Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre

From Looting to Legacy
2026-03-26 18:00 - 19:00 (Africa/Johannesburg) | Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 88 Hatfield Street, Gardens, Cape Town, 8001

Exhibitions opening: Traces of Violence
2026-03-19 18:00 - 19:30

Nazi Ideologies
2026-03-16 18:00 - 19:30 | Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 88 Hatfield Street, Gardens, Cape Town, 8001

The Last Ones of Auschwitz
2026-03-09 18:00 - 19:30

Film screening: The Last One of Auschwitz
2026-03-09 18:00
To attend this event, RSVP to admin@holocaust.org.za.

An Unexpected Find
2026-03-03 18:00 - 19:30

Film screening: I Never Said Goodbye
2026-02-24 19:00 - 20:30 | Online
Join us online on Tuesday 24 February at 7PM for a screening of the documentary, “I Never Said Goodbye“, tributing the extraordinary life of Holocaust survivor Héléne Joffe.
The film documents Héléne’s remarkable journey and is testimony to the endurance of the human spirit.
Don’t miss out on this moving story of memory and resilience.
Register using the link: https://bit.ly/4kqFEOs

Film screening: Rescuing Memory
2026-02-19 18:00 - 19:30
Rescuing Memory (USA Documentary 2024 32 min.)
Rescuing Memory chronicles my ancestors, the Sephardic Jews, who were expelled by the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions in the 15th century and found refuge on the Island of Rhodes, when it was controlled by the Ottoman Turks. The Sephardic Jews lived in Rhodes for almost 500 years, until the entire community was deported to Auschwitz in 1944. Rescuing Memory is personal history, Sephardic History, the story of the Jewish Cemetery of Rhodes and the context for my gravestone rubbing project, which began in 2018. These gravestone rubbings are my way of honoring my ancestors. Rescuing Memory was supported by a fellowship grant from the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture.
RSVP to admin@holocaust.org.za to attend in person at our centre.

Looted! The Nazi Plunder of Jewish Families in France
2026-02-05 19:00 - 20:30 | Online
Join us on Thursday 5 February at 7PM for the book launch of Looted! The Nazi Art Plunder of Jewish Families in France by author Peter Elliott.
Discover the gripping story of four prominent French Jewish families whose art collections were confiscated during the Nazi occupation and learn how their heritage endured through persecution and resilience.
Don’t miss this powerful blend of history, art and personal stories that shine light on the dark years of French Jewish life.
Register using this link.

The shadow of the day
2026-02-03 18:00 - 19:30 | Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 88 Hatfield Street, Gardens, Cape Town, 8001

International Holocaust Remembrance Day
2026-01-27 18:00 - 19:30

Exhibition opening: Vilnius YIVO Institute and the Interwar Jewish World
2025-12-03 18:00 - 19:30 | Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 88 Hatfield Street, Gardens, Cape Town, 8001
The Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre is honoured to invite you to the opening of a new international exhibition. We are delighted that Dr Lara Lempert (Lempertienė), one of the exhibition’s curators and the Head of the Judaica Research Centre at the National Library of Lithuania, will join us in Cape Town for this special occasion.
The exhibition explores the rich and complex legacy of Jewish life in Lithuania before, during, and after the Holocaust. Through photographs, personal testimonies, and archival materials, it invites visitors to reflect on memory, loss, and the enduring resilience of a culture nearly destroyed.
RSVP to admin@holocaust.org.za

Film screening: Bedrock
2025-11-27 18:00 - 19:30
Bedrock is a psychological journey across today’s Poland that weaves together stories of Poles living on Holocaust sites. Through a series of intimate encounters, this poetic film looks at the unsettling contradictions people learn to live with.
To attend the event at the Centre, RSVP to admin@holocaust.org.za
Bedrock is presented as part of Footprints, a curated selection of films exploring the Holocaust, with special attention to the history and experiences of Polish Jews. This programme accompanies the exhibition Sweet Home Sweet: A Story of Survival, Memory and Returns presented at the Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre, with Footprints screenings taking place on 25, 26 and 27 November 2025. The programme will be led by our special guest Ada Kopec-Pawliowska from the Galicia Jewish Museum in Krakow, Poland.

Film screening: RENIA SPIEGEL'S DIARY
2025-11-26 19:30 - 21:00 | Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 88 Hatfield Street, Gardens, Cape Town, 8001
The diary of Renia Spiegel (1924-1942), written in Przemysl from January 1939 to July 1942, offers an extraordinary testimony of the last years of this young, talented woman. Preserved and later published through the efforts of her family, Renia’s diary has inspired a series of short films that combine animation and live-action to present her story to a wider audience. Each episode highlights historical context alongside universal themes such as empathy, human rights, and tolerance.
To attend the event at the Centre, RSVP to admin@holocaust.org.za
RENIA SPIEGEL’S DIARY is presented as part of Footprints, a curated selection of films exploring the Holocaust, with special attention to the history and experiences of Polish Jews. This programme accompanies the exhibition Sweet Home Sweet: A Story of Survival, Memory and Returns presented at the Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre, with Footprints screenings taking place on 25, 26 and 27 November 2025. The programme will be led by our special guest Ada Kopec-Pawliowska from the Galicia Jewish Museum in Krakow, Poland.

