Traveling exhibition: Between fame and oblivion. Lea Deutsch: Child prodigy and Holocaust victim

Curators: Dr. Martina Bitunjac and Prof. Dr. Damir Agičić

Funding: Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia and the Moses Mendelssohn Center for European-Jewish Studies

Additional titles: Između slave i zaborava. Lea Deutsch: čudo od djeteta i žrtva Holokausta / Zwischen Ruhm und Vergessenheit. Lea Deutsch: Wunderkind und Holocaust-Opfer

Lea Deutsch (1927-1943) was a famous Jewish-Croatian child actress of the interwar period. Until the age of 14, the Zagreb artist appeared in various comedies, dramas, operas and operettas. When the fascist Ustashe came to power in April 1941, she was banned from acting, among other things. In May 1943, Lea Deutsch was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau with her brother and mother. She probably died during the transport. With this exhibition, we want to commemorate the young, talented actress who became a victim of the Holocaust. On display are photographs from her multifaceted theater life, press articles with her statements, but also official documents, such as her letter of request to the “Race Department” of the Ministry of the Interior of the fascist Independent State of Croatia.

On May 16, 2023, as part of the history festival at the National and University Library in Zagreb, the trilingual exhibition “Between Fame and Oblivion. Lea Deutsch: Child prodigy and Holocaust victim” was shown for the first time. The exhibition will be on display in universities, schools, meeting places, museums, libraries and theaters, among others.

Exhibition dates:
October 7 to October 8, 2024   W. Michael Blumenthal Academy of the Jewish Museum Berlin
May 13 to May 16, 2024   Croatian National Theater (Hrvatsko narodno kazalište) in Zagreb
January 17 to February 29, 2024   International Youth Meeting Center in Oświęcim/Auschwitz
November 8, 2023 to January 11, 024   Jewish Community Berlin
October 16 to October 30, 2023   Jagiellonian University in Kraków
May 16 to May 19, 2023   National and University Library (Nacionalna i sveučilišna knjižnica) in Zagreb