Malmö favourite to host new Holocaust Museum
The Local Sweden - [email protected]
Published: 20 Jun, 2019 CET.
Updated: Thu 20 Jun 2019 16:46 CET
Malmö is now favourite in the bidding to host Sweden's new national Holocaust museum, with the head of Stockholm's Jewish Museum giving the southern city her blessing.
"Malmö would be an excellent choice," Christina Gamstorp, director of Stockholm's Jewish Museum, told the local Sydsvenskan newspaper. "It is a superb idea to use Malmö, as the actual place where most concentration camp survivors first arrived."
In the spring of 1945 the Swedish Red Cross and the Danish government collaborated in the White Buses operation, rescuing 15,345 people from concentration camps in Nazi Germany. It remains unclear exactly how many of those rescued were Jewish.
Malmö mayor Katrin Stjernfeldt Jammeh said that the decision in May to host a major international Holocaust conference in Malmö showed that the national government recognized the city's important role.
"This decision shows that the government is aware of Malmö's history and that it knows that we here in Malmö are working determinedly to counter anti-Semitism," she told Sydsvenskan.
The new museum is part of Sweden's preparations for next year's celebration of the 75th anniversary of the freeing of hundreds of thousands of Jews from Nazi Germany's concentration camps.
READ ALSO:
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Breaking down Sweden's anti-Semitism problem
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The Swedish operation that rescued thousands from Nazi concentration camps
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'There are many ways of being Swedish; being Jewish is just one of them'
Christina Gamstorp, Director of Stockholm's Jewish Museum stands under a lamp made using text from the Talmud. Photo: Christine Olsson/TT
The government plans to send thousands of Swedish school children to visit memorials around Europe to victims of the Holocaust.
In October, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven will host a conference, which will be attended by government heads from across the world.
Ann Katina, chair of the Jewish congregation in Malmö, said that she believed Malmö was the most appropriate home for the museum.
"Many of our members are the children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors," she said. "Malmö is a natural place for a Holocaust Museum considering that the city today has a big problem with anti-Semitism."
READ ALSO:
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Malmö wants to host international Holocaust conference
-
Sweden funds Holocaust memorial trips to tackle anti-Semitism
-
Teens apologize for bomb threat against Malmö Jewish centre
Stjernfeldt Jammeh said she had been lobbying Löfven to place the museum in Malmö rather than Stockholm.
"I have personally brought up the question with the Prime Minister," she said. "I have explained to him that we can do more with a museum like this than would be possible in Stockholm."
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"Malmö would be an excellent choice," Christina Gamstorp, director of Stockholm's Jewish Museum, told the local Sydsvenskan newspaper. "It is a superb idea to use Malmö, as the actual place where most concentration camp survivors first arrived."
In the spring of 1945 the Swedish Red Cross and the Danish government collaborated in the White Buses operation, rescuing 15,345 people from concentration camps in Nazi Germany. It remains unclear exactly how many of those rescued were Jewish.
Malmö mayor Katrin Stjernfeldt Jammeh said that the decision in May to host a major international Holocaust conference in Malmö showed that the national government recognized the city's important role.
"This decision shows that the government is aware of Malmö's history and that it knows that we here in Malmö are working determinedly to counter anti-Semitism," she told Sydsvenskan.
The new museum is part of Sweden's preparations for next year's celebration of the 75th anniversary of the freeing of hundreds of thousands of Jews from Nazi Germany's concentration camps.
READ ALSO:
- Breaking down Sweden's anti-Semitism problem
- The Swedish operation that rescued thousands from Nazi concentration camps
- 'There are many ways of being Swedish; being Jewish is just one of them'
Christina Gamstorp, Director of Stockholm's Jewish Museum stands under a lamp made using text from the Talmud. Photo: Christine Olsson/TT
The government plans to send thousands of Swedish school children to visit memorials around Europe to victims of the Holocaust.
In October, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven will host a conference, which will be attended by government heads from across the world.
Ann Katina, chair of the Jewish congregation in Malmö, said that she believed Malmö was the most appropriate home for the museum.
"Many of our members are the children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors," she said. "Malmö is a natural place for a Holocaust Museum considering that the city today has a big problem with anti-Semitism."
READ ALSO:
- Malmö wants to host international Holocaust conference
- Sweden funds Holocaust memorial trips to tackle anti-Semitism
- Teens apologize for bomb threat against Malmö Jewish centre
Stjernfeldt Jammeh said she had been lobbying Löfven to place the museum in Malmö rather than Stockholm.
"I have personally brought up the question with the Prime Minister," she said. "I have explained to him that we can do more with a museum like this than would be possible in Stockholm."
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