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Temporary Exhibitions
FACES OF THE KAUNAS GHETTO: PHOTOGRAPHS BY ZVI HIRSH KADUSHIN – 1941 TO 1944
The exhibition will run from April 23 to July 27, 2025.The exhibition features a selection of photographs taken in the Kovno ghetto from 1941 to 1944, that document the lives of Jews imprisoned by the Germans. The images present a cross section of life that includes individuals, families, the orchestra, the destruction of the ghetto, and the exhumation of the bodies of the murdered at Kaunas Ninth Fort.The photographer, Zvi Hirsh Kadushin/George Kadish (1910-1997), was a former teacher and engineer at the Kaunas Jewish Gymnasium, who risked his life to document ghetto life using a small, self-made camera hidden in his clothing. Having accumulated more than a 1000 photographs, Kadish created one of the most comprehensive photographic archives in Europe reflecting everyday life in the Kovno ghetto. This visual legacy is today an essential source for study to understand the history of the Holocaust in Lithuania.The exhibition is presented in the museum of the Kaunas Ninth Fort – one of the primary execution sites of the mass murder of Jews during the Nazi occupation in Lithuania. The exhibition space is meaningful, as many of those documented by Z. H. Kadushin in the ghetto were murdered at Kaunas Ninth Fort. Their ...
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ANIMITAS by Christian Boltanski
Christian Boltanski (b. 1944 Paris, France, d. 2021, Paris, France)Animitas (Kaunas), 2021230 Japanese bells, Plexiglas, nylonChristian-Liberté Boltanski was born on September 6, 1944, two weeks after the liberation of France in World War II. During the war, his father, a Jew from Ukraine who later converted to Christianity, was hiding in the family apartment so as not to be found by the Nazis and French authorities.For over sixty years, the artist created works that offer meditations on fate, mourning and memory. Following his father’s death in 1987, Boltanski’s work increasingly focused on the Shoah (the Holocaust) as he incorporated the subjects of death and commemoration. Since this time, he also worked outside the museum in symbolic and charged places. When first approached for a commission to commemorate Kaunas 2022, Boltanski was drawn to significant sites associated to traumatic events and Jewish histories. The artist knew of the 900 French prisoners held at the Ninth Fort, who were imprisoned and executed alongside 30,000 other Jews from Lithuania, Austria, Poland, the Soviet Union and Germany. When we consider that his family lived in constant fear of his father being caught, this site also relates to the artist’s personal trauma.For Animitas (Kaunas), Boltanski put himself ...
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THOSE WHO STAYED by Bruce Clarke
Artist Bruce Clarke (FR) of Litvak origin created a two-part exhibition at Kaunas Ninth Fort Museum, which consists of the mural artwork “When we were Trees,” created for the inner courtyard of the museum, and the installation of sculptural objects “Survivors in Suspension,” exhibited inside the museum.Having raised the question of how art can treat the subject of the Holocaust and honour the victims murdered at the Ninth Fort, Clarke chooses metaphor in his work “When we were Trees.” Using the symbolism of trees and fire, as well as the excerpts from archive sources, the artist conveys painful historical events and reveals the extraordinary resilience of a person in a desperate situation.The installation “Survivors in Suspension” talks about the “in-between” existence of those who have survived traumatic and inhumane experiences.Clarke’s exhibition “Those who Stayed” became a part of the performance “The Wreckage of my Flesh.” It was prepared by dancer and choreographer Tebby W. T. Ramasike (NL) together with an international team. The sensitive performance combined the avant-garde current of Japanese dance butoh, elements of ritual, electronic music and visual art. The synthesis of these elements helped to express human experiences in the whirlwind of dramatic events and resistance to the terror of a ...
