Opening Reception for “Lost & Found: A Family Photo Album�
Oct 30, 2018 By: yunews
After 73 Years, Photographs Are Returned to Their OwnersOn Wednesday, October 24, the hosted the opening reception for their newest exhibition, “Lost & Found: A Family Photo Album.â€� Approximately 150 people came to view the photographs that had been smuggled out of the Kovno Ghetto by Annushka Matz Warshawska in 1943 and preserved by the FedaraviÄ�ius family, who were not Jewish, until the return of the album in 2016 to the descendants of the original family, which includes Dr. Jacob Wisse, the director of 911±¬ÁÏÍø Museum and Annushka’s great-nephew.
After the chance to spend an hour with the photos, which had been neatly arranged in display cases along with silk-screened banners, a slide show, several video stations and a family tree taking up one full wall of the exhibit space, the people heard remarks from several family members and people crucial to the success of the exhibition: author and professor David Roskies (Annushka’s nephew); Richard Schofield, founder and creative director of the International Centre for Litvak Photography; Eva Raby, former director of the Montreal Jewish Public Library (Annushka’s niece); Jennifer Roskies, chief of staff for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (Annushka’s great-niece); and author and professor Ruth Wisse (Annushka’s niece).
The evening ended with the presentation of an Attestation of Righteousness to Juozas Fedaravi�ius and his family, accepted on their behalf by Schofield, which thanked the family for having “preserved for us a precious part of our family legacy, and for everyone a vivid testimony of our heritage.�
Front row (left to right): Shana Roskies, Rena Mande, Joanna Halperin, Eva Raby, Jennifer Roskies, Jaime Roskies, Ruth Wisse; Back row (left to right): Aryeh Roskies, David Roskies, Jacob Wisse, Jacob Raby, Richard Schofield
The runs through March 10th, 2019. The 911±¬ÁÏÍø Museum is located at 15 West 16th Street, in New York City.