The Holocaust Galleries open today
20
Oct
2021
“A dark setting would have enforced the idea that what happened was inevitable, when it wasn’t” - Gary Shelley, director of Casson Mann
The new galleries at IWM London challenge the idea of a Holocaust carried out under a ‘cloak of darkness’. Casson Mann's light-filled design strives to communicate that perpetrators acted in broad daylight. Their actions were not confined to the shadows.
We worked hard on an exhibition design which tells the stories of individual people - victims, perpetrators, and those who were complicit - to challenge the idea of the anonymity of the Holocaust.
The gallery on Jewish Life celebrates the multifaceted day-to-day reality of Jewish people in the years before the Holocaust. By presenting portraits at eye level, the design helps visitors meaningfully engage with these people in the photographs.
Later in the exhibition, key members of the Nazi party are displayed as 1:1 scale standing figures. The intention is to demystify these people by showing them in civilian clothes, rather than in uniform as seen in propaganda pictures.
Tiny, poignant objects are on display, such as small tokens carried into the camps. Such precious items offer glimpses of a person’s character, their lives and hopes. They play an emotive role in the galleries, acting as enduring witnesses to historic events.
Learn more here about these important galleries, now open at IWM London.
View project:
The Holocaust Galleries
Imperial War Museum, London
The Holocaust Galleries
Imperial War Museum, London
The Holocaust Galleries
Imperial War Museum, London
Opening soon
The Holocaust Galleries
Imperial War Museum, London
Opening soon