Between 27-31 January 2020, the Dr. Moshe Carmilly Institute for Hebrew and Jewish History and the Babeş-Bolyai University’s Academic Cultural Heritage Department, with the support of the Babeş-Bolyai University Museums, held a series of educational events at the Documentary Museum of the Holocaust in Northern Transylvania to commemorate the International Holocaust Remembrance Day (27 January). On this occasion, several groups of schoolchildren and their teachers from the Sigismund Toduță Music High School, Aurel Vlaicu Technology High School and Anghel Saligny Technology College of Cluj-Napoca enjoyed guided tours at the Documentary Museum of the Holocaust in Northern Transylvania. This event commemorated 75 years since the liberation of Auschwitz by the Soviet Army, and was part of a series of activities specially dedicated to the Babeș-Bolyai University’s centenary.

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2019

On 13 November 2019, the Virtual and Documentary Museum of the Holocaust in Northern Transylvania and the Babeş-Bolyai University’s Academic Cultural Heritage Department, through the Babeş-Bolyai University Museums, held the vernissage of an exhibition titled “Trembling silhouettes: Holocaust scenes as imagined by children”. The art projects in this exhibition were created by children aged 12-18 who studied the Holocaust with teachers certified by the teacher training programme titled “Teaching the Holocaust in the schools of Romania”, conducted between 2000-2010 by the Dr. Moshe Carmilly Institute for Hebrew and Jewish History. These drawings are part of the individual projects for teaching the Holocaust produced by the teachers studying on the training programme, which they presented to those newly enrolled the following year. The event speakers were Dr. Maria Radosav, Senior Lecturer and Director of the Dr. Moshe Carmilly Institute for Hebrew and Jewish History and coordinator of the abovementioned training programme, and Dr. Lucian Herșcovici (Jerusalem, Israel), guest lecturer. The exhibition was open to the public between 14-22 November 2019, between 11 AM-1 PM, on 11 Calea Moților, room 300. This event was part of a series of activities specially dedicated to the Babeș-Bolyai University’s centenary.

On 9 October 2019, the Dr. Moshe Carmilly Institute for Hebrew and Jewish History and the Babeş-Bolyai University’s Academic Cultural Heritage Department, with the support of the Babeş-Bolyai University Museums, in collaboration with the Cluj-Napoca City Hall’s Department for Education, Culture, Religion, Sports and Society, held an open day at the Documentary Museum of the Holocaust in Northern Transylvania to commemorate the National Day of Commemorating the Holocaust (9 October). On this occasion, over 400 schoolchildren and their teachers from various schools in Cluj-Napoca enjoyed guided tours at the Documentary Museum of the Holocaust in Northern Transylvania. This event celebrated two years since the official opening of the Virtual and Documentary Museum of the Holocaust in Northern Transylvania, and was part of a series of activities specially dedicated to the Babeș-Bolyai University’s centenary.

On Wednesday, 10 April 2019, the Dr. Moshe Carmilly Institute for Hebrew and Jewish History was honoured to host an official visit by His Excellency David Saranga, Ambassador of the State of Israel in Romania. H.E. has returned to his diplomatic mission in Romania after 20 years, having previously served as Deputy Ambassador at the Israeli Embassy in Bucharest between 1996 and 2000. On the occasion of his visit, H.E. visited the Documentary Museum of the Holocaust in Northern Transylvania (whose counterpart is the Virtual Museum of the Holocaust in Northern Transylvania available at holocausttransilvania.ro/en), located within the Institute itself. H.E. held discussions with the Institute members, was presented with the Institute’s recent research projects and publications, and met with undergraduate and postgraduate students of Jewish Studies, International Relations and Security Studies. During his visit, Ambassador David Saranga delivered a lecture titled “Digital Diplomacy. The Case of Israel”, centring on his innovative approach to European diplomacy practice and culture, and beyond. The lecture was a great success, prompting many questions and comments from the audience. The event was held in a symbolic setting, considering that the Institute is located within the former Shas Hevra Synagogue, on 13 Croitorilor Street, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

