{"id":2033,"date":"2016-01-08T13:47:37","date_gmt":"2016-01-08T13:47:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jewishmuseum.org.uk\/2016\/01\/08\/memory-quilts-giving-history-a-human-face\/"},"modified":"2018-09-14T14:23:48","modified_gmt":"2018-09-14T13:23:48","slug":"memory-quilts-giving-history-a-human-face","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jewishmuseum.org.uk\/2016\/01\/08\/memory-quilts-giving-history-a-human-face\/","title":{"rendered":"Memory Quilts – Giving History a Human Face"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Alice McDermott, Learning Team Intern<\/p>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

During Alice\u2019s time as a Learning Team Intern at the museum she worked on producing resource packs for our Memory Quilts: Triumph Over Adversity<\/a> exhibition. These packs explore in depth the stories of some of the Holocaust survivors (\u2019The Boys\u2019) whose lives are represented on the quilts.<\/p>\n

\n

Having spent
\nthe past couple of months getting to know the life stories of several survivors,
\nfinally meeting some of them at the launch of The Quilt exhibition was a
\nsurreal experience.<\/p>\n

I had read their books and newspaper interviews, watched
\ntheir speeches and accounts online and trawled through archives looking for
\nphotos and objects. Any available resource was potentially a precious nugget of
\ninformation that represented a part of someone\u2019s journey, and their stories of
\nsurvival needed to be handed sensitively.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It felt like a big responsibility,
\nand by the time I had gathered enough information to write the resource packs,
\nit felt like I knew them. And then, after two months of research, there they
\nwere in front of me with not a clue who I was!\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

Even though I had a million
\nthoughts and questions whizzing round my head, I merely introduced myself and
\nshook the hands of Josef Perl and his wife Sylvia, Ben Helfgott, Mala Tribich,
\nDavid Herman\u2019s daughter Julia (above, with the quilt), and smiled at Esther Brunstein. It was a special
\nevening.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nWriting the resource packs (pictured below) was a very interesting and at times emotional task.
\nI wanted so much to accurately depict the lives of these amazing people, and to
\ndo their stories justice.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For me this meant including the more traumatic
\ndetails that the survivors had chosen to talk about in books or testimonies,
\nand as a result the section of each resource box that covers \u2018Life during the
\nHolocaust\u2019 may be difficult to read.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

I feel that being honest about the details
\nof ghetto life and camp experiences is essential in understanding the magnitude
\nof the feat that is their survival of the Holocaust, and that it makes reading
\nthe section about their lives after they arrived in England all the more
\nuplifting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Researching and writing it all was a unique insight into the power of the human
\nspirit and of unwavering faith. I was very familiar with the narrative of the
\nSecond World War and the Holocaust, but piecing together stories solely from
\nthe perspective of Jewish survivors really does mean that \u2018history comes
\nalive\u2019, in the words of Josef Perl.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"image\"Josef Perl’s Quilt Square<\/small><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

That was what we set out to do in creating the resource packs \u2013 to give
\nvisitors the opportunity to learn more about some of the individuals behind the
\nsquares, and how their stories relate to the wider context of the Holocaust and
\nthe Jewish faith. As well as celebrating the achievements of The Boys with the
\nMemory Quilts exhibition, with the resource packs I wanted to give history a
\nhuman face.<\/p>\n

Visit Memory Quilts: Triumph Over Adversity<\/a> <\/i>until 7 February 2016\u00a0to explore the resource packs yourself.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Alice McDermott, Learning Team Intern During Alice\u2019s time as a Learning Team Intern at the museum she worked on producing resource packs for our Memory Quilts: Triumph Over Adversity exhibition. These packs explore in depth the stories of some of the Holocaust survivors (\u2019The Boys\u2019) whose lives are represented on the quilts. Having spent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[206,138],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMemory Quilts - Giving History a Human Face - The Jewish Museum London<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jewishmuseum.org.uk\/2016\/01\/08\/memory-quilts-giving-history-a-human-face\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Memory Quilts - 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