Jewish Album. Photographs by Rita Ostrovska

Only until September 22, 2023, the Leibniz Institute for Jewish History and Culture – Simon Dubnow is displaying original photographs by the artist Rita Ostrovska under the title »Jewish Album«. These record Jewish life in Ukraine as well as the mass emigration of Jews from the former Soviet Union. The exhibition can be visited free of charge during the next two weeks as part of guided tours.

The artist Rita Ostrovska was born in Kiev in 1953 and studied in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) and Kiev. The renowned artist’s work has been exhibited around the world and is contained in numerous art collections.

From 1989 until her emigration in 2001, she photographed traditional sites of Jewish life in Ukraine, the »shtetls,« and the changes these underwent following the mass emigration of Jews from the former Soviet Union. Since 1993, Rita Ostrovska moreover photographically documented the lives of Jewish emigrants from the former Soviet Union after their arrival in the USA, Israel, and Germany. She also documented her own family’s emigration from Ukraine, their life in transit, and their arrival in Kassel.

Guided Tours
Wednesday, 6 September 2023, 2 p.m.
Monday, 11 September 2023, 1.30 p.m.
Wednesday, 13 September 2023, 2 p.m.
Tuesday, 19 September 2023, 11 a.m., and Friday, 22 September 2023, 3 p.m. (Historians' Day tours)
Friday, 22 September 2023, 5 p.m. (last guided tour, after which the exhibition ends)