What the donation is funding

MIKHAIL FRIDMAN was born in Lvov. So, too, was Janine Webber, one of the survivors whose testimony will form part of the National Holocaust Centre’s interactive archive, the Forever Project, for which final funding has been supplied by Mr Fridman’s Genesis Philanthropy Group.

With the average age of survivors now well into the 80s, the project by the Nottinghamshire centre is a means to preserve Holocaust education and awareness when there are no survivors left to recount their experiences to new generations.

Over two years, 10 survivors were interviewed in front of cameras shooting in stereoscopic high definition. Each was asked around 1,000 questions on every imaginable aspect of their wartime experiences.

Through the 3D digital testimonies, visitors can “interview” the survivors.

Given their shared birthplace, Ms Webber’s story resonates with Mr Fridman. “Her story is important for citizens of Lvov, in western Ukraine,” he says. “Before World War II, Lvov was part of Poland and by 1939, it was home to over 200,000 Jews.

“Sadly there are very few survivors to tell the story of what happened in Lvov or on the Eastern Front as the Germans advanced into Eastern Europe and Ukraine in their effort to capture Moscow.”

Mr Fridman’s post-war memories of Lvov are of “a beautiful old European city with an opera house, theatre and cobbled streets”.

But for Jews in the wartime period, there was terrible suffering. “Unlike in Poland, where the history of Auschwitz and the other death camps is well known, what happened in Ukraine and the Soviet territories occupied by the Germans is less known and documented,” he explains.

Last year, Mr Fridman was among those behind a project to create the Babi Yar Holocaust Memorial Centre to reflect the tragedy of Babi Yar — scene of massacres by German forces and Ukrainian collaborators — and the wider “forgotten Holocaust”.

“Preserving personal testimonies is crucial for the next generation,” he adds. [They] help us understand issues that are becoming more pressing in the modern world, such as propaganda, fake news, racism and prejudice.”