Until 21 April 2024 at the mahJ
Thanks to Pierre de Girord’s donation of 400 photographs and documents to the mahJ, visitors will be able to appreciate the fascinating Jewish history of Greece’s mythical city. The works are all the more interesting in that they combine the golden age of Thessaloniki’s Jewish community with the beginnings of photography, as artists and ordinary enthusiasts seized on this new art form to share the adventures and glimpses of this vibrant city.
Salonique, « Jérusalem des Balkans », 1870-1920. | Musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme (mahj.org)
Until 13 December 2023 at the National University Library in Strasbourg
David the warrior king and Solomon the man who built the Temple in Jerusalem. How have these two great kings of Israel, key figures in the Bible, been perceived over time? This is what this exhibition is all about, showing the extent to which they are present not only in artistic works but also in the collective imagination, having inspired artists, authors, politicians and popular culture, as can be seen in Florence, the Strasbourg cathedral, Ethiopia and many other places…
Sacres Rois ! David & Salomon a travers les ages : Exposition a Strasbourg (dna.fr)
Until 8 January 2024 at the Chagall Museum
This three-part exhibition celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Musée Chagall, created on the artist’s birthday, 7 July 1973, when it hosted the Biblical Message cycle. To mark the occasion, contemporary artists and writers share their readings of Chagall’s paintings, with a host of events organised on 7 July 2023 and continuing, as the museum has decided to extend this major event.
13 December 2023 at the Centre Fleg
Since the klezmer season is eternal, depending on one or two instruments and a desire to find a smile in the face of adversity, the Centre Fleg is organising this concert by the group Basilic Swing. An evening to celebrate Hanukkah by blowing out candles to the rhythms of jazz, klezmer and gypsy music.
From 1 December 2023 to 25 February 2024 at the Musée de la Résistance et de la Déportation de la Haute Garonne
Spirou, a well-known character in Belgian comics, is plunged into the terrible period of the Occupation. The daily life of the Brussels teenager during the Second World War is examined in the work of Emile Bravo. His motivations and doubts in the face of the Nazi war machine, and the gradual loss of the young man’s naivety in the face of anti-Jewish discrimination and other violence.
Until 3 March 2024 at the Shoah Memorial
Charlie Hebdo cartoonist Riss was sent by the newspaper to cover this historic trial. It was a long wait for a senior Vichy official to be brought to justice, and many survivors were able to testify. The 400 drawings by Riss are on display at the Memorial, allowing visitors to immerse themselves in this moment and to understand, with the stroke of a pencil and a glance, the importance of this story for future generations, twenty-five years after the trial.
Mémorial de la Shoah | Boutique en ligne (memorialdelashoah.org)
3 December 2023 at the Shoah Memorial
On the occasion of the publication of the book “Jewish History of France” by Sylvie-Anne Goldberg, the theme of the memorial approach to the Shoah in France will be discussed. As Simone Veil pointed out in her autobiography, there was little or no room for survivors’ voices in the aftermath of the war. With the passage of time, and the confrontation with this theme, the cultural and political spheres began a profound work of remembrance.
Mémorial de la Shoah | Boutique en ligne (memorialdelashoah.org)
20 January 2024 at the Medem Library
How was the body perceived and presented by the Yiddish press over time, the time of the body and the press according to the generations of authors and cartoonists? The evening devoted to this theme at the Medem Library, with curator Natalia Krynicka, will attempt to answer this question through the presentation of numerous archives. There will also be readings of texts by Moyshe Leyb Halpern, Rabbi Nakhman of Bratslav, Celia Dropkin, Anna Margolin and Arn Lutski.
La Nuit de la lecture 2024 : le corps – programme.yiddish.paris
Until 12 May 2024 at the mahJ
This exhibition, the first retrospective devoted to Joann Sfar in France, features almost 250 plates and drawings, many of them previously unpublished. The author of hundreds of works never leaves his notebook, alternating words and sketches, drawings and observations. From The Rabbi’s Cat to Little Vampire, from his early work with Marjane Satrapi and Riad Sattouf to his accompaniment of the works of classic authors revisited through his drawings, this exhibition will give you a better understanding of Sfar’s family and thematic inspirations. It will stir up a wide range of emotions, motivating you to dance to the klezmer rhythm of his graphic novels and question contemporary anti-Semitism.
Joann Sfar. La vie dessinée | Musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme (mahj.org)
9 December 2023 at the Medem Centre
Words and music accompany the presentation of this travel book about Ashkenazi cuisine, not a parade of recipes but an atmosphere, traditions and experiences. Elise Goldberg, the book’s author, and singer Muriel Missirlou will whet your appetite for gefilte fish and all the other flavours. Starting with the Hanukkah doughnuts that await you at the end of this event.
