Holocaust victims’ stories honoured by Maldon military museum 80 years on

By Ben Shahrabi

Haunting – the jacket worn by Holocaust victim Joseph Zabka. Inset: An unidentified concentration camp prisoner. (Credit: Ben Shahrabi)

HOLOCAUST victims’ stories are being remembered in an exhibition at Maldon’s Combined Military Services Museum, to mark 80 years since the liberation of Nazi death camps.

Today (January 27), ceremonies are taking place all over the world, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp.

To mark Holocaust Memorial Day, the museum in Station Road, Maldon, has overhauled its exhibition.

It features a letter written by a Holocaust victim and the actual pyjama jacket he wore while held at Gross-Rosen concentration camp.

Museum curator Julie Miller told Caroline Coastal: “We’re trying to change the narrative of the displays to make it much less about the guards and the horror of the Holocaust, and much more about the individuals and their stories.

“For some years, we’ve had a striped pyjama top, the iconic image of the Nazi camps, which belonged to anti-fascist Czech prisoner Josef Zabka.

“Along with that, we’ve got a letter Josef sent to his parents, Anna and Jan Zabka. It’s a ‘model letter’, designed by the camp authorities to give the impression all was well.”

New research has revealed more about the story of Josef Zabka, who was eventually “dismissed” from the camp in 1944, and his family.

“It allows us to make the display much more personal to him,” Julie added.

“It’s important that we remember them, rather than the horror. If we forget what happened before, we’re doomed to repeat it.”

Museum curator Julie Miller says new research allows the exhibit to focus on the stories of the individuals who suffered in the Holocaust. (Credit: Ben Shahrabi)

Between 1941 and 1945, more than six million Jews - along with millions of Roma, disabled individuals, political dissidents, and LGBTQ+ people - were systematically persecuted and murdered by the Nazi regime.

The Combined Military Services Museum hopes to honour the memory of those who perished, share the stories of survivors, and provide “a solemn space for reflection”. Through images, artifacts and historical documents, visitors are invited to “learn about the resilience of the human spirit in the face of unimaginable hardship”.

Julie added: “We’ve been working with The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, who are keen to remind people that holocausts and genocides didn’t stop in 1945.

“They have continued, and that’s why it’s important to remember.”

For more information about the Combined Military Services Museum and its ongoing exhibitions, visit the website.