The exhibition “You Have a Goal in Your Life. Margers Vestermanis – 100” will be on display at the Museum “Jews in Latvia” from September 19, 2025.
The exhibition is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Margers Vestermanis, a historian, honorary doctor of the Latvian Academy of Sciences, a member of the Latvian Historians’ Commission, the founder of the Museum “Jews in Latvia”, and a Cavalier of the Order of the Three Stars.
Margers Vestermanis was born on September 18, 1925 in Riga. He was the only one in his family to survive the Holocaust, dedicating his life to its research.
The exhibition reflects the life of Dr. Vestermanis – a happy childhood, the tragedy of World War II, the story of his survival, active scientific and pedagogical work, as well as the restrictions of the Soviet regime, the founding of a museum and persistent work in popularizing Jewish history and heritage, preserving the memory of Holocaust victims, and, finally, the creation of the main book of his life – “Humanity was not Dead After All” about the rescue of Jews in Nazi-occupied Latvia, which was published in September 2025.
The exhibition tells the story of the twists and turns of its main character’s fate, using documents and photographs, audiovisual materials and quotes through which Margers Vestermanis addresses the viewer and listener. It is the story of the life of an outstanding person, filled with meaning and purpose.
The exhibition will be on display till spring 2026. The entrance is free during the museum’s working hours.
