Shofar (illustrative)
Shofar (illustrative)iStock

The Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust will reveal a shofar (ram’s horn typically used during Jewish High Holiday religious services) that was hidden and blown in the Auschwitz concentration camp 75 years ago.

The shofar, which has never before been presented in public view, will be revealed at a Monday news conference. Museum leaders, a descendant of the survivor who inherited the artifact, and religious leaders will come together to display the artifact.

The shofar will join the more than 700 original objects and 400 photographs in the groundbreaking exhibition, which has been visited by more than 100,000 people since opening in early May and which is on view until January 3, 2020.

"Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away." explores the dual identity of the camp as a physical location - the largest documented mass murder site in human history - and as a symbol of the borderless manifestation of hatred and human barbarity.

The exhibition was produced in partnership with the international exhibition firm Musealia and the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Poland, and has been curated by an international team of experts led by historian Dr. Robert Jan van Pelt and including Dr. Michael Berenbaum and Paul Salmons, in an unprecedented collaboration with historians and curators from the Research Center at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, led by Dr. Piotr Setkiewicz.

Following the New York presentation, the exhibition is intended to tour other cities around the world. Future destinations will be announced by Musealia and the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.