Film screening: Where are you are going
2025-11-26 18:00 - 19:30 | Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 88 Hatfield Street, Gardens, Cape Town, 8001
Halina Birenbaun, a Holocaust survivor and acclaimed author, embarks on her annual journey to Poland, this time accompanied by her son, Yakov Gilad, Through this journey, Yakov comes to understand the lifelong trauma haunting his mother and discovers new insights into Jewish-Polish relations and the treatment of survivors. Halina’s vivid recollections span her experiences in the Warsaw Ghetto, Majdanek, Auschwitz, and Ravensbrück, and reflect a life of resilience and enduring love for Poland.
To attend the event at the Centre, RSVP to admin@holocaust.org.za
Where are you going is presented as part of Footprints, a curated selection of films exploring the Holocaust, with special attention to the history and experiences of Polish Jews. This programme accompanies the exhibition Sweet Home Sweet: A Story of Survival, Memory and Returns presented at the Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre, with Footprints screenings taking place on 25, 26 and 27 November 2025. The programme will be led by our special guest Ada Kopec-Pawliowska from the Galicia Jewish Museum in Krakow, Poland.

Film screening: Treasure
2025-11-25 18:00 - 19:30 | Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 88 Hatfield Street, Gardens, Cape Town, 8001
Treasure follows a father-daugther road trip through post-socialist Poland, exploring family, identity, and the past. Ruth (Lena Dunham) accompanies her father, Holocaust survivor Edek ( Stephen Fry), as he returns to the places tied to his most painful memories, including Auschwitz-Birkenau. Blending humour, emotion, and historical reflection, the film, based on Lili Brett’s autobiographical novel, celebrates the power of reconnecting with one’s roots.
To attend the event at the Centre, RSVP to admin@holocaust.org.za
Treasure is presented as part of Footprints, a curated selection of films exploring the Holocaust, with special attention to the history and experiences of Polish Jews. This programme accompanies the exhibition Sweet Home Sweet: A Story of Survival, Memory and Returns presented at the Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre, with Footprints screenings taking place on 25, 26 and 27 November 2025. The programme will be led by our special guest Ada Kopec-Pawliowska from the Galicia Jewish Museum in Krakow, Poland.

Film screening: The Diary of Anne Frank
2025-11-16 17:00 - 18:30
We invite you to join us on Sunday 16 November at 5PM for an evening of remembrance as we mark the 87th anniversary of the November Pogrom (Kristallnacht).
We are screening the award-winning film ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’, followed by a discussion with filmmaker Hans Steinbichler. This poignant film tells the story of Anne Frank’s experience hiding with her family in Amsterdam during WWII.
To attend the event at the Centre, RSVP to admin@holocaust.org.za

Film screening: I Never Said Goodbye
2025-11-12 18:00 - 19:30
We invite you to join us for the premiere of the documentary, “I Never Said Goodbye“, a poignant tribute to the extraordinary life of Holocaust survivor, Hélène Joffe.
The film documents Hélène’s remarkable journey and is testimony to the endurance of the human spirit.
To attend the event at the Centre, RSVP to admin@holocaust.org.za

Film screening: Letters from Brno
2025-11-04 18:00 - 19:30 | Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 88 Hatfield Street, Gardens, Cape Town, 8001
Join us on Tuesday 4 November at 6PM for a powerful screening of “Letters from BRNO”. This moving film tells the story of Jeffery L. Gary’s grandfather, a Holocaust survivor who fled Czechoslovakia, and his poignant connection to a young girl in Brno through letters and shared history. Exploring themes of identity, heritage, and human connection, ‘Letters from Brno’ is a testament to the enduring power of stories and memory.
To attend the event at the Centre, RSVP to admin@holocaust.org.za

Memory Works
2025-10-27 18:00 - 19:30 | Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 88 Hatfield Street, Gardens, Cape Town, 8001
Join us on Monday 27 October at 6pm for an exclusive presentation by renowned Argentine artist and activist Marcelo Brodsky at the Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre. Brodsky will present Memory Works — a curated selection of his most acclaimed projects, weaving together personal and collective histories through powerful visual essays.
To attend the event at the Centre, RSVP to admin@holocaust.org.za

Where They Settled: Holocaust Survivors in South Africa
2025-10-23 20:00 - 21:30
Event hosted by Holocaust Museum LA

Exploring different communities that Holocaust survivors built after liberation, this program focuses on the city of Cape Town, South Africa.
For more details visit the website.

