Imperial War Museums gallery to question way Holocaust understood
January 27, 2021, 12:29 pm

Imperial War Museums gallery to question way Holocaust understood

A display at the new Holocaust exhibition, which will be linked to a second world war gallery, at the Imperial War Museums in London.

Exhibition to challenge narrative that genocide happened in the shadows

A new Imperial War Museums gallery will challenge visitors to “beware the Holocaust because you could have been a perpetrator”.

It is believed the £30m gallery will become the first in the world focusing on the Holocaust to be integrated with a second world war gallery when it opens in London. It seeks to re-examine the narrative of the genocide of millions of Jews and others, who are being commemorated on Wednesday on Holocaust Memorial Day.

Taking a robust view of perpetrators, it will say: “The men – and women – who did this, they weren’t unaware of what they were doing,” said the lead historian on the project, James Bulgin.

“In many other respects they were relatively normal; they had kids, social lives, did the things we all do. And they also killed people. It wasn’t a machine that killed people, which is what Holocaust galleries and representation have tended to suggest.”

While the Holocaust has attracted a great amount of historical and scholarly attention, with about 4,000 new books a year, the temptation had been to “push it to the margins”, to think of it in isolation and separate from what was going on elsewhere, he said.

The galleries – due to open in the autumn and with a fundraising appeal still running – will be brightly lit. Most such exhibitions are dimly lit because the subject is dark. “But that suggests it happened in the shadows, that nobody really knew about it, and the only way we can response to it is through silence. We think that is problematic. Because it happened in daylight, and it happened over a vast, vast landscape,” Bulgin added.

The Holocaust has become defined by centralised “tropes” – Auschwitz, trains, people being selected left and right on ramps, anonymous piles of shoes. Yet the majority of those murdered weren’t selected like that, except at Auschwitz. It happened because of European rail networks, collaboration between different people and organisations and businesses across Europe working together, Bulgin added.

Amon Goeth, played by Ralph Fiennes in the film Schindler’s List, was an outlier regarded by contemporaries as a “psychotic, radicalised dangerous individual”. “The tendency to make him the metonym for all Nazis is comforting,” said Bulgin, “because you think he’s so far away from me, he’s nothing like me.

“But the vast majority of the people responsible for these things were infinitely more ordinary and more normal than that.”

The galleries would challenge the “ongoing, persistent determination to think of the perpetrators as brainwashed, hyper-radicalised people”.

The V-1 bomb that will occupy a space between the new Holocaust gallery and second world war exhibition.

“That’s not how it really was. Holocaust museums for years have been asking visitors: ‘Beware the Holocaust because you could have been a victim.’ I suppose we are thinking: ‘Beware the Holocaust because you could have been a perpetrator.’”

Through testimonies and artefacts, it would aim to take victims out of victimhood, Bulgin added, to see them as “people who were born, who were living their lives, and the interruption of those lives shouldn’t be the only thing that defines them”.

Objects loaned from institutions across the world will include a V-1 flying bomb – or doodlebug – that will occupy a space between the Holocaust gallery and the second world war gallery. Other artefacts include the birth certificate of Eva Clarke, who miraculously survived after being born in Mauthausen camp in Austria days before liberation.

The emphasis will be on the contemporary, with testimonies only from the time, to illustrate how events were perceived as they unfolded. The word Holocaust is not used, as it was applied post-genocide.

Poppy Cooper, the head of projects at Imperial War Museums, said: “The academic thinking about the Holocaust has moved on significantly in 20 years.

