The opening of the exhibition took place in the Charlemagne building on Wednesday afternoon, ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which takes place on 27 January. This initiative is supported by the Europe for Citizens programme, which notably works on European remembrance, in particular to keep the memory of the Shoah alive. As Commissioner Avramopoulos highlighted in his opening address: "It is a memory and a responsibility that we must carry and uphold every day in everything we do." He was accompanied by HR/VP Mogherini, Vice-President Ansip and Commissioners Andriukaitis and Bulc. Avramopoulos thanked the three invited survivors for offering "a lesson that we should never forget", and recalled his visit to Auschwitz last year. "This visit has marked me forever." "Not all ghosts of the past have remained in the past," he said. "The rhetorical ostracising and stigmatising of individuals and communities because of their faith, origins or skin colour is reappearing again today, not only in Europe, but across the world." He stressed the importance of remembrance to resist "any temptation by populists and xenophobes," and the need to ensure guarantees so "such a tragedy will never happen again." In particular, he referred to the need to prevent hatred and antisemitism spreading through the internet. The Commissioner also called for special attention to be paid to Jewish heritage during the current European Year of Cultural Heritage. "We shall continue to fight to create fair, decent and compassionate societies which are not indifferent in the face of human misery," he added.

The exhibition is organised by the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity (ENRS), together with the Museum of the History of Polish Jews (POLIN), and the Silent Heroes Memorial Centre in Berlin. Under the title Between Life and Death. Stories of Rescue during the Holocaust, it gives voice to survivors and those who helped them even at great risk, explaining the conditions in the nine countries covered. The three survivors present at the opening came from Lithuania, Poland and Belgium. They remembered how they were helped to go into hiding by several non-Jews, all honoured with the title of Righteous Among the Nations. To date, over 26,000 people have received this honour.

In the case of Jehoshua Shochot, it was his Lithuanian nanny, together with other people, who helped his family to survive through the war. He explained how, just a few days after the start of the war, Jews in his town were moved to a camp and the first executions took place. He remembered the terrible conditions in the camps, where he and his brother survived bouts of diphtheria and measles, and later in the ghetto, before going into hiding. His nanny Domicele Pagojute arranged successive shelters for the Shochots in many villages. He remembered the 15 families that hosted him, who "didn't listen to the Nazi propaganda against the Jews." Some were poor, illiterate families and others wealthier, such as the rich farmer who took him in with his children. It would be with their books that he learnt to read Lithuanian for the first time, he recalled.

Elisabeth Drillich fled Belgium in 1940 when she was 13, and took refuge with her family near Valence in France. During the occupation, they were saved thanks to several pastors in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon plateau, who provided them with fake documents and foster families. She remembered how, in this region of long Protestant tradition, pastors felt that they had to help, as Protestants had suffered from persecution themselves. It is estimated that 2,500 Jews passed through Le Chambon-sur-Lignon between 1940 and 1944, and the whole town earned the title of Righteous Among the Nations, unique in all France.

The third survivor, Elżbieta Ficowska, did not have a direct memory of the war in Poland, as she was a baby when she was taken out from the Warsaw ghetto by the midwife Stanisłava Bussold, who assisted Jewish women in giving birth in hiding. "I was very lucky, as tiny babies had absolutely no chance of survival." The midwife would eventually become her second mother, "the mother I remember," she said. "I've had a long and very happy life from the start." It would only be at 17 that she accidentally discovered her past. Later, she recalled, with the help of her husband, she managed to locate two schoolmates of her natural mother who told her what she looked like, as she didn't have any photographs of her family.

Jolanta Gumula from the POLIN Museum explained: "This is the first project devoted to the rescue of Jews in such a broad European context." Unfortunately, she added, "in the Holocaust history, stories of the rescue of Jews play a small part, but they are an important part of European heritage and as such should be duly honoured." From the ENRS, Jan Rydel hopes that the exhibition will inspire visitors to reflect on the stories showcased, and ponder how we would feel if targeted, or whether we would have the courage to help.

The exhibition will be on display at the Charlemagne building until 6 March, the European Day of the Righteous. Afterwards, it will travel to other European cities. Also on 24 January 2018, an exhibition on Nazi propaganda opened at the Parlamentarium. And on 30 January, the House of European History hosted a panel debate sharing experiences of exhibiting the Shoah in history museums.

Maria Fernández García