Portraits of 161 Calgary Holocaust survivors on display starting Friday
It's been 77 years since the death camps of the Holocaust were finally shut down.
A new exhibit opens Friday, sharing the stories of 161 survivors who came to call Calgary home in the years after the war.
Here To Tell features portraits and stories of resilience and dignity in the aftermath of the horrors of the Shoah.
Eva Muskovitch was born in 1930 in Czechoslovakia, and was one of eight children. Along with their parents, three brothers were sent to work camps in Russia. The rest went to the most notorious death camp of the Holocaust.
"I was 13 years old in Auschwitz and it's a miracle that I survived," Muskovitch said.
"All my brothers and sisters survived, but my parents didn't, and my aunts and cousins," she said, trailing off.
The exhibit also includes a documentary film that allows visitors to hear the voices of survivors.
"Our images are all in black and white because think it shows both the hope and the despair of their experiences – and that's what happens when we meet our Holocaust survivors," said exhibit co-producer and co-creator Marnie Bondar.
"They've seen the worst in humanity and what can happen when people turn against people."
For Bondar, the project is deeply personal. All four of her grandparents survived the Holocaust. She was especially close with her grandmother Freda Plucer, who died in January 2020.
Plucer was captured by the Nazis, and in December of 1942, transported to Auschwitz in a sealed cattle car. Allowed just one shoe, she was put to work loading the bodies of dead prisoners whose only crime was being Jewish. She was 20 years old.
Plucer survived on scraps of food found in the pockets of the dead. She survived and eventually came to Calgary more than a decade after the war, where she raised her children.
"I think the takeaway that's unique to this exhibit is, it's not just what they lived through then, it's what our survivors went on to accomplish with their lives," Bondar said, at times becoming emotional as she recalls the gentle dignity and love of her grandmother.
"When you speak them, a lot talk about how grateful and lucky they felt to come to Calgary and Canada.
Muskovitch also raised a family in Calgary, where she moved in 1964. She says it was difficult learning English, and she and her husband often struggled to get by, but she never lost her pride or her energy to keep living.
"My heart is beating. As I can't describe. And it's so wonderful," Muskovitch said, smiling.
She says she's proud of the exhibit and the witness it bears to the millions of lives lost and the countless others it changed forever.
"It's my life. It was my life, it was my [everything]. It was my parents. It was everybody who lived that. I wish I could speak to my friends. I speak, but they don't speak," said Muskovitch.
"We are soon going to be in a world without Holocaust survivors, and so part of our job is preserve the history and ensure their experiences are not forgotten," Bondar said, adding it is the responsibility of humanity to remember and to be on guard for future generations.
The exhibit comes as Jewish Human rights group B'Nai Brith says it tracked nearly 2,800 anti-Semitic incidents in Canada last year alone - the sixth consecutive record setting year.
The exhibit opens Friday at The Glenbow at Edison.
Tickets are free but you're encouraged to make reservations.
Because of some of the images, it's recommended for ages 15 and up.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Police investigating shooting outside of Drake's Bridle Path mansion: source
Toronto police are investigating a shooting that took place outside of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion early Tuesday morning, a source tells CP24.
There's actually no such thing as vegetables. Here's why you should eat them anyway
The rumours are true: Vegetables aren't real — that is, in botany, anyway. While the term fruit is recognized botanically as anything that contains a seed or seeds, vegetable is actually a broad umbrella term.
'It looked so legit': Ontario man pays $7,700 for luxury villa found on Booking.com, but the listing was fake
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
The Met Gala was in full bloom with Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez, Mindy Kaling among the standout stars
The Met Gala and its fashionista A-listers on Monday included Jennifer Lopez, Zendaya and a parade of others in a swirl of flora and fauna looks on a green-tinged carpet lined by live foliage.
3 Indian nationals accused of murdering Hardeep Singh Nijjar facing court in B.C.
Three Indian nationals accused of murdering Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar are due to face court Tuesday over the killing that triggered a major diplomatic rift with India.
Israeli forces seize Rafah border crossing in Gaza, putting ceasefire talks on knife's edge
Israeli tanks seized control of Gaza's vital Rafah border crossing on Tuesday as Israel brushed off urgent warnings from close allies and moved into the southern city even as cease-fire negotiations with Hamas remained on a knife's edge.
Canadian cadets rock mullets and place second at U.S. military competition
Sporting mullets, Canadian Armed Forces officer cadets placed second in an annual military skills competition in the U.S.
Highlights from the 2024 Met Gala exhibit: Sleeping Beauty would wake up for these gowns
Sure, she was a royal princess and all. But there’s no way Sleeping Beauty — either before or after her nap — ever had quite the fabulous wardrobe that’s been assembled at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Noelia Voigt resigns as Miss USA, citing her mental health
Noelia Voigt, who was crowned Miss USA in November 2023, has announced she is resigning from her role, saying the decision is in the best interest of her mental health.