Center. Hasanović is the author of Surviving Srebrenica, which tells his personal story of survival, and he speaks frequently about his experience at academic and commemorative events worldwide. Most recently, he headed on behalf of the Memorial Center a joint project by the Center and the War Childhood Museum in Sarajevo focused on recording stories of children who survived the Srebrenica genocide. He holds a degree in Criminal Sciences from the University of Sarajevo.

Hasan Hasanović will be in conversation with Tali Nates, the founder and director of the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre (JHGC) and Chair of the South African Holocaust & Genocide Foundation (SAHGF). She is a historian who lectures internationally on Holocaust and genocide education, memory, reconciliation, and human rights. Born to a family of Holocaust survivors, her father and uncle were saved by Oskar Schindler. Tali has been involved in the creation and production of dozens of documentary films, published many articles and contributed chapters to different books among them God, Faith & Identity from the Ashes: Reflections of Children and Grandchildren of Holocaust Survivors (2015), Remembering The Holocaust in Educational Settings (2018), Conceptualising Mass Violence, Representations, Recollections, and Reinterpretations (2021) and The Routledge Handbook of Memory Activism (2023). South Africa by the Mail & Guardian newspaper and won many awards including the Kia Community Service Award (South Africa, 2015), the Gratias Agit Award (2020, Czech Republic), the Austrian Holocaust Memorial Award (2021), the Goethe Medal (2022, Germany), the US Secretary of State’s International Religious Freedom Award (2023), and the International Network of Genocide Scholar’s Impact Award (2024).

Celebrating the life of Dowi Bele
2025-09-20 11:00 - 12:30 UTC | Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 1 Duncombe Rd, Johannesburg, Gauteng, 2193, South Africa
Please join us to remember and celebrate the life of our beloved colleague, Dowi Bele.

Exhibition opening of Traces of Violence by Marcelo Brodsky
2025-10-19 15:00 - 17:00 UTC | Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 1 Duncombe Rd, Johannesburg, Gauteng, 2193, South Africa
In 2021, Germany formally recognised the genocide of the Herero and Nama People, committed by the German Empire in 1904-1908 in German South West Africa (now Namibia).In the course of the division of Africa by the European powers in the Berlin Conference of 1884/1885, the German Empire acquired the right to colonise South West Africa. Colonial policy included the expulsion of the local Nama and Herero communities from their fertile land so that German colonisers and farmers could settle there.

As an artist and human rights activist, Marcelo Brodsky believes in the importance of art in the social debate. Their ability to influence the public opinion-forming process and attract media attention. The subject of human rights violations was and is a central part of his art.

Brodsky became internationally known with his work cycle “Buena Memoria” (1997) about the kidnapping of some of his classmates and his brother Fernando Brodsky by the death squads during the Argentine military dictatorship. Fernando’s body has not been found to this day. Other series of works followed, such as “1968 The Fire of Ideas,” “Africa Fighting for Freedom” or “Migrants.”

As part of his human rights activities, Brodsky met the German human rights lawyer Wolfgang Kaleck, who came to Argentina 20 years ago to defend the cases of German citizens who have disappeared due to state terror. Kaleck is the founder and director of ECCHR (European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights). This Berlin-based organisation has a team of international lawyers who work for global justice, defend political prisoners and fight human rights violations and crimes against humanity with legal means. Wolfgang Kaleck informed Marcelo Brodsky about the case and the genocide in South West Africa. With his help, Brodsky contacted the Ovaherero Genocide Foundation based in Namibia and offered them his collaboration to develop an art project on their case and present it in an art space in Berlin.

The photographs that Brodsky collected in archives, agencies and universities for two years were taken by the colonists or their helpers (soldiers, missionaries, journalists, etc.). They are irrefutable evidence of the brutal violence of the perpetrators. After reading Mark Sealy’s book “Decolonizing the Camera”, which describes that every time a colonialist image is shown, its violence is reproduced, Brodsky decided to radically rework these images. As in his previous series of works, Brodsky enlarges and reworks the photographs underlining the aesthetic effect of the motif by reworking the colours by hand. The beautiful becomes more beautiful, the horror becomes more horrific. His own short text contribution, typical of his works, expresses the voice and point of view of the colonisers in every single coloured photo. They show violence very clearly, which makes it rather disturbing for the viewer.

