The recognition ceremony took place in the Museum of Holocaust Art, with the participation of former Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev, Zborowski Center Director Dr. Sharon Kangisser Cohen, current and past Managing Directors of the International Relations Division Dr. Haim Gertner and Shaya Ben Yehuda, Director of the US Desk in the International Relations Division Jeremy Weiss, Art Department Director Eliad Moreh-Rosenberg, and Yad Vashem Guardians Lilly Zborowski Naveh and Murry Zborowski.
At the ceremony, Lilly Zborowski Naveh recalled her late father Eli Zborowski's passion for telling the story of the rebirth of Holocaust survivors, and their remarkable contribution to postwar societies around the world. "The modern world in particular talks about "trauma"… but let's look at the people who went through the trauma [of the Holocaust] that cannot be compared to anything else and what they did with their lives afterwards. I know that is what drove my father to establish and fund this Center, and I appreciate and acknowledge its important accomplishments."
Murry Zborowski concurred with his sister's remarks, stating: "My parents never forgot what happened to them [during the war], but they were ingrained with joie de vivre. They had a moral understanding of how to live, how to contribute, how to connect Jews to one another… You, the ones who carry out Yad Vashem's work, take what we have felt and known throughout our lives and pass it on to other people – people who did not live through the Holocaust, people who aren’t Jewish, people who don't know – in order that they can understand, 'Who is this nation? What have we learned?'"
Following the ceremony, the Dr. Kangisser Cohen gave an interview to Yad Vashem Jerusalem, in which she looked back at its formative years, its achievements so far, and the challenges that lie ahead:
When and why was the Zborowski Center established?
Eli Zborowski, a survivor of the Holocaust, was a lifelong supporter of Yad Vashem and founded the American Society for Yad Vashem. Whilst involved with Yad Vashem's physical development – the Valley of the Communities and the building of the new Museum Complex, to name a few initiatives – he was particularly interested in researching and commemorating how survivors rebuilt their lives after the war. Thus, in honor of his late beloved wife Diana, also a Holocaust survivor, Eli decided to support the establishment of this important center at Yad Vashem's International Institute for Holocaust Research in 2008.
Dr. Zeev Mankowitz, who was an expert in the area of She’arit Hapleta and who published Life Between Memory and Hope: The Survivors of the Holocaust in Occupied Germany (Cambridge Univ Press), was appointed as first Director of the Center – a position he held until his passing in 2015. In a memoriam piece published in Yad Vashem Studies 43:1 (2015), Prof. Gidon Shimoni wrote: "The major significance of this work lay in its illumination of a salutary corrective to the prevailing view that the survivors were wretchedly helpless and passive people, wholly dependent on the humanitarian care of others and on the broader political concerns, even manipulations, of others. Mankowitz showed that the public that came to be known collectively as She’arit Hapleta was as much a 'saving remnant' as it was a 'saved remnant.'" Mankowitz's research into the inner history of the survivors indeed revealed that by and large they did not succumb to the despair, debilities and psychic wounds born of unendurable suffering. He did not portray them as sainted victims but as ordinary people who, in the main, got on with their lives to the degree that their difficult circumstances allowed, planned for the future, and preserved their humanity intact. At the same time, they evinced amazingly energetic organizational, social and cultural initiatives. In his words:
"The survivors envisaged themselves as the living bridge between destruction and rebirth, the last remnant of a world destroyed and the active agents of its return to life."
What do you think are the major landmarks of the Zborowski Center over the past decade?
The Center is unique in that its approach to the study of the early postwar period is interdisciplinary. Through this approach, it attracts scholars from a vast array of academic fields and from all over the world. As a result, the Center often hosts scholars who have not previously worked with Yad Vashem, and during the workshops are also are introduced to the its vast and valuable collections.
One of the most important activities is the Center's collaboration with other research institutes and universities. Presently it is working together with the at the American University in Paris in the publication of an edited volume of scholarly articles relating to the emotional journey of survivors in the postwar years. The publication is the result of a two-day workshop that was held via Zoom in 2020.
Undoubtedly, however, one of the most significant projects of the Center was the publication of a series of articles on how survivors regarded Europe after the war, edited by Zeev Mankowitz, David Weinberg and Sharon Kangisser Cohen. In this publication, scholars analyzed how some of the more well-known survivors – including Leo Baeck, Aharon Appelfeld, Elie Wiesel, Paul Celan and Marek Edelman – related to the continent of their childhood and victimization. This was followed by another Hebrew-language volume examining how survivors of the Holocaust encountered and related to Israel when they arrived, edited by Prof. Dalia Ofer.
Another central project of the Center is the publication of the diaries written by Holocaust survivor and renowned artist Yehuda Bacon. The teenage survivor began to write a dairy two months after his liberation and has continued until today. This rare document traces the emotional and physical rehabilitation of a child survivor throughout his life.
Why is it important that the topic of the aftermath of the Shoah is researched?
The immediate postwar era is a short period in historical time but one that shaped the lives of individuals, communities and societies. The impact of survivors who made their lives in Israel in other countries around the world is significant, often transforming the community itself. One case in point is the Jewish community of Sydney, Australia, which underwent a complete transformation as a result of the survivors who made Sydney their home.
It is also a period where we can see huge efforts made by survivors in rebuilding their physical, emotional and cultural worlds. It is a story in which survivors are active participants in their destiny, subjects of history in which they were dynamically involved in rebuilding their lives. It also provides an important reflection as to how the world reacted to the Holocaust – in terms of memory and commemoration, but also how they related to the survivors.
How is it relevant to us today?
The amount of research published on this period of time has grown tremendously in the past two decades. This could be a result of the cataloging and availability to the public at large of new source materials, especially those that relate to restitution organizations. However, the reason for the growing interest in this kind of research is arguably that it is simply a period of great complexity that raised so many fundamental questions.
The Zborowski Center provides a model as to how research can impact on policy; this in may be particularly relevant when dealing with how to best support survivors of trauma.
Research in this area may provide important lessons for the caregivers of millions of children and adults suffering today as a result of war and violence, and who are looking for ways to restore hope and instill resilience in their shattered lives.
What are the challenges of this kind of research?
Language is always a challenge – to find researchers who are equipped with the languages necessary to work with the original source materials – as well as the accessibility of the archival materials themselves. There are many collections which are still in archives around the world which have not been catalogued and therefore remain unavailable to researchers.
Furthermore, there has been a tendency towards a pathologization of the survivors; and this has been a critique regarding the field. We must be cognizant that while there were emotional challenges and vulnerabilities that survivors carried and continue to carry, there was also surprising resilience and a fierce determination to self sufficient and establish independent lives.
In which direction do you see research in this field leading in the next decade?
The Zborowski Center will continue its long-term project of the publication of the Yehuda Bacon diaries. The goal is to publish those diaries that date up until the establishment of the State of Israel.
During the last 18 months, as a result of the COVID 19 pandemic, the Center has hosted online scholarly lectures with researchers from around the world. This has increased the exposure of the Center and its activities, as well as providing an important forum for scholars to reach diverse global audiences. In view of this success, we will continue to organize these Zoom lectures in the coming year and possibly beyond.
In 2022, we will be hosting a research seminar together with Yad Vashem's Museums Division on the subject of artwork in the postwar period. I am also hopeful that the Center will continue to support emerging scholars who are interested in this fascinating area of human history, and forge ahead with strengthening relationships and collaborative projects with relevant research centers around the world.
This article originally appeared in the "Yad Vashem Jerusalem Magazine," volume 96.
