Created in Israel and shaped by a global community of photographers, The Lonka Project stands as a profound visual tribute to the last living Holocaust survivors. This extraordinary book combines the work of acclaimed photographers from around the world, each contributing portraits that honor individuals who carried the weight of history and still chose to open their homes, stories, and presence to the next generation. The photographs reveal the trauma etched into memory and the resilience, intelligence, humor, and strength that allowed each survivor to rebuild a life with purpose and integrity.

The project began with a simple idea: to document survivors with dignity before their voices are lost to time. From that idea emerged a collective effort involving hundreds of artists – many of them leaders in contemporary photography – who volunteered their craft to ensure that future generations wouldn’t encounter the Holocaust solely through textbooks, but also through faces, settings, gestures, and the unmistakable humanity expressed in each frame. The volume moves between continents and cultures, yet every portrait feels connected by a shared thread of endurance and presence.

Surrounded by personal objects, seated at familiar tables, and photographed in rooms shaped by decades of choices and memories – their stories, paired with the images, speak to the lifelong work of rebuilding after catastrophic loss. The result is an archive of testimony that feels intimate and expansive at once—an album created not to freeze the past, but to underscore the continuing power of life.

The editors, Jim Hollander and Rina Castelnuovo Hollander, guide the project with a clear sense of responsibility and respect. Their careful curation allows the photographs to stand on their own while framing them within the broader mission of remembrance, truth, and human dignity. The book blends craft with conscience, offering readers an encounter that is deeply personal and historically anchored.

Printed in Israel and assembled with the utmost care, The Lonka Project invites readers to witness the final generation of survivors through the eyes of world class photographers.

Specifications

• Hardcover volume
• Edited by Jim Hollander and Rina Castelnuovo Hollander
• Publisher: Gefen Publishing House, Jerusalem & New York
• A global photographic project documenting the last living Holocaust survivors
• Includes portraits by internationally renowned photographers across many countries
• Features survivor stories and historical context woven alongside each portrait
• High quality archival printing suitable for collectors, educators, and museum settings