The opening will feature a presentation by Brodsky and welcome representatives of the Herero and Nama nations and organisations.

JHGC and Issy's closed for private event
2025-10-20 08:00 - 2025-10-24 22:30 UTC | Gauteng
The JHGC and Issy’s will be closed from 20-24 October for a private event. We will reopen on 25 October. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Honouring Memory and Scholarship
2025-10-26 16:00 - 17:30 UTC | Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 1 Duncombe Rd, Johannesburg, Gauteng, 2193, South Africa
Talk and Walkabout of More Important than Life with Dr Mirjam Zadoff and the Presentation of Decoration of Honour in Gold for services to the Republic of Austria to Tali Nates

Join us for a talk and walkabout of the exhibition More Important than Life: The Underground Archive of the Warsaw Ghetto with Dr Mirjam Zadoff, director of the Munich Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism and co-curator of the exhibition.

The event will be accompanied by the formal awarding of Decoration of Honour in Gold for services to the Republic of Austria to director and founder of the JHGC, Tali Nates, as well as formal remarks from the Ambassador of Austria to South Africa, H.E. Ms Romana Königsbrun, and a musical performance by the Austrian Duo Minerva beginning at 16:00.

More Important Than Life explores some of the artefacts and documents collected in the Warsaw Ghetto by the Oneg Shabbat, a collective of academics, writers, and activists led by historian Emanuel Ringelblum, who worked secretly to document the mass murder of European Jews as it was happening.

“Echoes Across Time: Voices of Survival and Lessons for Our Future” Session 7
2025-10-29 21:00 - 22:00 UTC | Online
As we stand on the cusp of history, the voices of Holocaust and genocide survivors grow ever more urgent, reminding us of the cost of silence, the value of empathy, and the power of resilience. Echoes Across Time invites audiences to explore the crucial lessons these testimonies offer—on values, democracy, and the warning signs of oppression. Through monthly episodes, each centred around a survivor’s testimony about their life experiences, this series poses the question: Are we truly listening?

Join us as we amplify stories from the Holocaust to Rwanda, Cambodia, and beyond, engaging with survivors, scholars, and advocates who work tirelessly to preserve these legacies and inspire a more compassionate future.

From Tragedy to Healing: Rwanda’s Path to Restorative Justice

Featuring: Rwanda genocide survivor and Director of the Kigali Genocide Memorial and Aegis Trust, Freddy Mutanguha, shares his powerful story of survival, healing, and contributing to the country’s unique journey through restorative justice. This session will examine Rwanda’s approach to rebuilding—through forgiveness, communal healing, and reconciliation—and the powerful lessons this path holds for the world. Freddy’s testimony provides insight into how survivors and communities alike can transform trauma into hope, and how memory and accountability can drive long-lasting peace and understanding.

Freddy Mutanguha is CEO of the Aegis Trust and Director of the Kigali Genocide Memorial. Freddy led the development of Aegis’ peace education programme in Rwanda and is now leading Aegis’ work to take this model beyond the borders of Rwanda to areas at risk, including the Central African Republic, South Sudan and Kenya. Joining Aegis in 2004 during the construction of the Kigali Genocide Memorial as a team leader responsible for genocide documentation, he was appointed Country Director in 2006. Freddy is Chair of the board of Miracle Corner Rwanda, an organisation which aims to empower the community in Rwanda by helping young people to acquire the vocational skills they need to thrive socially and economically.

He holds a master’s degree in project management from the Maastricht School of Management and trained as a teacher, securing a bachelor’s degree in Education from the Kigali Institute of Education. He survived Rwanda’s 1994 genocide as a teenager, and as an orphan head of household, in 2016, the Justice and Security Foundation declared him a Peace award winner for his outstanding contribution to peace. He is also profiled in the Atlanta Human Rights Museum as a prominent activist for human rights.