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STITCHED
During WWII and in the post-war period, large-scale deportations took place in Lithuania. It is estimated that more than 130,000 people were deported from Lithuania between 1940 and 1953. In the face of the threat of extinction, it was important to preserve identity and strengthen the spirit. Kaunas Ninth Fort Museum collects silent witnesses of the exile: unique small handicrafts made by deportees (vizitėlės, which are pieces of embroidery with a short text, memory books – decorative hearts with inscriptions, brooches, etc.). These handicrafts are a material embodiment of memory, resistance and identity. They were brought to Lithuania by the deportees from the harshest parts of the Soviet Union. The textiles contain individual stories and accumulated knowledge, as well as become a message or a sign to be sent and received.Authentic handicrafts of the deportees and their creators’ stories are the foundation of the exhibition at the museum. In the exhibition, the historical perspective will merge with the artistic one as the museum treasures will become a reflection for seven artists: Džiugas Karalius and Giedrius Bučas, Marius Jonutis, Eglė and Rokas Kašėtos, Lina Jonikė and Greta Kardi-Kardišiūtė. Inspired by the handicrafts made in exile, they will create original works that ...
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(UN)FILLED VOID
On June 14, 1941, at night, a mass forceful deportation of Lithuanian citizens to the most severe USSR areas started. Deportations aimed at changing social and national composition of citizens and suppress resistance to the occupation regime. In the echelon formation places, at train stations, families were divided into two groups: ‘Group A’ consisted of ‘heads of family’,’ and ‘Group B’ – of ‘family members’,’ mothers, children, and grandparents. People from ‘Group A’ were carried by convoy to forced labour camps and prisoner-of-war camps, and people from ‘Group B’ – to places of exile. In total, more than 17,000 people were deported from Lithuania during the four-day deportations.The exhibition “(Un)filled Void” conveys the drama of separation experienced by families after the repressions that occurred in June 1941. The members of the most socially vulnerable group of society (women, children, grandparents) that are captured in photographs from exile, metaphorically discover a connection with the breadwinner (husband, father, son) in daily life alongside the accompanying silhouettes of memory. The poems framed in the silhouette of a young man are symbolically presented as an expression of the emotional response. Their author, Lithuanian officer Alfonsas Kazlauskas, was arrested and separated from his wife, two ...
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UKRAINE: A SNAPSHOT OF REALITY
The exhibition will run from January 31 to February 28, 2025.“Ukraine: A Snapshot of Reality” is a documentary exhibition in which three creators – Eduardas Pontežis, Tomas Jenkelevičius, and Antanas Čeponis – share the stories of people impacted by the war in Ukraine. The exhibition features a collection of photographs depicting war-torn Ukraine alongside a documentary film that shares deeply personal narratives about life during wartime, the raw spectrum of human emotions, and the resilience to endure in the face of adversity.This project emerged from a voluntary initiative: during humanitarian aid trips to Ukraine, the creators captured the realities they encountered, documenting both what they saw and what they heard. The photographs depict ruins and the aftermath of war, as well as the daily lives of people – from desolate urban streets to families and their quiet struggles of daily life. Each image is a micro-narrative that reveals the impact of war through personal destinies.At the heart of the exhibition lies its emotional core – the documentary film, which captures shared accounts of wartime experiences, offering glimpses of both despair and hope. Every scene reflects the duality of war – the senseless destruction it causes and the fragments of humanity ...
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EXHIBITION FROM UKRAINE “CHILDREN…”
The exhibition is under the patronage of the First Lady of Lithuania, Diana Nausėdienė.The exhibition will run from November 5, 2024 to February 2, 2025.Exhibition “Children…” of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine during the Second World War is dedicated to the memory of Ukrainian children who died during the war in Ukraine.The exhibition was first presented in Ukraine on June 4, 2022, on the occasion of the Day of Remembrance of the Children who died as a result of russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine.russia kills Ukrainian childrenIn order to consolidate its power, an aggressive state is trying to deprive people of hope. What is a better way to do this than by killing children? russia is mercilessly hitting kindergartens, schools, hospitals and residential buildings with missiles. russia’s “peaceful citizens“ are calling on their army to kill and torture Ukrainian children. This is a sign of despair. The occupiers realise that they are going to lose; therefore, they tried to destroy as many lives and as many hopes as possible, without realising that in a free country, murder does not strengthen tyranny, but only causes more fierce resistance.Between February 24, 2022 and the beginning of October 2024, russia killed 579 Ukrainian children and ...