Sweet Home Sweet exhibition opening
2025-10-16 18:00 - 19:30 | Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 88 Hatfield Street, Gardens, Cape Town, 8001
It is our honour to invite you to the opening of “Sweet Home Sweet: A Story of Survival, Memory, and Return”, a temporary exhibition dedicated to three generations of the Ores family and their relationship with Poland. The exhibition examines how Holocaust memory and narratives are transmitted across generations, and how the children and grandchildren of survivors engage with contemporary Poland.
The opening will feature a lecture by Tomasz Strug, Deputy Director and Chief Curator of the Galicia Jewish Museum in Kraków, Poland.
This exhibit offers a naunced look at personal histories, the weight of memories, and the dynamics of coming back to origins.
To learn more about the exhibition:
https://ctholocaust.co.za/sweet-home-sweet-exhibition/
To attend the event at the Centre, RSVP to admin@holocaust.org.za

Creative Project Awards Evening
2025-08-31 17:00 - 18:30 | Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 88 Hatfield Street, Gardens, Cape Town, 8001

Reawakening Memory
2025-08-25 18:00 - 19:30 | Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 88 Hatfield Street, Gardens, Cape Town, 8001

History of dealing with the history of Nazi crimes in Germany since 1945
2025-08-21 18:00 - 19:30 | Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 88 Hatfield Street, Gardens, Cape Town, 8001
After 1945, both parts of Germany found it difficult to come to terms with their own responsibility for Nazi crimes. They were concealed and trivialised. It was not until the 1990s that a self-critical view began to prevail. Today, the culture of remembrance is under massive attack from right-wing extremists.
To attend in person RSVP to admin@holocaust.org.za.
About the speaker
Jens-Christian Wagner, born in 1966, studied history and Romance philology in Göttingen and Santiago de Chile. After completing his doctorate at the University of Göttingen and working on the permanent exhibition at the Peenemünde Historical Technical Museum (1996/97), he was a visiting scholar at the research programme ‘History of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society in National Socialism’ (Berlin). From 2001 to 2014 he was director of the Mittelbau-Dora Concentration Camp Memorial (Nordhausen) and subsequently director of the Lower Saxony Memorials Foundation and the Bergen-Belsen Memorial. Since 2020, he is director of the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation and professor for history in the public and in the media at the University of Jena. Main areas of research: History of National Socialism and its consequences (especially concentration camps and forced labour), cultures of remembrance after 1945, historical revisionism, anti-Semitism.

The Nazi Mind: 12 Warnings From History
2025-06-23 19:00 - 20:30 | Online
Join us on Monday 23 June at 7pm for a compelling evening with bestselling historian Laurence Rees as he delves into his latest work, The Nazi Mind: 12 Warnings From History. This thought-provoking exploration blends historical analysis with cutting-edge psychology to uncover how individuals became complicit in one of history’s greatest crimes.
To attend this event on Zoom, register using the link: https://bit.ly/43getif

Book Launch: In Sacred Memory Vol 2
2025-06-17 18:30 - 19:30 | Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 88 Hatfield Street, Gardens, Cape Town, 8001
The Cape Town Holocaust and Genocide Centre is honoured to invite you to the launch of the second volume of In Sacred Memory, a poignant new publication that preserves the voices of those who endured one of history’s darkest chapters.
As we mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camps, this companion volume shares the untold stories of 24 Holocaust survivors who found refuge in Cape Town. These deeply personal accounts of flight, hiding, resistance, and survival bear witness to extraordinary resilience amidst unimaginable tragedy.

To attend the event at the Centre, please RSVP to admin@holocaust.org.za

Silent Tears
2025-06-12 19:00 - 20:30 | Online
Join us on Thursday 12 June at 7pm for an extraordinary online lecture and concert with Grammy-nominated producer Dan Rosenberg and JUNO-winning singer Lenka Lichtenberg. Together, they will share the deeply moving stories behind their award-winning music projects based on Holocaust poetry.
To attend this event on Zoom, register using the link: https://bit.ly/4jnuLuq

Film screening: Grandmas' Tattoos
2025-05-27 18:00 - 19:30 | Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 88 Hatfield Street, Gardens, Cape Town, 8001
Join us on Tuesday 27 May at 6pm for a moving evening of remembrance and reflection as we mark the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide with a screening of the acclaimed documentary Grandmas’ Tattoos by filmmaker Suzanne Khardalian. This powerful film uncovers the harrowing and untold stories of women who suffered during the Armenian Genocide, revealing a legacy of trauma and resilience.

The screening will be followed by an online discussion with a member of the local Armenian community Davít Abrahamyán.

To attend the event at the Centre, please RSVP to admin@holocaust.org.za.

The Pain and Promise of Liberation: Artistic Testimonies
2025-05-13 19:00 - 20:30 | Online
Join us for a fascinating webinar with Liz Elsby, to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the camps and the end of WWII in Europe.

Through powerful visual testimonies—created in the immediate aftermath of the Holocaust and decades later—we will explore how survivors used art to confront pain, preserve memory, and reclaim their voices.

Register using the link: https://bit.ly/3YGAJz2