Helping to found AERG, Rwanda’s student survivors association, Freddy went on to become vice-President of IBUKA, the national umbrella association for Rwandan genocide survivors. He is an External Advisory Committee member of the USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive in Los Angeles, and lectures internationally on the impact of the Genocide and the importance of forgiveness as way of post-conflict reconstruction.

Freddy Mutanguha will be in conversation with Tali Nates, the founder and director of the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre (JHGC) and Chair of the South African Holocaust & Genocide Foundation (SAHGF). She is a historian who lectures internationally on Holocaust and genocide education, memory, reconciliation, and human rights. Born to a family of Holocaust survivors, her father and uncle were saved by Oskar Schindler. Tali has been involved in the creation and production of dozens of documentary films, published many articles and contributed chapters to different books among them God, Faith & Identity from the Ashes: Reflections of Children and Grandchildren of Holocaust Survivors (2015), Remembering The Holocaust in Educational Settings (2018), Conceptualising Mass Violence, Representations, Recollections, and Reinterpretations (2021) and The Routledge Handbook of Memory Activism (2023). South Africa by the Mail & Guardian newspaper and won many awards including the Kia Community Service Award (South Africa, 2015), the Gratias Agit Award (2020, Czech Republic), the Austrian Holocaust Memorial Award (2021), the Goethe Medal (2022, Germany), the US Secretary of State’s International Religious Freedom Award (2023), and the International Network of Genocide Scholar’s Impact Award (2024).

Film screening: Letters from Brno
2025-10-30 17:30 - 19:00 (Europe/Helsinki) | Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 1 Duncombe Rd, Johannesburg, Gauteng, 2193, South Africa
Join us for the South African premiere of Letters from Brno.

The screening will be accompanied by formal remarks by Deputy Ambassador of the Embassy of the Czech Republic in South Africa, Mr. Petr Čáp, and by writer and producer Karen Kruger.

In December, 1976, during a college break, Karen learned that her mother, Erika Stefanie Turkl (Neumann) was Jewish. This discovery marked the beginning of Karen’s insatiable curiosity about her mother’s family history and the start of a 45+ year journey to uncover her mother’s pastNicholas Winton was the British stockbroker who was responsible for arranging the Kinder transports of 669 Czechoslovakian Jewish children in 1939. Erika and Daisy Turkl were 2 of the 669 “Winton’s children”. In 2009, during a reenactment of the Winton Kindertransport from Prague to London, Karen and her son, Max were able to meet 100 year old Nicholas Winton and personally thank him for saving Erika’s and Daisy’s lives.

Jeffery Gary, a documentary filmmaker, learned of Karen’s project and offered to interview/film her to record her recent research trip “while it was still fresh in her mind.” During the first 2 sessions of filming, Jeffery realized that the story of Karen’s mother’s family had all the components of a documentary film and he suggested that she consider telling the story on film first instead of writing a book.While filming the documentary, Karen imagined how this story could be part of a curricula for Holocaust education.

Heroines of the Holocaust
2025-11-02 21:00 - 22:00 (Europe/Helsinki) | Gauteng
The Ghetto Fighters’ House invites you to a special online book launch of Heroines of the Holocaust: Reframing Resistance and Courage in Genocide.

Join co-editors Professor Lori Weintrob and Professor Judy Baumel-Schwartz as they introduce this groundbreaking volume, which brings together international scholars to explore new perspectives on women’s rescue and resistance during the Holocaust, and the Armenian and Rwandan genocides.

Two contributing authors, both descendants of Holocaust survivors, will also share insights from their chapters:

Dr Daniela Ozacky Stern delves into the often-overlooked stories of Jewish women partisans during the Holocaust, focusing on the personal narrative of Chaya Shapira Lazar. Through her grandmother’s journey from the Vilna Ghetto to the partisan forests, Dr Ozacky Stern illuminates the complex challenges faced by female resistance fighters navigating between traditional gender roles and revolutionary combat duties.