On 28 January 2019, the Dr. Moshe Carmilly Institute for Hebrew and Jewish History and Babeş-Bolyai University’s Academic Cultural Heritage Department, through the Babeş-Bolyai University Museums, in collaboration with the Cluj-Napoca City Hall’s Department for Education, Culture, Religion, Sports and Society, held an open day at the Documentary Museum of the Holocaust in Northern Transylvania to commemorate the International Holocaust Remembrance Day (27 January). On this occasion, over 100 pupils and their teachers from various schools in Cluj-Napoca enjoyed guided tours at the Documentary Museum of the Holocaust in Northern Transylvania.
Among the schools which attended the event were Colegiul Tehnic de Transporturi „Transilvania”, Liceul Tehnologic „Aurel Vlaicu”, Liceul de Informatică „Tiberiu Popoviciu” and Colegiul Economic „Iulian Pop”.
Our gratitude is owed to the Cluj-Napoca City Hall’s Department for Education, Culture, Religion, Sports and Society, and to our researchers at the institute for their assistance in organising this event.

On 9 October 2018, the Dr. Moshe Carmilly Institute for Hebrew and Jewish History and the Babeş-Bolyai University’s Department for Cultural and University Heritage, through the Babeş-Bolyai University Museums, in collaboration with the City Hall’s Department for Education, Culture, Religion, Sports and Society, organised an open day at the Documentary Museum of the Holocaust in Northern Transylvania. The event was held to commemorate the National Day of Commemorating the Holocaust in Romania (9 October). On this occasion, over 300 schoolchildren visited the Documentary Museum of the Holocaust in Northern Transylvania and were offered guided tours and explanations by the museum staff.

On 26 January 2018, the Dr. Moshe Carmilly Institute for Hebrew and Jewish History, in collaboration with the Cluj-Napoca City Hall, held an open day at the Documentary Museum of the Holocaust in Northern Transylvania, to commemorate the International Holocaust Remembrance Day (27 January). On this occasion, 450 schoolchildren and their teachers from various schools in Cluj-Napoca visited the Documentary Museum of the Holocaust in Northern Transylvania. The guided tour also included a presentation of the Virtual Museum of the Holocaust in Northern Transylvania – the innovative digital teaching and learning tool developed by the researchers at the Dr. Moshe Carmilly Institute for Hebrew and Jewish History, designed to engage teachers and children in the study of the Holocaust.

The schools which took part in the event were the following: Nicolae Titulescu Middle School, Lucian Blaga High School, Eugen Pora High School, Ion Creangă Middle School, Emil Racoviță High School, Mihai Eminescu High School, Onisifor Ghibu High School, Transylvania College High School, Anghel Saligny High School, Pro Deo High School, Ion Creangă Middle School, Raluca Ripan High School, Ana Aslan High School.

Our gratitude is owed to the Cluj-Napoca City Hall and our researchers at the institute for helping us organise this event.

The official opening of the Virtual Museum and Documentary Museum of the Holocaust in Northern Transylvania

This museographic achievement opened on 9 October 2017, and is dedicated to the history and memory of the Holocaust in Northern Transylvania. This museographic project comprises two sections: a Virtual Museum and a Remembrance Museum, the latter consisting of a traditional exhibition including objects such as documents, photographs and testimonies, as well as audio-visual material.

The Virtual Museum of the Holocaust in Northern Transylvania, which can be accessed at http://holocausttransilvania.ro, is, to the best of our knowledge, the first of its kind in the world. The term “virtual museum” refers to a series of digital collections which are essentially virtual exhibitions specifically addressing a certain part of the subject of the Holocaust. The Virtual Museum of the Holocaust in Northern Transylvania (http://holocausttransilvania.ro) documents the events of the Holocaust in this area holistically by illustrating all the aspects of the extermination of the Jews in this region. In this sense, it is the first virtual museum of the Holocaust in the world.

