Two exhibitions on the life of the Greek Jews before the Shoah

In the framework of Hannah project and its objective to promote Jewish life and contribute to a better understanding of Jewish traditions, the history and contribution of Jewish people in Europe before the Shoah, the Jewish Museum of Greece presents two very important exhibitions with photographic and audiovisual material that emphasizes on the life of the Greek Jews before the Shoah. These are the exhibitions “Images of Greek Jews“ and “Jewish Neighborhoods of Greece“. Both were originally presented in the JMG temporary exhibition area and later were digitized and are now accessible to the public.  

The research for the temporary exhibition “Jewish Neighborhoods of Greece” lasted four years. Through the photographs presented in this exhibition, the Jewish Museum of Greece attempts to present several aspects of life in the Jewish neighbourhoods of Greece, mostly before the war. The visitor is called upon to partake of familiar, timeless and universal stories, and to perceive a vivid, though of necessity partial, the image of a way of life rich in traditions and human relations, of a world that the war destroyed forever.

Respectively, the exhibition entitled “Images of Greek Jews”, through which the JMG gave access to its Photographic Archive that contains a large number of photographs covering every aspect of Jewish culture in Greece. The material in the Museum archive consists of original black and white photographs and printed copies, as well as colour prints and slides. All this material has been sorted into approximately one hundred subject areas to facilitate access and filing. The subject matter of the photographs is very rich and covers most aspects of the life of Jews in Greece from the late 19th century to the present day. The common denominator of the photographs chosen for this new JMG exhibition is their aesthetic value. The wealth of historical information caught on camera is delegated to a secondary role, since the primary aim of the exhibition is to please the eye and convey the atmosphere and style of an era.