Dr Steven Meed, son of Vladka Meed (née Feyge Peltel), reflects on his mother’s extraordinary courage as an 18-year-old member of the Bund’s youth organisation in Warsaw during the German invasion of 1939. Recognised for her fearlessness, resourcefulness, and perfect command of Polish, Vladka was entrusted with increasingly dangerous missions on the Aryan side. After liberation, she dedicated her life to speaking and writing—first in Yiddish—about her wartime experiences, ensuring the memory of those who perished and survived would endure with dignity and respect.

This event is presented in partnership with the Wagner College Holocaust Center, the Arnold and Leona Finkler Institute of Holocaust Research at Bar-Ilan University, Remember the Women Institute, the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, Classrooms Without Borders, and the Rabin Chair Forum.

Online Roundtable: Visual Languages And Mediums Of Holocaust Literature
2025-11-04 19:00 - 20:00 (Europe/Helsinki) | Gauteng
Join us for an engaging online roundtable exploring the visual languages of Holocaust literature. This discussion will examine how literary texts engage with visual elements—and how photography, film, art, and other visual representations of the Holocaust have influenced and been influenced by literature. The speakers will consider a diverse range of works, including graphic novels, to reflect on how visual media shapes our understanding of Holocaust memory and representation.

Speakers:

Daniel H. Magilow: Professor of German, University of Tennessee

Lynn Wolff: Associate Professor of German, Michigan State University

Brad Prager: Professor of German and Film Studies, University of Missouri

Chair:

McKenna Marko: Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Holocaust Literature, University of Leeds

This event forms part of the ongoing series featuring original research from the forthcoming Cambridge History of Holocaust Literature, presented by the project Rethinking Holocaust Literature: Contexts, Canons, and Circulations.

Learn more: Rethinking Holocaust Literature: Public Engagement Programme

87th Commemoration of the November Pogrom
2025-11-09 14:30 - 18:00 (Europe/Helsinki) | Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 1 Duncombe Rd, Johannesburg, Gauteng, 2193, South Africa
The Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, the Goethe-Institut, and the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung invite you to their annual commemoration of the 1938 November Pogrom (Kristallnacht).

The commemoration will include formal remarks, a candle lighting ceremony, a performance by violinist Sharon De Kock, a screening of the film Das Tagebuch Der Anne Frank (The Diary of Anne Frank) (2016), followed by a keynote address from director Hans Steinbichler.

Hans Steinbichler was born in Solothurn, Switzerland, and grew up near Lake Chiemsee. He lives in Munich with his family.

Steinbichler’s graduation film Hierankl (HFF Munich) marked his debut and earned numerous awards, including the Förderpreis Deutscher Film (2003), the Bavarian Film Prize, and the Grimme Gold Award for script and directing.

His second feature, Winterreise (2006), opened the Munich Film Festival and was nominated for the German Film Prize for Best Film, with Josef Bierbichler receiving the Best Actor Lola.

In 2008, Steinbichler directed The Second Woman, starring Matthias Brandt and Monika Bleibtreu, the official German contribution to the Toronto Film Festival. The film earned him another Grimme Prize for directing and was released in French cinemas.

In 2010, he directed Blue of the Sky, featuring Juliane Köhler and Hannelore Elsner, which won the Bavarian Film Prize (2011) for Best Picture. He subsequently directed several acclaimed episodes of Polizeiruf 110 with Matthias Brandt, garnering multiple awards including the German Television Award.

From 2013 to 2015, Steinbichler served as Professor of Directing at the Cologne International Film School.

In 2016, his feature Das Tagebuch der Anne Frank (The Diary of Anne Frank) premiered at the Berlinale, followed by a nationwide release. The film earned Steinbichler the German Director Award Metropolis, while lead actress Lea van Acken received the Bavarian Film Prize. That same year, he was appointed a full member of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts.

His next feature, An Unheard Woman (2016), starring Rosalie Thomass, won the One Future Prize at the Munich Film Festival, the German Television Award (2018), and the Grimme Prize (2018).

In 2017, Steinbichler directed the ZDF historical mini-series Walpurgisnacht, filmed in Prague and the Czech Republic, followed by Hannes (2021), based on the novel by Rita Falk.

In 2020/2021, he co-directed the third season of Das Boot for Sky, filmed in Prague and Malta, released in spring 2022.

