Exhibition opening: Vilnius YIVO Institute and the Interwar Jewish World
2025-12-03 18:00 - 19:30 (Africa/Johannesburg) | 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

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

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

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.

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.

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

An Unexpected Find
2026-03-03 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.

The Last Ones of Auschwitz
2026-03-09 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

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

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

Film Screening: Passage To Sweden
2026-04-16 18:00 - 19:30 | Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 88 Hatfield Street, Gardens, Cape Town, 8001
Set against the backdrop of WWII, geography and politics shaped different experiences for Jews in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Budapest. The film reveals how ordinary people and entire nations saved thousands of Jewish lives. These remarkable stories of resistance and those who were saved are a powerful reminder that anyone can make a difference.
Screening will be followed by an online conversation with Suzannah Warlick, film producer and director.
RSVP to admin@holocaust.org.za

Concert: Sound of Freedom
2026-04-23 18:00 - 19:30
The Embassy of Poland in Pretoria, in cooperation with the Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre and the South African Jewish Museum invite you on a musical journey, “Sound of Freedom”, with exceptional young Polish artists. The Karolina & Iwo Duo will guide the audience through powerful works by world-acclaimed composers, including Frédéric Chopin, alongside music by prominent Polish Jewish composers such as Aleksander Tansman and Szymon Laks, performed on violin and accordion.
Venue: Old Shul

Free entry, RSVP required: admin@holocaust.org.za

Holocaust in Kharkiv: Memory, War, and the Struggle for Historical Truth
2026-05-26 19:00 - 20:30 | Online
The Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre, together with the EVZ Foundation and Yahad-In Unum, invites you to a screening of the short documentary Holocaust in Kharkiv, followed by a conversation on the challenges of researching, preserving, and teaching the history of the Holocaust in times of war.
Panelists
Lesya Kharchenko – Documentary filmmaker and journalist based in Kyiv whose work explores war, memory, and human dignity.
Michał Chojak – Director of the Research Center at Yahad-In Unum, specialising in the history of mass shootings of Jews and Roma in Eastern Europe.
Lara Alexa Nagel – Political scientist at the EVZ Foundation focusing on Holocaust remembrance and educational initiatives.
Register for the webinar

The hour of revenge
2026-06-17 19:00 - 21:30 | Online
Register for this.
Join us for a lecture by Katarzyna Person, one of Poland’s leading Holocaust historians and recipient of the 2024 Dan David Prize. Drawing on her acclaimed new book, The Hour of Revenge, Person explores the complex and often overlooked experiences of Holocaust survivors in the aftermath of the Second World War. Moving beyond narratives of victimhood, she examines how Polish Jews grappled with questions of revenge, justice, belonging, and reconstruction as they sought to rebuild their lives across a shattered Europe. This compelling talk offers fresh insights into the emotional and social aftermath of genocide and the challenges of rebuilding communities after catastrophe.
This version is written in a style suitable for a newspaper events section or community calendar.