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BAKHMUT. THE FACES OF GENOCIDE 1942 | 2022
From August 23 to October 29, 2024The exhibition “Bakhmut. The Faces of Genocide 1942 | 2022”, organised by the National Historical Memorial Reserve “Babyn Yar”, will be on display at Kaunas Ninth Fort Museum from August 23 to October 29 this year. This is the first exhibition presented in the European Union by the “Babyn Yar”.The exhibition aims to draw parallels between the tragedy of the Holocaust in 1942, during which over 3000 innocent civilians, mostly Jews, were killed in Bakhmut, and the deliberate destruction of the city by russian occupiers in 2022-2023. This exhibition reveals the history of two genocides separated by eight decades, but both committed by repressive regimes: Nazi Germany and modern russia.Historical factsThe exhibition displays documents and photographs from the collections of Bakhmut Museum of Local History, which provide a detailed chronology of the historical events and allow an assessment of the scale of the Nazi crimes of 1942. It includes unique archival material, memories of witnesses and documents that became important evidence in the Nuremberg Trials.On January 11, 1942, more than 3,000 Jews and other peoples were imprisoned in the basement of a former NKVD building in Bakhmut. They were held for several days without ...
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ICONS ON AMMO BOXES
February 29 – September 15, 2024The exhibition “Icons on Ammo Boxes” by Ukrainian artists Sofia Atlantova and Oleksandr Klimenko consists of 19 icons from the Pietitus series.In 2014, when Russia’s aggression against Ukraine started, two Ukrainian artists, Sofia Atlantova and Oleksandr Klimenko, conceived a highly original and eloquent artistic project: they started painting icons on ammunition boxes. The artists noticed that the lids and bottoms of the boxes were very similar to the boards on which the icons were painted. This strange coincidence inspired them to start the project. Speaking about the idea, Klimenko said: “The New Testament idea of ‘reforging weapons to ploughs’ was born from the Old Testament motif of getting out of hell (…). However, the exodus from hell could only take place as a victory over death, a victory through death.” The icons created on the parts of the ammunition boxes, like the cross, symbolise the transformation of death into life.The message conveyed by the icons in the exhibition is multi-layered. On the one hand, they are the work of talented Ukrainian artists. The icons combine modernity and tradition, focusing on the work of Byzantine-era icon masters. On the other hand, the story these icons tell ...
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LITHUANIAN JEWS WHO RETURNED FROM THE NAZI CONCENTRATION CAMPS by Kęstutis Grigaliūnas
The exhibition will be open until 02.02.2025The part of the artistic research (ongoing since 2008) “Death Diaries” – “Lithuanian Jews Who Returned From the Nazi Concentration Camps”.The author of the exhibition is Kęstutis Grigaliūnas, a laureate of the Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Art.The exhibition consists of the following: a book with the biographies of 2,700 Jewish people and an exhibition with the photographs of 333 faces and short biographies.Jewish people freed from Nazi concentration camps had no documents; therefore, they were interrogated in Soviet filtration camps in order to confirm their identity. Filtration files were opened for all of them.The aim of this research is to collect and present in one publication all the Lithuanian Jews mentioned in the filtration files and cards, which are in the Lithuanian Special Archive, and, most importantly, to compile the biographies of these persons (year and place of birth, place of residence, occupation, places of imprisonment, date of liberation, who liberated them, which filtration camps were used to return to Lithuania and where they settled here), as well as to mention all surviving or deceased relatives of these persons included in the filtration files.The material for this project has been collected from the filtration ...
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