The Astana Museum of Modern Arts has a wonderful atmosphere. For people who came to see the copies of the archive documents every exhibit item is precious as it is the evidence of the long past events of 1941-1943. Those visitors who used ration cards for bread and sugar themselves could not hide their tears when they saw the cards again. Each of them pronounced the same phrase: "We wish our children and grandchildren never experience it!" We should not forget our history; young people should know what their grandfathers went through. The exhibition opened after the 15th Assembly of the Peoples of Kazakhstan, where the President of Kazakhstan had particularly stressed the importance of being tolerant.


The exhibition was visited by: Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Israel in Kazakhstan Mr. Israel May-Ami, President of Mitsva Association Alexander Baron, Director of the Museum of Modern Arts Nelly Shivrina, officials from the President’s Cultural Center, Head of the Department of the National Archive of Kazakhstan, Chief of the Department for Publishing and Using Materials of the State Archive of Kazakhstan, representatives of French and Slovenian Embassies, members of the Jewish Community, and sponsors.


The exhibition was opened by President of Mitsva Association Alexander Baron. He presented the book "Evacuation: Resurrecting the Past" and told the audience: "The book contains the materials demonstrating different aspects of the evacuation of people, and some plants and organizations in the period of 1941-1943. I would like to offer everybody who got interested in the exhibition to meet in October of 2010 at the historic conference in Almaty to continue our international research". Alexander Baron presented the books on evacuation published by Mitsva to the President’s Library, National Archive, and State Archive.


Not only the exhibition recollected the historic period but also reminded us that we have no right to forget it. It is great that Mitsva conducts research in cooperation with archivists and publishes documentary books, which tell the truth about that difficult time. This is a tribute to the memory of millions of people who died during the World War II.

Yelena Levina