‘Emmie Arbel. The Colour of Memory’ – Exhibition at Buchenwald Memorial July 24 – Oct 25, 2026

We are pleased to announce that original watercolours, sketches, and excerpts from the graphic novel Emmie Arbel: The Colour of Memory (Emmie Arbel. Die Farbe der Erinnerung) will be featured in an exhibit at the Buchenwald Memorial in Germany from July 24 to October 25, 2026. The exhibit is titled ‘Emmie Arbel. The Color of Memory. An exhibition with paintings by Barbara Yelin’, and is part of the German Academy Rome Villa Massimo’s Festival of Scholars where Barbara Yelin had a 1-year artist residency. It is launching on Friday, July 24, with a panel discussion featuring Emmie Arbel, Michal Arbel (Emmie’s daughter), and Jakob Hoffmann (curator).

The exhibition is the result of the art-based collaboration between Barbara and Emmie, supported by the SCVN project and Dr. Matthias Heyl from the Ravensbrück Memorial. As noted by project director Dr. Charlotte Schallié:

the graphic narrative emerged from a long-term, survivor-centered co-creative process grounded in shared authority and sustained trust, in which Holocaust survivor Emmie Arbel participated as a knowledge-holder and research partner.

This marks the third instalment of the exhibition, having previously been exhibited at the Ravensbrück Memorial in 2024 and at the Bergen-Belsen Memorial in 2025.

The Buchenwald Memorial holds Europe’s largest monument dedicated to the remembrance of Nazi concentration camp victims. It serves as a site to learn and remember the Holocaust. Additional information about the memorial can be found here.

The graphic novel, released in 2023, is available in German, English, French and Spanish. The German edition is also available from the Bundeszentrale for Politische Bildung (Federal Agency for Civic Education): https://www.bpb.de/shop/buecher/schriftenreihe/561642/emmie-arbel-die-farbe-der-erinnerung/

More information about the graphic novel collaboration is available on the Holocaust Research Cluster page.