Announcements & News
- Details
Dear colleagues, we would like to invite you to watch!
- Details
Jews around the world celebrate Shavuot in honor of one of the most important events in history – the Sinai Revelation, during which God gave the Jews the Torah and the Ten Commandments, which became the moral and ethical foundation of all human civilization. It happened about 2500 years ago.
- Details
On May 25, another historical webinar was held on “The feat of a samurai and rescue of the Jews”, during which the audience had the opportunity to virtually meet the son of the Righteous Among the Nations Chiune Sugihara and the descendants of those to whom he gave a visa for life.
Among the issues discussed during the broadcast were, in particular:
- Who are “the Righteous Among the Nations” and why there are few Japanese among them?
- Is there a place for humanity in inhuman times, and who is capable of a feat for the sake of “others”?
- What is the “Samurai Code” contain, and why did the Japanese diplomat try to save European Jews?
- What is the price of the rescue, and what did Chiune Sugihara pay for his feat?
- What were the fates of the people rescued by the Japanese diplomat?
- Can we remember?
It is symbolic that both scientists and people whose fate was directly connected with Chiune Sugihara were invited to participate in the webinar as speakers. – his son and rescued descendants:
- Nobuki Sugihara (Belgium). Son of the legendary Japanese diplomat, Righteous Among the Nations Chiune Sugihara. Nobuki born in Japan in 1949, studied at the Hebrew University in 1968-1970. Married, has 4 daughters and 5 grandchildren. He currently lives in Antwerp.
-Hryhorii Abramovych (Belarus). Chief Rabbi of the Religious association of communities of progressive Judaism in the Republic of Belarus, deputy head of the Eastern European Union of Progressive Rabbis, founder and host of the International Cantor Festival, member of an interreligious group at Johannes Rau Minsk international education center.
-Borys Hersten (Belarus). Journalist, screenwriter. For the last 30 years he has worked in the press and on television in Belarus. Author of scripts for more than 40 documentaries, including on Jewish topics.
-Mykhailo Kemerov (Belarus). Executive director of the Religious association of communities of progressive Judaism in the Republic of Belarus. The creator of the film “Jews of Grodno: nostalgia for the future”. Editor and author of books and articles on the history of the Jews of Belarus, member of an interreligious group at Johannes Rau Minsk international education center.
- Abraham Tsimerinh (Israel). The youngest son of Israel Joel Tsimerinh, who was rescued by Chiune Sugihara. Abraham grew up in Netanya, served in the Israel Defense Forces, studied at Bar-Ilan University. Has 4 children.
-Chaim Chesler (Israel). Founder and chairman of the executive committee of the Limmud FSU project.
-Julia Shein (USA). Granddaughter of Pinkhos Zainhartena, who was rescued by Chiune Sugihara. Julia is a writer and editor of the magazine “THEESKIMM” in Washington.
-Dr. Aron Shneer (Israel). Israeli historian, author of books on World War II and the Holocaust, researcher of the National Institute of Remembrance for Victims of Nazism and Heroes of Resistance “Yad Vashem”.
-Dr. Igor Shchupak (Ukraine – Canada). Historian, director of “Tkuma” Ukrainian Institute for Holocaust Studies, Museum “Jewish Memory and Holocaust in Ukraine” (Dnipro), member of the German-Ukrainian and Ukrainian-Polish historical commissions. Author of more than 170 scientific papers on the history of World War II and the Holocaust, as well as history textbooks.
You can watch the full webinar on the YouTube channel of “Tkuma” Institute.
https://tkuma.dp.ua/en/the-latest-news?start=120#sigProId7023f646f0
- Details
Dear friends! We are sad to inform you that Moysey Fishbein – Ukrainian poet and translator, leading figure of Ukrainian and Jewish culture, true patriot of Ukraine died yesterday, on May 26, at the age of 74, after a long illness.
- Details
Dear friends,
“Tkuma” Ukrainian Institute for Holocaust Studies and Museum “Jewish Memory and Holocaust in Ukraine” receive many letters and messages, in the center of which are family histories of World War II period. All of them are the human dimension of the tragedies that unfolded in our country in the turbulent XX century. Each testimony, and sometimes an inquiry, a request for help in finding relatives and friends is a unique source that serves to reconstruct the most difficult pages of the past – the Holocaust, the Holodomor, the deportation of Crimean Tatars and other Crimean peoples, Soviet repressions and the fight against dissent in the USSR. Incoming materials are becoming part of the common cultural heritage accessible to a wide audience. “Tkuma” Institute scientific publications, seminars, video presentations and Museum “Jewish Memory and Holocaust in Ukraine” (Dnipro) exhibitions are not a complete list of forms for preserving and popularizing family memory of the past of Ukraine.
Recently, Marcin Maryszczak (now a resident of Warsaw) turned to “Tkuma” Institute. Mr. Maryszczak is looking for a Jewish woman named Mila, whom his family rescued in Zhytomyr during the Nazi occupation. We present the story, keeping the style:
“My grandmother and grandfather, father and his sister, who have already died, were born in Zhitomir and survived the occupation there. They were Ukrainians. From old stories, I know that during the occupation they hid Mila and her small child from the Germans. When the Soviet Army liberated Zhitomir, they left Ukraine, lost contact with Mila and never met again. I only know that this woman was called Mila. My grandfather was called Petr Sekmedinov, and my
grandmother was Maria Sekmedinova (nee Litvinchuk). They lived on 22 Sennaya Street (this is the pre-war name of the street) in Zhitomir. My grandfather worked as a car mechanic at the Department of Roads in Zhitomir, in addition, he was engaged in the manufacture of leather. My grandmother worked as an assistant accountant at the Stalin factory. They had two children – my dad Georges (Zhora), 1938, and his sister Neonil (Nile), 1935. My relatives left Zhitomir just
before the liberation of the city. They were afraid of repressions from the NKVD, since they [authorities - translator's note] did not manage to mobilize my grandfather in the Red Army when the Germans arrived. Thus, they remained in Zhitomir, and fate pushed them to Mila. I would really like to know if Mila survived and whether there was an opportunity to find her or her relatives. I would be grateful for any help".
If you have any information regarding the Sekmedinov family, or your own testimonies and family memories of the lives of relatives during World War II, the Holocaust, the Holodomor, the deportation of Crimean Tatars and other Crimean peoples, and you would like to share them with a wide audience, please send them by email to “Tkuma” Institute: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., email of Museum “Jewish Memory and Holocaust in Ukraine” scientific department
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call +380567177016, +380504522163.