Most recently, Steinbichler completed A Whole Life (2023), an adaptation of the acclaimed novel set in the Alps. The film has been a major box-office success and received multiple nominations for German and Austrian film awards.

Talking Memory Opening Event for "Fanny's Journey"
2025-11-16 21:00 - 22:30 (Europe/Helsinki) | Online
The Ghetto Fighters’ House invites you to a special online Talking Memory opening event for the new exhibition Fanny’s Journey.

Join us as we celebrate this moving exhibition that brings to life the experiences of Fanny Ben Ami through her expressive and powerful drawings. Fanny’s Journey tells the extraordinary story of a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl who was born in Germany, grew up in France, and—after the rise of Nazism—found herself responsible for leading a group of Jewish children to safety. The exhibition presents the artworks she created later in life, accompanied by short excerpts from her testimony, illuminating one young girl’s courage, responsibility, and resilience.

The programme will feature:

Opening RemarksProfessor Aryeh Barnea will reflect on the critical work of the OSE (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants – the Children’s Aid Society), the underground rescue network that saved thousands of Jewish children—including Fanny—by sheltering them in children’s homes, placing them with foster families, or helping them escape across borders.

Guest SpeakersLilach Efraim, curator of Fanny’s Journey, will offer a behind-the-scenes look at the development of the exhibition.Greta Barak, archivist at the Ghetto Fighters’ House, will present a selection of OSE documents from the archive that help contextualise the story of Fanny and the children she helped lead to freedom.

This event is presented in partnership with the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, Classrooms Without Borders, the Rabin Chair Forum at George Washington University, and Yad LaYeled France.

Book Launch: It Always Seems Impossible
2025-11-27 17:00 - 18:00 (Europe/Helsinki) | Issy’s Coffee & Gift Shop, 1 Duncombe Road, Forest Town, 2193, South Africa
Join us for an inspiring book launch with James Urdang, Founder and CEO of Education Africa, of his new memoir, It Always Seems Impossible: My fight to build and save Education Africa. With a foreword from the Nelson Mandela Foundation and a cover endorsement from Sir Bob Geldof, who calls it “a powerful account from a genuine African hero. Inspiring, urgent, and true”, the book tells the story of how one man’s determination to use education as a tool for social justice transformed thousands of lives – and how that work was nearly destroyed by corporate misconduct.

Urdang traces his journey from being a school underachiever diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia to founding Education Africa, a grassroots organisation that has opened educational opportunities for disadvantaged South Africans. Mentored by Walter Sisulu, entrusted by Nelson Mandela, and supported by figures such as Helen Suzman and Dr Aggrey Klaaste, he built ambitious programmes ranging from the world’s largest national Model UN initiative to large-scale marimba training and early childhood development projects. The memoir also exposes a shocking battle with a global bank that brought Education Africa to its knees, and the role anti-corruption campaigner Lord Peter Hain played in challenging this injustice. At its heart, the book is a testament to resilience, accountability, and the power of education to change lives.

About James UrdangJames Urdang is an award-winning humanitarian, social entrepreneur, and sought-after motivational speaker. For more than three decades he has worked to create meaningful educational opportunities for disadvantaged communities across Africa. He has collaborated closely with Nelson Mandela, spoken at the funeral of Chris Hani, and continues to advocate for equity, dignity, and transformation through education.

A Contrarian’s Tale: Reflecting on Henry Greenspan’s REMNANTS and What Remains: Moments from a Life Among Holocaust Survivors
2025-11-30 21:00 - 22:00 (Europe/Helsinki) | Online
The Ghetto Fighters’ House invites you to a special Talking Memory book launch event

A Contrarian’s Tale: Reflecting on Henry Greenspan’s REMNANTS and What Remains: Moments from a Life Among Holocaust Survivors

Sunday, 30 November 2025

Opening Remarks:Prof. Debórah Dwork

Guest Author:Prof. Henry Greenspan

You are warmly invited to a special Talking Memory webinar marking the launch of Henry Greenspan’s new book, REMNANTS and What Remains: Moments from a Life Among Holocaust Survivors. The programme will begin with opening remarks by Prof. Debórah Dwork, followed by a conversation with Prof. Greenspan about his decades of work and his reflections on Holocaust testimony as sustained, evolving dialogues. Greenspan will also present a short live performance of an excerpt from REMNANTS.

