Scandinavian Premiere of "People, Book, Land: The 3,500 Year Relationship of the Jewish People with the Holy Land"

June 24, 2016

Copenhagen,

The Wiesenthal Centre sponsored exhibition, "People, Book, Land: The 3,500 Year Relationship of the Jewish People with the Holy Land" this week ended its display in the medieval town hall of Copenhagen.

Following its Paris UNESCO launch in June 2014, the exhibition was shown in New York at UN headquarters, U.S. Congress, Israeli Knesset (Parliament), Vatican, Montenegro and Albania.

The Scandinavian premiere opened in Copenhagen on 6 June as an initiative of a consortium of Danish Christian groups in support of the State of Israel.

Led by Yvette Espersen, the launch was attended by 200 invitees, including inter-faith leaders, politicians, cultural figures and diplomats representing 17 countries, Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Cyprus, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Nepal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Turkey.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Opened by Simon Wiesenthal Centre Associate Dean Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the guests were addressed by Danish Minister of Culture and Church Affairs Bertel Haarder, Mayor Ninna Thomsen, Chief Rabbi Yair Melchior, Israeli Ambassador Barukh Bina.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

L to R : Minister Haarder, Dr. Samuels, Ms. Espersen, Rabbi Cooper, Ambassador Binah, Chief Rabbi Melchior, Mayor Thomsen

Photo: Hasse Ferrold

The Centre's Director for International Relations Dr. Shimon Samuels, presented the Copenhagen Exhibition organizer Yvette Espersen with a 3rd century lamp from the Land of Israel.

 

 

Photo: Hasse Ferrold

During the two week display, the Exhibition was visited by over 2,000, predominantly school students and also many tourists due to the Town Hall's proximity to the famous Tivoli Gardens. The Visitor's Book is replete with expressions of amazement that the Jewish narrative is so little known.

The Danish Christian groups are now working with their peers in Scandinavia and the Nordic countries to establish an itinerary for the exhibition as a response to campaigns in the region to delegitimize Israel and deny the heritage of the Jewish people.

For further information please contact Shimon Samuels +33 609 77 01 58, join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent direct to your Twitter feed.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).