On the occasion of International Museum Day, which was celebrated this year on May 18, the Museum “Memory of the Jewish People and the Holocaust in Ukraine” hosted a series of special events — a unique exhibition, a guided tour, and even a prize raffle for visitors.
As a gift to all guests, entrance to the Jewish Museum was free on this day. The central event was the official opening of the temporary exhibition “A Century of Ukrainian-Jewish History: Photos and Stories 1920–2024”, prepared by the international Jewish history institute Centropa. The exhibition was presented by Dr. Iryna Radchenko, Director of the Museum. “The main goal of this exhibition is to show the history of Jewish life in Ukraine during the 20th century through the lens of photographs and oral testimonies, to uncover the lives and emotions of real people,” said Dr. Radchenko. “This exhibition will not leave anyone indifferent — it speaks not only about the past, but also about our present.”
The exhibition features 29 panels displaying historical and modern photographs, along with life stories of Jews who witnessed and participated in key events from 1920 to 2024. The first part documents Jewish community life in Ukraine before and during the Holocaust, based on over 260 interviews and 3,000 archival photos. The second part showcases recent photographs by American photographer Edward Serotta and Ukrainian photographers M. Levin and T. Kovalchuk, capturing Jewish life in Lviv, Kyiv, Chernihiv, Odesa, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Kharkiv.
The festive program continued with a traditional guided museum tour, which drew many guests despite the rainy weather.
The celebration concluded with a prize raffle, where every visitor had a chance to try their luck and win pleasant and useful gifts.