This event opens the new series, Conversations that Endure: In the Footsteps of Henry Greenspan and Dori Laub.

For more than fifty years, Henry Greenspan—psychologist, playwright, and pioneering oral historian—has been listening to, learning from, and engaging in deep conversation with Holocaust survivors. His work has reshaped understandings of survivor accounts, highlighting how testimony emerges through collaboration, trust, and survivors’ own active choices shaped by the contexts in which they speak.

In REMNANTS and What Remains, Greenspan brings together powerful moments from a lifetime of encounters, illuminating both survivors’ lived experiences and the complex ethical and emotional questions that arise in the work of remembrance. The book also explores the question of what remains after profound loss: survivors’ loss of a world; Greenspan’s loss of his survivor-partners; and, as survivors near the end of their lives, their own diverse and often unexpected views of their “legacies”.

This webinar offers a unique opportunity to hear directly from Henry Greenspan as he reflects on the evolution of his work, the individuals who shaped it, and the continued relevance of these conversations in a world marked by both past and present catastrophes.

You are invited to watch REMNANTS (45-minute performance video) prior to the event:https://youtu.be/Vty8b_euk-k

Register here:https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/ZlO3XmsJTCyFH79Jj4PNNQ

Time:2 PM EST | 8 PM CET | 9 PM SAST | 9 PM Israel Time

This programme is co-sponsored by the Jean and Shimuel Frankel Centre for Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan, the Holocaust Educational Foundation of Northwestern University, the Rabin Chair Forum at George Washington University, the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute, and the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre.

12th South Africa-Poland Heritage Conference
2025-12-07 14:30 - 16:30 (Europe/Helsinki) | Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 1 Duncombe Rd, Johannesburg, Gauteng, 2193, South Africa
The Polish Association of Siberian Deportees in Southeast Africa is collaborating with the Sybir Memorial Museum and the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre. Join us for the 12th conference to launch a series of posters depicting the lived experiences of Polish Siberian Deportees – Sybir – Prison of Nations. The recent unveiling of the memorial to the Oudtshoorn Polish WWII refugees and the Oudtshoorn Polish Heritage Trail will also be discussed.

Opening statements will be made by Mr Jacek Chorodowicz, head of the Polish Mission in Pretoria. Recorded presentations will be from Mr Wojciech Śleszyński, Director of the Sybir Memorial Museum, Museum historian Mr Tomas Danilecki and Ms Julita Waś, Museum’s international business development manager. Stefan Szewczuk will launch the posters on behalf of the Sybir Memorial Museum.

Listening as Witnessing: Dori Laub and the Creation of the Fortunoff Archive
2025-12-14 21:00 - 22:00 (Europe/Helsinki) | Online
The Ghetto Fighters’ House invites you to the Talking Memory series

Conversations that Endure: In the Footsteps of Henry Greenspan and Dori Laub

Listening as Witnessing: Dori Laub and the Creation of the Fortunoff Archive

Sunday, 14 December 2025

Opening Remarks:Stephen Naron, Director, Fortunoff Archive

Guest Filmmaker:Ohad Ufaz

You are warmly invited to the second programme in the Talking Memory series, honouring the legacy of Dori Laub — psychoanalyst, Holocaust survivor, and co-founder of the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies. The event will open with remarks by Stephen Naron, who will reflect on Laub’s pioneering contributions and lasting influence on testimony and trauma studies. Following these remarks, filmmaker Ohad Ufaz will present and discuss the documentary The Listener, co-directed by Ufaz and Micha Livne, which offers a moving exploration of Laub’s life and his profound commitment to listening — conceived as an act of empathy and a bridge between past and present, memory and witness.

A pre-screening of The Listener will be made available to all registrants.

