Old Czestochowa Synagogue ceiling reimagined
"Both synagogues in Czestochowa were completely destroyed during the war. All we have are a few black and white photographs to refer to," says senior curator Sandy Saxon.
The Melbourne Holocaust Museum (MHM)’s new permanent exhibition, Everybody had a Name features an artistic reimagining of Perec Willenberg’s ceiling mural from the Old Czestochowa Synagogue which was destroyed during the Holocaust.
It has been reconstructed by Dr Anna Hirsh, MHM’s manager of collections and research, guided by a handful of photographs of the ceiling, Willenberg’s surviving artworks, and other historical and artistic references.
Dr Hirsh is speaking at the MHM tonight (Thursday) to discuss its re-creation, and explore the symbolic imagery embedded in Willenberg’s artwork. As part of the museum’s Czestochowa room, this re-creation is intended to be a tribute to Europe’s destroyed synagogues, inspiring a visual understanding of prewar Jewish religion and culture to Australian audiences.
Asked why the MHM has focused on Czestochowa in prewar Jewish life, senior curator Sandy Saxon said, “We wanted to give our visitors insight into prewar Jewish life in a typical town in Europe. We then selected Czestochowa as this ‘prototype’ town not only because of the significant Czestochowan community who settled in Melbourne after WWII, but also because two very significant objects came into our collection at the time of developing the permanent exhibition … a small wooden model of the Old Synagogue, built by survivor Chaim Sztajer, and a parochet (synagogue curtain) which was hung in the New Synagogue.”
Discussing the history of the old Czestochowa Synagogue, Saxon said, “Czestochowa’s first synagogue, consecrated in 1805, came to be known as the ‘Old Synagogue’. It was renovated in the late 1920s to accommodate its expanding congregation.
“Local artist Perec Willenberg was commissioned to paint murals on the ceiling and walls (like a latter-day Michaelangelo). His religious background and deep knowledge of Jewish symbolism informed his designs.
“Perec was well known for his synagogue art, and designed murals and stained-glass windows for other Polish synagogues in Piotrków Trybunalski and Opatów.”
As to how the MHM recreated it, Saxon said, “Both synagogues in Czestochowa were completely destroyed during the war. All we have are a few black and white photographs to refer to.
“We will never know what the complete ceiling really looked like, or the actual colours Perec used.
“You will see that the ceiling in the exhibition is broken into mosaic-like pieces to symbolise this complex nature of ‘reimagining’ what was lost,” Saxon added. “Both celebratory and mournful.”
The renovated MHM has a significant focus on using digital technology to educate.
MHM’s creative director of multimedia Arek Dybel said, “My general approach when creating the multimedia experience at the MHM was to deliver a media experience that is not overshadowed by technology but is humanly alive through survivor stories, their messages and the unique content and visual material from the period that exists.”
Fragments & Memories: A Re-Imagining of the Czestochowa Synagogue will take place tonight at 7pm at the Melbourne Holocaust Museum. To book visit bookings@mhm.org.au
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