A travelling exhibition

A Story of Life and Death: The Holocaust in Drohobycz and Boryslaw

Drohobycz and Boryslaw were home to remarkable Jewish communities for centuries. Despite their relatively small population, some distinctive people of letters and culture, such as the writer Bruno Schulz, painters Efrain Lillian, Maurizio and Leopold Gottlieb, political and economic leaders such as Leon Reich, David Horowitz and Prof. Shevah Weiss hailed from these communities. Since the 19th century, Jews from both towns have been involved in pioneering, establishing and managing a unique era in modern oil industry.

Prior to the Holocaust some 32,000 Jews lived in the Drohobycz district. By the end of World War II, only 400 Jews survived in Drohobycz and 200 in Boryslaw. Acts of rescue during the Holocaust in Drohobycz and Boryslaw included some exceptionally courageous people, Jewish, German, Polish and Ukrainian, who remained human in unhuman times.

The Organization of Drohobycz, Boryslaw and Vicinity Survivors (Israel) in conjunction with the ASF Workgroup (Germany) launched a series of events and exhibitions in Israel, Poland, Ukraine and Germany highlighting Drohobycz and Boryslaw before and during the Holocaust.

Since its opening in 2015, this travelling exhibition has been presented in Israel (in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv), Ukraine (Drohobycz, Boryslaw, L’viv), Poland (Warszawa, Wroclaw, Belzec, Walbrzych, Lublin, Dzierzoniow, Szczebrzeszyn, Krzyzowa) and Germany (Berlin, Koln, Kassel, Jena, Dorsten, Sankt Augustin).

The Exhibition is a collaborative effort of – The Organization of Drohobycz, Boryslaw and Vicinity Survivors and Descendants, Israel (Varda Ghivoli, June Dilevsky, Daniela Mavor) Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste, Germany (Klaus Hasbronne-Blume, Wiesława Jurasz) Supported by – Heinrich Boelle Foundation (Israel) Fundacja Bente Kahan (Poland)

A Travelling exhibition - A story of life and death in Drohobycz and Boryslaw

1. A Story of Life and Death: The Holocaust in Drohobycz and Boryslaw
2. Historical Highlights
3. Drohobycz and Boryslaw in the 19th and 20th Century: Thriving Jewish Life
4. Jewish Thinkers and Doers
5. More Jewish Thinkers and Doers
6. Galicia’s Black Gold
7. 1939-1941 – The Russian Occupation
8. Pogroms in Drohobycz and Boryslaw
9. Early Nazi Occupation – Subjugation, Slavery, Starvation
10. Prelude to “Endlösung”
11. Ghettos and Mass ExecutionsGhettos and Mass Executions
12. Bełżec – The Final Stop
13. “Sammelstelle”: Collection Sites
14. November 19, 1942: Bloody Thursday in Drohobycz
15. Boryslaw’s and Drohobycz’s Forced Labour Camps
16. In Hiding
17. The Holocaust in Drohobycz and Boryslaw in Numbers
18. Berthold and Else Beitz: Saving Hundreds of Jews in Boryslaw
19. Eberhard and Donata Helmrich: Saved Hundreds of Jews from Drohobycz and Stryj
20. Righteous Among the Nations from Drohobycz and Boryslaw
21. The Summer of 1944: Liberation for Some, Hell for Others
22. Credits