The Documentary Museum of the Holocaust in Northern Transylvania is a project of the Babeș-Bolyai University and is located at the Dr. Moshe Carmilly Institute for Hebrew and Jewish History on 13 Croitorilor Street in Cluj-Napoca. This museum offers an innovative experience because it contains, in addition to thematically structured original documents and objects, a section where audio-visual recordings of survivors’ (as well as their families’) testimonies are displayed on a screen. This section is located in the painting and sculpture exhibition comprising works on the subject of the Holocaust, created by the renown local artist, Egon Marc Lövith (1923-2009), himself a Holocaust survivor. This project creates a link between written, photographic, audio-visual and artistic documents, all of which come together in illustrating the history of the Holocaust.

The museographic achievement of the Documentary Museum and the Virtual Museum of the Holocaust in Northern Transylvania is the result of three years of work carried out by a team of researchers from the Dr. Moshe Carmilly Institute for Hebrew and Jewish History. The museums were founded with the exclusive financial support of the Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca. The following members of the Babeș-Bolyai University Executive Team were present at the official opening of the museums: Dr. Ioan Aurel-Pop, Vice-Chancellor, Professor and Member of the Romanian Academy; Dr. Ovidiu Ghitta, Professor and Dean of the Faculty of History and Philosophy; Dr. Ioan Bolovan, Professor and Pro-Vice-Chancellor; Rev. Dr. Ioan Chirilă, Professor and President of the Babeș-Bolyai University Senate; Dr. Rudolf Gräf, Professor and Pro-Vice-Chancellor. They were joined by the Dr. Moshe Carmilly Institute for Hebrew and Jewish History research team, the museum donors, as well as a large audience.

The Documentary Museum is open to the general public, but is specifically targeted at the young generation of pupils and students, who are welcome to pay organised visits as part of the school curriculum for Civics and History class. This is in accordance with a multilateral agreement between the local School Inspectorate and the Babeș-Bolyai University Executive Team, as well as the Executive Board for the Dr. Moshe Carmilly Institute for Hebrew and Jewish Studies. Entrance to the museums is free.

The symposium “Studiile iudaice din România şi tânăra generaţie de cercetători” (Jewish Studies in Romania and the Young Generation of Researchers), Cluj-Napoca, The Dr. Moshe Carmilly Institute for Hebrew and Jewish History, 16 November 2015. The programme of the symposium is available here.

Event reviews here.

Welcome addresses:

Talks

Book and Journal Presentation:

Event photos:

2014

The conference “Holocaust – Comemorarea a 70 de ani de la deportarea evreilor din Nordul Transilvaniei în lagărele de exterminare nazistă. 1944-2014” (The Holocaust – Remembering the Deportation of the Jews in Northern Transylvania 70 Years on. 1944-2014), Cluj-Napoca, the Dr. Moshe Carmilly Institute for Hebrew and Jewish History, 8-9 April 2014. The event comprised the following parts:

• “Holocaustul ca istorie de familie” (“The Holocaust as Family History”), lecture delivered by Dr. Paul Farkas, Lecturer (Haifa, Israel), 8 April 2014 at the Dr. Moshe Carmilly Institute for Hebrew and Jewish History
• “Holocaustul între istorie şi memorie” (“The Holocaust Between History and Memory”), lecture delivered by Dr. Doru Radosav, Professor, 9 April 2014 at the National History Institute Cluj-Napoca
• “Holocaustul din Nord-Vestul Transilvaniei. Proiect de istorie orală” (“The Holocaust in North-Western Transylvania. An Oral History Project”), lecture by Dr. Ioana Cosman, 9 April 2014, at the National History Institute, Cluj-Napoca
• “Cartea supravieţuitoare. Cărţile ebraice ale comunităţilor evreieşti dispărute în Holocaust” (“The Surviving Book. Jewish Books of the Communities that Perished in the Holocaust”), book exhibition, 9 April 2014 at the Lucian Blaga Central University Library, Cluj-Napoca