“The Holocaust would not have happened in the way it did had the second world war not happened in the way it did. It isn’t really understood how inextricably linked they are.”

source: Caroline Davies

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BENEFIT, the Kingdom’s innovator and leading company in Fintech and electronic financial transactions service, held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the company’s headquarters in the Seef District.
During the meeting, shareholders approved all items listed on the agenda, including the ratification of the minutes of the previous AGM held on 26 March 2024. The session reviewed and approved the Board’s Annual Report on the company’s activities and financial performance for the fiscal year ended 31 December 2024, and the shareholders expressed their satisfaction with the company’s operational and financial results during the reporting period.
The meeting also reviewed the Independent External Auditor’s Report on the company’s consolidated financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2024. Subsequently, the shareholders approved the audited financial statements for the fiscal year. Based on the Board’s recommendation, the shareholders approved the distribution of a cash dividend equivalent to 10% of the paid-up share capital.
Furthermore, the shareholders endorsed the allocation of a total amount of BD 172,500 as remuneration to the members of the Board for the year ended 31 December 2024, subject to prior clearance by related authorities.
The extension of the current composition of the Board was approved, which includes ten members and one CBB observer, for a further six-month term, expiring in September 2025, pending no objection from the CBB.
The meeting reviewed and approved the Corporate Governance Report for 2024, which affirmed the company’s full compliance with the corporate governance directives issued by the CBB and other applicable regulatory frameworks. The AGM absolved the Board Members of liability for any of their actions during the year ending on 31st December 2024, in accordance with the Commercial Companies Law.
In alignment with regulatory requirements, the session approved the reappointment of Ernst & Young (EY) as the company’s External Auditors for the fiscal year 2025, covering both the parent company and its subsidiaries—Sinnad and Bahrain FinTech Bay. The Board was authorised to determine the external auditors’ professional fees, subject to approval from the CBB, and the meeting concluded with a discussion of any additional issues as per Article (207) of the Commercial Companies Law.
Speaking on the company’s performance, Mr. Mohamed Al Bastaki, Chairman BENEFIT , stated: “In terms of the financial results for 2024, I am pleased to say that the year gone by has also been proved to be a success in delivering tangible results. Growth rate for 2024 was 19 per cent. Revenue for the year was BD 17 M (US$ 45.3 Million) and net profit was 2 Million ($ 5.3 Million).

Mr. Al Bastaki also announced that the Board had formally adopted a new three-year strategic roadmap to commence in 2025. The strategy encompasses a phased international expansion, optimisation of internal operations, enhanced revenue diversification, long-term sustainability initiatives, and the advancement of innovation and digital transformation initiatives across all service lines.
“I extend my sincere appreciation to the CBB for its continued support of BENEFIT and its pivotal role in fostering a stable and progressive regulatory environment for the Kingdom’s banking and financial sector—an environment that has significantly reinforced Bahrain’s standing as a leading financial hub in the region,” said Mr. Al Bastaki. “I would also like to thank our partner banks and valued customers for their trust, and our shareholders for their ongoing encouragement. The achievements of 2024 set a strong precedent, and I am confident they will serve as a foundation for yet another successful and impactful year ahead.”
Chief Executive of BENEFIT; Mr. Abdulwahed AlJanahi commented, “The year 2024 represented another pivotal chapter in BENEFIT ’s evolution. We achieved substantial progress in advancing our digital strategy across multiple sectors, while reinforcing our long-term commitment to the development of Bahrain’s financial services and payments landscape. Throughout the year, we remained firmly aligned with our objective of delivering measurable value to our shareholders, strategic partners, and customers. At the same time, we continued to play an active role in enabling Bahrain’s digital economy by introducing innovative solutions and service enhancements that directly address market needs and future opportunities.”
Mr. AlJanahi affirmed that BENEFIT has successfully developed a robust and well-integrated payment network that connects individuals and businesses across Bahrain, accelerating the adoption of emerging technologies in the banking and financial services sector and reinforcing Bahrain’s position as a growing fintech hub, and added, “Our achievements of the past year reflect a long-term vision to establish a resilient electronic payment infrastructure that supports the Kingdom’s digital economy. Key developments in 2024 included the implementation of central authentication for open banking via BENEFIT Pay”
Mr. AlJanahi concluded by thanking the Board for its strategic direction, the company’s staff for their continued dedication, and the Central Bank of Bahrain, member banks, and shareholders for their valuable partnership and confidence in the company’s long-term vision.