Photo by Dean Whitbeck
These are the hands of Bud Brodecki, a Polish-born Richmond resident who was interned during World War II in several concentration camps, including Auschwitz, where approximately 1 million people died during the Holocaust.
On Jan. 27, it will be exactly 70 years since that camp was liberated by the Allied Powers, a date now recognized as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
The Weinstein JCC marks this anniversary with several January offerings, including “The Holocaust Survivors Photo Project,” an exhibition of large-scale portraits by photographer Dean Whitbeck. It includes most of the nearly 30 Richmond-area residents who survived the atrocities of the period.
Photo by Dean Whitbeck
Bud and Sonja Brodecki
Photo by Dean Whitbeck
Dr. George Meyer
Photo by Dean Whitbeck
Simone Schwarz
Photo by Dean Whitbeck
Dr. Roger Loria
Photo by Dean Whitbeck
Rabbi Israel Koller
As the JCC looked to this year’s Holocaust anniversary, Erin Mahone, its director of cultural arts and Jewish education, drew inspiration from Whitbeck’s previous portrait exhibition at the center, “Shared Humanity,” which challenged the labels people give one another, focusing instead on their shared qualities.
From that spark grew the “Survivors” project, and a sampling of that collaborative effort is shared here.
This exhibition will open at 7 p.m., Jan. 15, in the Sara D. November Art Gallery at the Weinstein JCC.
Special thanks to Erin Mahone, Dean Whitbeck, the Weinstein JCC and the Virginia Holocaust Museum for providing their research.
