What does it take to choose humanity in a time of terror? How far would you go to help someone in danger? And what can the choices made by ordinary people during the Holocaust teach us today?
From 1 to 29 October 2026, visitors to Holocaust Centre North in Huddersfield will have the opportunity to explore these questions through Between Life and Death: Stories of Rescue during the Holocaust, an international exhibition presented by the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity (ENRS) and Holocaust Centre North.
Between Life and Death pays tribute to those who, during the Second World War, chose to help persecuted Jews in the face of the threat of imprisonment, deportation or death. By bringing together the stories of rescuers and survivors from fifteen European countries, the exhibition highlights the complexity of human relationships under the extreme circumstances of war while placing each account within its broader historical context, enabling visitors to better understand the local conditions that shaped both the possibilities for survival and the opportunities to help.
“Between Life and Death is an exhibition that feels remarkably contemporary despite focusing on historical events,” says Agnieszka Mazur-Olczak, coordinator of the project. “It reveals both the light and the dark sides of humanity through stories of people who found themselves in extreme situations – those struggling to save their own lives and those who chose to risk everything to help others. What is most important to me is that, wherever the exhibition travels, people tell us that although recounting difficult wartime experiences, it ultimately leaves them with a sense of hope.”
Among the many stories presented in the exhibition are those of Eva Paddock (née Fleischmannová), who arrived in Britain from Czechoslovakia on a Kindertransport organised by Sir Nicholas Winton, and sisters Ida and Louise Cook. Opera enthusiasts from London, the Cook sisters secretly smuggled Jewish refugees’ valuables across borders and later assisted them in rebuilding their lives in Britain. They were recognised as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in 1964.
Hannah Randall, head of education at Holocaust Centre North said: “We are very proud to be hosting Between Life and Death: Stories of Rescue during the Holocaust at Holocaust Centre North. We are the only venue to be doing so in the North of England. This exhibition from the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity echoes our commitment to telling the story of the Holocaust through personal stories. This exhibition will allow our visitors to understand a wide range of rescue efforts from across Europe, some of which helped our community in the North of England to survive the Holocaust.”
Between Life and Death is a joint initiative of the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity, the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw and the Silent Heroes Memorial Centre in Berlin.
The exhibition was first presented at the headquarters of the European Commission in Brussels in January 2018 to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Since then, it has travelled to more than twenty cities across Europe, as well as Japan and the United States. Earlier this year, it was presented at the United Nations HQ in New York.
