"Auschwitz. No hace mucho. No muy lejos."
“Not long ago. Not far away” is probably the most breathtaking and thrilling exhibition that I’ve ever attended. Currently hosted in Madrid, the exhibition features more than 1,150 original artefacts and is not to be missed.
© Photo: Chrisa Lepida
According to Joanna Berendt of the New York Times, the exhibition, a joint venture between the museum and Spanish company Musealia, was developed to address rising anti-Semitism in Europe and educate younger generations increasingly out of touch with the history of the Holocaust. - New York Times
© Photo: Chrisa Lepida
For the first time in history, more than 600 original objects are exhibited in the first traveling exhibition on Auschwitz co-produced by Musealia and the State Museum of Auschwitz-Birkenau ; an emotional and rigorous journey through one of the darkest chapters in the history of humanity that will undoubtedly remove the conscience of the world. - auschwitz.net
Historical background
Auschwitz: The genesis of death camps
After the start of the second World War, the chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, Adolf Hitler, implemented a policy that came to be known as the “Final Solution.” His vision was to isolate Jews in Germany by subjecting them to dehumanising regulations and acts of violence. He became convinced that the “Jewish problem” would be only solved with the elimination of every Jew in his domain. The famous “death camps” have been soon created and Auschwitz became the largest Nazi concentration and extermination camp. Auschwitz was deemed an ideal death camp location since it was situated near the center of all the German-occupied countries on the European continent while at the same time it was in close proximity to the string of the rail lines that were used to transport the detainees to the Nazi camps.
More than 1,100,000 people were killed behind its barbed wire while nowadays, Auschwitz is considered to be a universal warning of the dangers of hatred, intolerance and anti-Semitism.
“Birkenau completely lacks a “soul” not even an evil one, and what’s even more incredible, this place is still able to suck out your own soul, exactly like the black holes do with light”.
© Photo: Chrisa Lepida
The exhibition
Visiting this exhibition has left me somehow speechless. I couldn’t define my feelings but I could definitely say that everything felt at least "surreal". It’s that kind of exhibitions that literally slap you in the face and leave you wondering about the limits of the human barbarity. Rooms filled with shoes, clothes, items used for the dehumanising crimes, suitcases of the victims and much more, prove that those who survived Auschwitz lived through one of the 20th Century's worst acts of hatred and inhumanity- the realia exhibited simply terrify the visitor. Here are some of the pictures I’ve taken upon my visit. It’s a no doubt “must-visit” exhibition while in Madrid!
© Photo: Chrisa Lepida
© Photo: Chrisa Lepida
© Photo: Chrisa Lepida
Art Canal Exhibition Center
Paseo de la Castellana, 214, 28046 Madrid, ΙσπανίαThe exhibition will remain at the Art Canal Exhibition Center in Madrid till the 3d of February, 2019.
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The author
Chrisa Lepida
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