They Lived Among Us I (2017)

The year 2017 brought together all the events and activities up to that point, compiled into the first, introductory exhibition – this is how "They Lived Among Us I" could be defined. The exhibition was organised by the civic association Pamätaj in the Cultural House in Namestovo under the auspices of Juraj Turčan, member of the presidium of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Slovakia, and Richard Duda, its vice-president.

After a musical opening with the piece "Larissas Lied", the introductory speech and the ceremonial act were led by the organiser Karol Kurtulík.

Speeches followed by Igor Janckulík, member of the National Council of the Slovak Republic, Richard Duda, vice-president of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Slovakia, professor Mária Bielová of the Tomislav Kolakovič Institute at St. Elizabeth University in Trstená, and Peter Werner of the Jewish humanitarian organisation in Bratislava. The speeches were concluded by Egon Holländer from Switzerland.

The very first words of Egon Holländer – "I am glad to be a Namestovan..." – completed the wave of emotion that had gradually built up through every speech.

Besides guests from around the world, the exhibition was also attended by Martin Rodan, honorary consul of the Slovak Republic in Israel.

One of the remarkable moments of the exhibition was the "Hypothetical reconstruction of the vanished Jewish synagogue in Namestovo" by the Faculty of Architecture of the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava (2017), supervised by Ing. arch. Michal Ganobjak, PhD., and worked out by students Dang The Anh and Matúš Blažíček.
For context: no photograph of the Namestovo synagogue exists, so a synagogue design from 1810 and cadastral surveys were used. The bachelor thesis produced a visualisation, a virtual-reality experience through VR glasses and a printed 3D model of the synagogue – presented directly at the exhibition.

The exhibition "They Lived Among Us I" was the first work of the Pamätaj association, commemorating a history that must not be forgotten.
It was followed in 2021 by the exhibition "They Lived Among Us II".

An electronic book was produced for the exhibition – link (in Slovak)