Register here:https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/9V1GcaeFRZqp8GFd3RWIWw

Time:2 PM EST | 8 PM CET | 9 PM SAST | 9 PM Israel Time

This programme is presented in partnership with the Holocaust Educational Foundation of Northwestern University, the Rabin Chair Forum at George Washington University, the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute, the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, and Classrooms Without Borders.

Please note the JHGC and Issy's are closed on 25 and 26 December
2025-12-25 08:00 - 2025-12-26 17:00 (Europe/Helsinki) | Gauteng

Please note the JHGC and Issy's are closed on 1 and 2 January 2026
2026-01-01 08:00 - 2026-01-02 17:00 (Europe/Helsinki) | Gauteng

Beneath the Skin Exhibition Opening
2026-01-18 15:00 - 16:30 (Europe/Helsinki) | Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 1 Duncombe Rd, Johannesburg, Gauteng, 2193, South Africa
Mike Fisher is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans Cape Town, Santander (Spain), and the United Kingdom. For over four years, he has been deeply engaged in the development of a sustained body of work rooted in Holocaust memory, testimony, and material witness. This practice is driven by extensive research, creative exploration, and profound personal commitment—marked by what he describes as blood, sweat, and tears.

At the heart of Fisher’s work is storytelling through art as a primary language. He believes art moves the spirit and touches the soul on a level far deeper than words or sound, reaching the core of what it means to be human. His work is not illustrative; it is experiential and material, asking the viewer not simply to look, but to stand, to witness, and to remember.

All works are available for sale. As a self-funded artist, Fisher hopes this body of work will one day be represented internationally within museum and gallery collections, as well as private collections worldwide.

For further information or enquiries, Mike Fisher can be contacted at fishermike@icloud.com.

The opening will include an address by Mike Fisher and a walkabout of the exhibition.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day Commemoration 2026
2026-01-29 18:30 - 21:30 (Europe/Helsinki) | Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 1 Duncombe Rd, Johannesburg, Gauteng, 2193, South Africa
About the Event

The Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre invites you to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2026 with an evening of reflection, scholarship, and film.

The programme includes formal remarks, a candle-lighting ceremony, a keynote address by Professor Rolf Wolfswinkel, and a screening of the documentary Lost City—a powerful exploration of complicity, memory, and moral responsibility in wartime Amsterdam.

Keynote Speaker

Professor Rolf WolfswinkelProfessor of Modern History (ret.), University of Cape Town & New York University

Born in Amsterdam during the Second World War, Professor Wolfswinkel has published widely on trench warfare in the First World War, the German occupation of the Netherlands, and the Holocaust. He has lectured extensively in South Africa, the United States, and the Netherlands, and is known for his ability to illuminate the human consequences of historical events through rigorous archival research.

About the Film: Lost City

A groundbreaking archival discovery reveals a hidden chapter in the tragic story of Anne Frank and tens of thousands of Dutch Jews: the complicity of the Amsterdam Public Transport company (GVB) in the Nazi deportation system.

Emmy Award–winning filmmaker Willy Lindwer and historian Guus Luijters uncovered an invoice issued by GVB to the German occupation authorities—charging 80 guilders (approximately $4,500 today) for transporting Anne Frank, her family, and many others to their deaths. In seeking payment for these transports, the company became an unwitting accomplice in Nazi crimes.

Presented as a poignant road movie, Lost City features the original tram used to deport 48,000 Jews from Amsterdam—nearly half of the Netherlands’ Jewish population—retracing its route through the city’s hauntingly beautiful yet morally burdened streets. A survivor’s reflection captures the collective indifference of the time:“Everybody knew, everybody saw it, and nobody took action.”

The film offers a profound new perspective on the murder of Amsterdam’s Jews and the city’s enduring loss of its Jewish soul.

Attendance is free but booking is essential.

An Unexpected Find in Amsterdam
2026-01-30 11:00 - 12:30 (Europe/Helsinki) | Gauteng
Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, in partnership with Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung, invites you to a public talk by historian Prof. Rolf Wolfswinkel.

About the event

During a research visit to the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation, Prof. Wolfswinkel made an unexpected discovery: a thin folder of letters from the German Occupying Administration detailing how Dutch libraries were to deal with the books and films of Erich Maria Remarque, author of All Quiet on the Western Front.