Until 28 January 2024 at the Drancy Shoah Memorial
Ginette Kolinka bears witness and accompanies groups of schoolchildren to Auschwitz, where she was deported at the age of 19. She was deported with her father, brother and nephew, who were all murdered there. Following a visit to Birkenau in October 2020, in the company of journalist Victor Matet and cartoonist Jean-David Morvan, an album will be published, “Adieu Birkenau”, recounting her life before, during and after the Shoah. The exhibition highlights each of these stages, presenting documents from the period. The courage and determination of Ginette Kolinka and other survivors has made it possible to pass on the memory of the Shoah to different generations and to combat Holocaust denial.
Until 8 July 2024
This bold exhibition tackles the complex question of how to share the memory of the Second World War to children. The Museum invites parents and children to explore four stories imagined by four authors and illustrators of children’s books. The themes stories chosen to embody the different themes are On Resistance:”Le sac à dos” by Géraldine Alibeu; On rationing: “Surplace” by Clarisse Lochmann; On prisoners of war: “Bien chère Angèle” by Romain Rousset; On Jewish children in hiding: “La guerre est arrive” by Jérôme Ruillier.
À (h)auteur d’enfant. Histoire(s) de guerre (isere.fr)
Until 23 December 2023 at the Montluc Prison National Memorial
This exhibition, produced by the Association des rescapés de Montluc (Association of Montluc survivors), provides a better understanding of the individual itineraries of the internees who were murdered or disappeared in the prison between 1943 and 1944. The exhibition uses the historic sites in Montluc where these people were imprisoned.
At the CHRD in Lyon
80 years after the death of the Resistance leader, this exhibition at the CHRD provides an opportunity to learn more about the man through the eyes of those who knew or studied him. Testimonies from relatives, witnesses and supporters, as well as detractors. Photos and written documents take visitors through the stages of his life, from his childhood to his arrest. A film from 1958 is also shown, and lectures are given on the links between Jean Moulin and Charles de Gaulle, as well as with Daniel Cordier.
Jean Moulin, les voies de la liberté | CHRD | Musée d’histoire | Lyon dans la guerre, 1939-1945
27 January 2024 at the Saint-Luc Chapel
This play, based on the work of Joseph Kessel, is adapted and directed by Ivan Morane. Kessel was France Soir’s correspondent in Jerusalem in 1961 during the trial of the Nazi leader Eichmann. This is an important work, providing a better understanding of the issues at stake at the time and today in the face of Holocaust denial. The presentation is part of the International Day for the Remembrance of Genocide and the Prevention of Crimes against Humanity. It is presented by Gérard Rabinovitch.
Conférences – Institut Universitaire Européen Rachi (institut-rachi-troyes.fr)
Until 23 December 2023 at the European Centre of Deported Resistance Members at Natzwiller-Struthof
This exhibition, produced in partnership with the University of Strasbourg, highlights the well-known and lesser-known links between the medical faculty of the Reichsuniversität Straßburg and the Natzweiler concentration camp. In particular, the “experiments” carried out on prisoners and the murders.
6 December 2023 at JEM Beaugrenelle
As a follow-up to the 34th Day of Jewish Culture and Books organised by Judaïsme En Mouvement (the Liberal movement in France), a conference will be hosted by Rabbi Delphine Horvilleur. It will bring together Charles Pépin, author of “Vivre avec son passé” (Living with your past) and Sonia Devillers, author of the novel Les exportés (The exported), a historical account of her Romanian Jewish grandparents.
Conférence: Sur les traces du passé… – Judaïsme En Mouvement (judaismeenmouvement.org)
30 November 2023 at Cercle Bernard Lazare
Rabbi Myriam Asckerman-Sommer and philosopher Michaël de Saint-Chéron, authors of the book “Revenir, dialogues sur les figures du retour dans la tradition juive” (Returning, dialogues on the figures of return in the Jewish tradition), will talk about this journey and its complexity. The book is published by Actes Sud.
Agenda | Cercle Bernard Lazare | Paris
28 November 2023 at the Caen Memorial
During the deportation of hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews, the Nazis photographed the operation in order to provide their superiors with proof that it had been carried out. These photos were found by a survivor when the camps were liberated. A book has been published by Tal Bruttmann, Stefan Hördler and Christoph Kreutzmüller, compiling these photos. Tal Bruttmann will present the book at this conference.
L’Agenda · Mémorial de Caen (memorial-caen.fr)
30 November 2023 at the Association Cultuelle Juive de Nancy
Jean-Pierre Sakoun, historian and research engineer at the CNRS, looks back at the life of the famous Resistance fighter. The president of Unité Laïque has written extensively on current affairs from a secular and republican perspective. He was also behind the fight for the pantheonisation of Mélinée and Missak Manouchian, which will take place in Paris on 21 February 2024.
