Ensemble of the hebrew play "The Eternal Jew", June 16, 1943 (Yad Vashem, Jerusalem) [Please click]

Poster, Announcement of the play "The Eternal Jew", June 16, 1943 (Lithuanian Central State Archive, Vilnius) [Please click]

The Jewish Museum of Frankfurt presents for the first time Vilna Ghetto Posters - the last cultural testimonies of Jewish Vilna, once known as the Jerusalem of Lithuania. The exhibition is taking place on occasion of the Frankfurt Book Fair 2002, featuring Lithuania as Guest of Honor.

From 1941 to 1943, over 40.000 Jews were forced under Nazi rule to live in a ghetto. By the end of 1941, already half of the ghetto population had been murdered. Despite the omnipresence of death, the ghetto prisoners strived to maintain cultural life. Posters were made to announce concerts and theater plays, lectures and sport events. In a most striking manner, these posters bear witness to the ghetto prisoners' unbreakable will for survival. A will which, despite the daily terror, was stronger than iron.

Poster, Commemoration service for the teacher and musician Jacob Gershteyn, October 4, 1942 (Lithuanian Central State Archive) [Please click]

The ghetto posters are a unique cultural testimony, which for years were buried in oblivion. The Jewish Museum of Frankfurt is now, for the first time, presenting a selection of 45 ghetto posters from the Lithuanian Central State Archives. They will be shown with citations from diaries and songs of the Vilna ghetto, with documents and photographs. In addition, the exhibition offers an overview of Jewish culture in Vilna before 1940/1 and of the strenuous reconstruction of Jewish life in Vilnius since 1944 until the present day by means of historical film material, photographs and interviews with survivors.

Shtarker fun ayzn is organized by the Jewish Museum of Frankfurt and the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture and is presented in German and English.

The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated catalogue in German with essays and memoirs, which offer a comprehensive outline of Jewish culture in Vilna before 1941 and cultural life in the Vilna Ghetto (1941-43).

A variety of events accompany the exhibition: a music performance with Vilna Ghetto songs, readings by survivors and Lithuanian Jewish authors, and lectures and discussions.

The Lithuanian Ministry of Culture and the Federal Foreign Office of Germany are generously supporting the exhibition and the catalogue.

Opening hours:
Daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wednesdays until 8 p.m.,
Mondays closed

For booking guided tours please contact:
+49-(0)69-212 38804

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Information on the exhibition
Daniela Eisenstein
Jüdisches Museum Frankfurt
Untermainkai 14/15
60311 Frankfurt am Main
Phone: 069-212 38804
Fax: 069-212 30705
E-Mail

Press contact
Margarete Schwind
SCHWINDKOMMUNIKATION
Schadowstr. 4
60596 Frankfurt am Main
Phone: 069-60 62 86 61
Fax: 069-62 97 70
E-Mail

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