Mission
“What we can know for certain about the 21st century – and one of its most significant characteristics – is that this will be the century in which the survivors of the Holocaust will die. Every one of them. This will change the world; it will change language and the way we speak – at least in those parts of the world where the Holocaust is spoken of, where it remains a human subject…” (Péter Esterházy)
Very few visual documents have survived from the Holocaust, and even those are mostly hidden deep within archives. By connecting the surviving photographs with the locations that still exist as tangible reality for later generations, we can lift the visual experience preserved in images from the distant pages of history. The witness of the photographer becomes complemented by our own act of witnessing – as, by looking at the image, we too become witnesses to the events.
This approach allows us to show the events once again, bound to the very places where they occurred – often within the familiar spaces of our everyday life. By clicking on the photograph, one may discover that what took place happened on the very same street we walk along each day. The photograph thus no longer depicts an abstract “Holocaust”, but concrete people at a specific site – a place where, today, any of us could be photographed.
The project entitled see and save aims, through this new perspective, to support both the research and presentation of the history of the Holocaust. Photographs taken during the Holocaust are made accessible within a temporal and geolocation framework. In this way, we bring the visual material out of archival obscurity and closer to those who otherwise might never encounter it.
Through the organisation, mapping, identification and labelling of various photographs and films, previously unknown connections will also be revealed. This technological approach may even help to answer questions that have so far remained unresolved regarding certain film sequences and photographs.
Each of us has a responsibility towards this chapter of our shared past.
Because the Holocaust is not only history – it is also a warning (Timothy Snyder). Because it happened once, therefore it can happen again (Primo Levi). And also because those who cannot speak must be spoken for by those who can (Péter Esterházy).
“Those who were there speak and remain silent differently; and because of that, those who were not there also speak and remain silent differently. There is something frightening and awe-inspiring in this new solitude, as the survivors slowly leave us and we are left alone. […] Do we wish to forget what happened, as if it were a bad dream – thereby declaring all suffering meaningless and futile – or do we wish to accept it as one of humanity’s and civilisation’s great traumas? This is the great question of the language of the 21st century: do we wish to forget, or – even if we cannot comprehend – to preserve Auschwitz in its terrible humanity? In other words: do we live through neurosis or through culture? When a human being is left alone – and that, too, is the 20th century – they are lost. The individual has no chance; only humanity has a chance.” [Péter Esterházy, The Bermuda Triangle]
It is difficult to remember the victims again and again. What has happened, by its very nature, slowly turns motionless – becoming “the past”, “history” – and slips through our fingers like sand. For this very reason, we must strive to remember every victim in some form. We must prevent the Holocaust from becoming merely a dusty file on the shelves of history.
Be our companion in this endeavour!
Be our partner, our colleague – one who shares our goal, contributing through their work, their photo archive, or their image-processing activity to the growth and maintenance of this collection.
Be our supporter – whose financial assistance makes possible the creation, operation and development of the project.
Colleagues
Ágnes Geréb, Dorka Herner, Jakab Erdély, János Herner, Eszter Stáhl, Gábor Heller, Johanna Domokos, Ákos Szilágyi,