Association Culturelle Juive de Nancy – maison ouverte des cultures juives (acj55.fr)
16 December 2023 at the GIL
The GIL, which regularly organises cultural events, is inviting Benoit Gobitz to speak on the theme of “Joseph, from decline to regency… with irreverence”. He will explore the stages in the saga of the biblical character, sold by his brothers to become Prime Minister of Egypt.
GIL – Cercle d’études avec Benoît GobitzCommunauté Juive Libérale de Genève
Until 16 June 2024 at the JHI
This exhibition is devoted to the work of Isaac Celniker, born in Warsaw in 1923 and a survivor of the concentration camps during the Shoah. After the war, he studied painting and moved to Paris in 1957, where he died in 2011. The day before he left for France, he had created illustrations for Yiddish publications. These drawings, which have a strong autobiographical theme, will be on display at the exhibition, providing a better understanding of his history and Polish Jewish life.
Until 31 March 2024 at the Jewish Museum Amsterdam
The museum is devoting an exhibition to the American artist Sol LeWitt, presenting four huge wall drawings, as well as sculptures and archives. The emphasis is on his relationship with the Netherlands. Dutch institutions played a major role in his work in the 1970s, with his first exhibition taking place at the municipal museum in The Hague. For this exhibition, the artist who is one of the founders of conceptual art and minimalist art is working with students from the Utrecht School of Fine Arts, who are accompanying him in his creations.
Sol LeWitt – Exhibition | Jewish Cultural Quarter (jck.nl)
From 2 March to 26 May 2024 at the Museum Rembrandthuis
This original exhibition highlights the links between Rembrandt’s work and the Amsterdam theatre scene of his time. The famous painter seems to have been greatly inspired by theatrical staging and the presentation of characters. Rembrandt’s work does not show the range of feelings that explode onto the canvas, but rather the outcome in the next moment, the result of an emotional rollercoaster. Like the painting of Susanna, where she is surprised to be spied on as she emerges from the bath, or the painting Joseph accused by Potiphar’s wife (1655).
Directed by Rembrandt – Rembrandthuis
26 November 2023 at the Oslo Jewish Museum
Every year on this date, the museum commemorates the deportation of Norwegian Jews during the Second World War. Inger-Lise Rothschild Grusd fled to Sweden six months after her parents, hiding first in Norway with anonymous people. As an adult, she set out to find out more, and in particular to find those who had saved her. She told her story in a documentary broadcast on NRK, which will be shown on the day. There will also be a discussion on the evolution of anti-Semitism after the war.
Arrangement (jodiskmuseumoslo.no)
16 January 2024 at the National Museum of Resistance and Human Rights
Claude Marx, who is in charge of the archives of the Consistoire israélite, worked on the Commission for the Spoliation of Jewish Property in Luxembourg. In this talk, he looks back on his life as a child hiding in a town in the Berry region in France during the war, and on his commitment to the memory of the Shoah. Claude Marx was also President of the Consistoire israélite de Luxembourg from 2016 to 2017.
At the Riga Jewish Community House
Students from the Jurmala School of Art are exhibiting their work in the Riga Jewish Community House. An initiative in keeping with the tradition of this art school, where artists study the history, culture and art of a country in order to create works of art. More than 200 schoolchildren took part in the project.
23 January 2024 at the Museo Ebraico di Trieste
The museum is organising the presentation of historian Giorgio Fabre’s book devoted to this sad era. The book was published by Il Mulino. The evening will provide an opportunity to discuss contemporary research into the anti-Semitism of that period, when Italy was ruled by Mussolini’s Fascist regime. The evening is organised by Alessandro Carrieri and Tullia Catalan, members of the Humanities Department at the University of Trieste.
The Grand Council of Fascism against the Jews – Museo Ebraico di Trieste (museoebraicotrieste.it)
Until 18 February 2024 at the Musei Capitolini
On 16 October 1943, the roundup of the Jewish ghetto in Rome took place. 1,259 people were arrested, including 207 children. Most were deported and murdered. Yael Calo and Liz Toaff have brought together numerous documents from the period, including newspaper cuttings, drawings and photographs, as well as objects from everyday life, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the roundup. It is the result of a lengthy project carried out in partnership with a number of institutions and archives in the Eternal City.
Expositions – Musée juif de Rome (museoebraico.roma.it)
Until 4 February 2024 at MEIS
Born in Nice in 1939 to Italian parents from Ferrara, Leo Contini Lampronti grew up and studied in Rome and Milan. He moved to Israel in 1967 with his wife Marcella Mayer and their two children Saul and Rosa. Hava, their third child, was born in Tel Aviv. An industrialist, he increasingly devoted himself to his passion for art and became a painter after a long training period, thanks in particular to Naftali Bezem and Pietro Maria Bardi. From the 1980s onwards, he exhibited all over the world. His daughter Hava and Yael Sonnino-Levy have organised this exhibition at MEIS, which marks the return of the artist and his work to Ferrara.