The Community Center "Thia" hospitably opens its doors to both individuals and entire organizations. This happened today, when the open house was held for the Khmelnytskyi Jewish religious community "Beit Simcha" ("House of Joy"). And the reason to come together did not arise spontaneously, but was entirely based on cooperation and assistance, which is extremely important.
Visitors to the Holocaust Memorial Museum can now see a new exhibit – the exhibition “Our Regiment”, which tells the story of Jewish participants in the hostilities. It is located on the south wall of the room and currently contains thirty-one portraits of front-line soldiers. The idea for the exhibition originated a long time ago, but the portraits were first presented on May 9, 2014, to participants of a gathering on the occasion of Victory DayThis was preceded by extensive work on collecting old photo cards, processing them, and making passepartouts by employees and volunteers of the Community Center.
However, the design of the portraits for the exhibition required an outsider's perspective, a creative idea. And in this, the Foundation's employees were helped by the artist Natalia Bilyk, a member of the friendly community. In a few weeks, the portraits and the background were fastened together. To create a unique relief in the form of stones, the remains of egg trays were used, which have an interesting structure similar to rubble stone. Thus, with the volunteer help of the artist, a new exhibition appeared.
As a token of gratitude, representatives of the friendly community were invited to visit the Community Center "Thia". The meeting was attended by the Director of the Khmelnytskyi Charitable Foundation "Hesed Besht" Ihor Ratushny, who came up with the idea of creating this exhibition. He presented Natalia Bilyk with a letter of gratitude from the Foundation for her selfless assistance. This exhibition is quite important, as it puts an end to the disputes of some uncertain historians who belittle the contribution of the Jewish community to the Victory over fascism seven decades ago. Portraits of our brothers in military uniform, with orders and decorations are a vivid testimony of how people defended their native land, their families and country in battle. An excursion was held for the guests about the only museum in Western Ukraine dedicated exclusively to the topic of the Holocaust. The Manager of the Regional Development Center Halyna Atamanchuk familiarized with historical facts, sad figures and statistics.
You can get acquainted with the work of the Community Center, despite its compact size, all day long. Therefore, the tour and stories about the work of the programs had to be reduced to the necessary minimum. After all, a tea party and a cultural and artistic program awaited the guests and hosts ahead. The leader of the ensemble Anatoliy Muzyka and his faithful guitar played a leading role here both figuratively and literally. Another guitar was also found among the guests, so everyone had a great time together to the accompaniment of childhood friends and favorite songs in different languages, including Yiddish.