Although Remarque himself had escaped to the United States, his work became the target of systematic censorship. The responses of librarians and library boards offer a revealing insight into how institutions and individuals attempted to accommodate — and survive — even the most extreme ideological demands.

This talk explores censorship, compliance, and moral choice under occupation, using this archival find as a lens onto broader questions of power and resistance.

About the speaker

Prof. Rolf Wolfswinkel is a retired Professor of Modern History at New York University and the University of Cape Town. Born in Amsterdam during the Second World War, he has published extensively on trench warfare in the First World War, the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, and the Holocaust. He has served as a guest lecturer in the United States, South Africa, and the Netherlands.

Film Screening: The Commandant's Shadow
2026-02-01 14:30 - 16:30 (Europe/Helsinki) | Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 1 Duncombe Rd, Johannesburg, Gauteng, 2193, South Africa
As part of our programmes commemorating International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, in partnership with the British High Commission in Pretoria, invites you to a screening of the documentary The Commandant’s Shadow.

About the Film

The film, The Commandant’s Shadow, follows Hans Jürgen Höss, the 87-year-old son of Rudolf Höss, as he faces his father’s terrible legacy for the first time. His father was the Camp Commandant of Auschwitz and masterminded the murder of over a million Jews. The life of Hans and his family was recently fictionalised in the Academy Award-winning film, The Zone of Interest. Now, The Commandant’s Shadow, tells the story of the real people who lived on site at Auschwitz. While Hans enjoyed a happy childhood in the family villa at Auschwitz, Jewish prisoner, Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, was trying to survive the notorious concentration camp. At the heart of this film is the historic and inspiring moment – eight decades later – when the two come face-to-face in Anita’s London living room.

Film Screening: The Shadow of the Day (L’Ombra del Giorno)
2026-02-08 14:30 - 17:00 (Europe/Helsinki) | Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 1 Duncombe Rd, Johannesburg, Gauteng, 2193, South Africa
As part of the programme marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, in partnership with the Italian Cultural Institute, invites you to a screening of The Shadow of the Day (L’Ombra del Giorno).

About the Film

Set in Fascist Italy, the film tells a quiet but gripping love story unfolding in a time of growing danger. Luciano, a restaurant owner and supporter of the regime—like the vast majority of Italians of the period—believes he can live according to his own rules, insulated from the political turmoil beyond his doors.

As ominous signs gather in the ancient square outside his restaurant, a young woman named Anna appears, carrying a secret. When she is hired to work there, Luciano’s carefully controlled world begins to unravel. From that moment on, nothing is the same. Alongside the external threats closing in, he must confront the greatest danger of all: love.

Tender and tense, The Shadow of the Day is a love story set against the moral compromises and uncertainties of a dark historical moment.

Webinar: Hidden in Plain Sight: A Conversation with Julie Brill
2026-02-12 18:00 - 19:30 (Europe/Helsinki) | Gauteng
About the Book

In Hidden in Plain Sight: A Family Memoir and the Untold Story of the Holocaust in Serbia, readers encounter a powerful and largely untold chapter of Holocaust history, told through one family’s story and a daughter’s enduring quest to understand the past that shaped her life.

From childhood, Julie Brill struggled to comprehend how her father survived as a young Jewish boy in Belgrade, where Nazis murdered 90 percent of the Jewish population—without gas chambers or cattle cars. Through meticulous research, chance discoveries, and three deeply emotional journeys to Serbia, Brill pieces together her family’s lost history, uncovers long-buried secrets, and restores to her father something the Nazis tried to erase: his own family story.

About the Author

Julie Brill is the author of Hidden in Plain Sight, which Menachem Kaiser has called “a powerful reminder of why our stories—personal, familial, historical—are so crucial.” She has written for Haaretz, The Forward, Kveller, The Times of Israel, Balkan Insight, and Boston’s National Public Radio station, among others. Brill regularly shares her family’s Holocaust history with middle and high school students through 3GNY and is a co-facilitator for Living Link’s WEDU training, working at the intersection of memory, education, and intergenerational dialogue.
