DAVID LABKOVSKI PROJECT

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  • Home
    • About Us >
      • Organizational Leadership
      • In the News
      • About the Artist >
        • Chronology
  • Exhibits
    • A Visual Diary of the Past
    • Reflect & Respond 2022
    • Documenting History Through Art
    • Recalling a Lost World
  • Virtual Programs and Lectures
    • Chapman University
    • Bookclub with Dr Michael Good
    • Holocaust Commemoration 2021
    • Holocaust Commemoration 2020
    • Commemoration Journals
    • Virtual Reality
  • School Programs
    • Project Based Learning Exhibits
    • Project Based Program Showcase
    • For Students >
      • Reflect and Respond 2022
      • I AM
      • Docent Training Program 2022
  • Events
    • Holocaust Commemoration 2022
    • February 2022 Scholar's Event
  • Shop
  • Contact
  • Donate

The destruction of Vilna

Rivka and David Labkovski return to Vilna in 1946.  He documented the physical destruction of the city.  

Compare the two pieces of destruction  to the pieces depicting his childhood in Vilna (below).

What do you notice?

The Great Synagogue of VIlna

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To Consider:
The Great Synagogue of Vilna is central to all four pieces shown above.  In the two prewar pieces, it is surrounded by the daily comings and goings of the Vilna Jewish community.  After the Holocaust, the physical destruction is apparent, and in these paintings, it is the absence of people that is so jarring.  Labkovski's work commemorates  the people, the culture, and the life the victims of the Holocaust. 

Of Interest:  The shell of the Great Synagogue did survive the war.  True to Labkovski's depiction of the building, it needed great repair.  The Vilna survivors petitioned the Soviet government to repair the building; they refused.  Eventually the Soviets destroyed the building and constructed a school on the site.

There is an ongoing discussion about the site where the synagogue stood.  How should it be commemorated?  How can current residents use the space but with deference to its long history?  To learn more about this issue, listen to this report, "Excavation of Lithuania's Great Synagogue Highlights a Painful Page of History", featured on National Public Radio.

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The David Labkovski Project is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.

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