The bulletin of the Tkuma Institute of the Holocaust Studies (Ukraine) has covered the recent activities of Inna and Michael Rogatchi and The Rogatchi Foundation in Ukraine.
The bulletin ran two stories regarding The Rogatchi Foundation and its co-founders, covering Inna Rogatchi’s The Route: Family Edition exhibition at the Jewish Memory and Holocaust in Ukraine museum, and the Yenike Award ceremony conducted in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, in June 2013.
In June 2013, a special exhibition has been opened at Memory of Jewish People and Holocaust in Ukraine Museum. The fine art photography exhibition The Route: Family Edition, 2013 has been brought to Ukrainian museum from far distanced Finland by the talented couple of Inna and Michael Rogatchi. Inna is a renowned writer, president of the international cultural charity The Rogatchi Foundation, and also is the author of the collection. Michael is an outstanding and famous artist who has authored many works depicting subjects of wide variety. Michael is the author of many very well-known paintings featuring the past and the present of the Jewish life.
The Rogatchi family’s visits have become a true fest for Memory of Jewish People and Holocaust in Ukraine Museum; and such fests has become a nice tradition. In October 2012, Michael Rogatchi has donated his famous Faces of the Holocaust triptych to the museum. Now Inna Rogatchi has decided to donate her collection of fine art photography to the museum, as well.
Inna Rogatchi has a special attitude towards Dnepropetrovsk: her family is from there, and her father Isaac Buyanover was born and lived in the city. The displayed version of The Route collection is named as Family Edition with a reason. The edition and the exhibition in the museum has been dedicated by Inna to her father, – “in memory of my father, Isaac Buyanover, talented engineer, notable inventor, and keen photographer.”
More than a hundred guests attended the opening ceremony of Inna’s exhibition. The ceremony has taken place in the Museum Hall number three, devoted to the Jewish culture. Dr Anna Medvedovskaya, the head of scientific department of Tkuma Institute, in her opening remarks thanked Inna and Michael Rogatchi for their active stand and inventive support of the Museum. Among the other speakers at the ceremony there were Chief Rabbi of Dnepropetrovsk and Dnepropetrovsk region Rabbi Schmuel Kaminetzki; one of the leading figures of the world Chabad Lubavitch movement Rabbi Moshe Kotljarsky from New York; director of the Dnepropetrovsk Jewish community Zelig Brez; director of the biggest in the USA the New York Jewish Children’s Museum Rabbi Yerachmiel Benjaminson.
In her introduction, Inna Rogatchi did tell more about her special project and collection. According to the author, The Family Edition of The Route is one of several versions of this collection, including The Brussels Edition of 2012, and forthcoming The Krakow Edition and The American Edition. The Family Edition includes several works picturing Ukraine, Dnepropetrovsk, and Kazakhstan. Inna Rogatchi has told about her idea behind the project: “Those works reflect my personal visioning of the historical Route of the Jewish people, largely forced route, importantly. The route in my collection reflects a large time-span, from early Middle Ages till the present time. To illustrate this movement in geography and time, too, I have created a special map which is one of the images of the collection. The works presented in this series have been taken in 15 countries, and the work on the series took a decade, from 2002 to 2012. There is, perhaps, no coincidence also in the fact that the historical route of the Jewish people reflected in this collection does also reflect the individual routes of both Michael’s and my families, from Spain and Portugal, via France and Italy, through Poland and Lithuania to Ukraine, Kazakhstan and from there to Finland. But we all have started from Israel and will end there too, all metaphorically and some, the lucky ones, literally, too,”- said Inna Rogatchi.
Inna’s photography is distinctly marked by her own style, Lux Sei Photo Art ©, which is pending the patenting at the moment. The collection contains 24 works and title work table. In their medium, the works are authored HD prints on pearl paper; they all are complimented by special highlights written by Inna Rogatchi leading the viewers into the author’s ideas and providing interesting facts about the individual works. The guests at the opening were enthusiastic about the works which they were examining in the Museum hall after the opening ceremony. They were also very active in talking with Inna Rogatchi and asking her many questions about her work in general and The Route project in particular.
In addition to the opening ceremony of Inna Rogatchi’s The Route: Family Edition exhibition at the Memory of Jewish People and Holocaust in Ukraine, another, not less significant ceremony has taken place at the Museum in June 2013.
Inna and Michael Rogatchi and their The Rogatchi Foundation awarded the best students of the Jewish schools for boys and for girls with the Yenike Stipends. The stipend is named in memory of Inna and Michael Rogatchi’s daughter Julia-Yenike.
The Yenike Stipend was introduced by The Rogatchi Foundation for the Dnepropetrovsk Jewish orphans back in 2010. This year, the philanthropists decided to double both the size of the stipend and the number of students to be awarded with it. According to Michael Rogatchi, the decision has been based on the results of the international campaign that him, his wife, and their Foundation has conducted since the beginning of 2012, to mark his 60th birthday in that particular way.
In his speech, Michael Rogatchi did tell some details to the many present children, their friends, their teachers, and the other guests of that moving ceremony. “We were especially pleased to get such wonderful support from many of our friends all over the globe, from Helsinki to New York, and from Paris to Asia. And remarkably, those are people of very different backgrounds: artists, musicians, doctors, businessmen, scientists, politicians. Many of them are world famous ones – such as our dear friend Evgeny Kissin, or the world champion and the member of the European Parliament Sari Essayah. And it is my big pleasure to tell you today that our hearts were melted while thinking that all those people from all over the globe were thinking on you and were willing to support you. There simply cannot be any better present to me on my birthday”– said world famous artist Michael Rogatchi in his opening remark.
Michael has awarded the best students with their Yenike Stipends. Among those were Shmuel Tostych, David Shapiro, Yakov Shnipov, Naomi Bilder and Rachel Rudovsky. All those students did show not only the best results in their general school studies but also were the best in the studying of Torah, Hebrew, and the Jewish traditions.
Michael Rogatchi also awarded all the children from pensions for both boys and girls with specially made for those children personal art cards based on Michael’s art works and inscribed by him and his wife for every child individually.
The Rogatchi Foundation also brought to both pensions two of Inna Rogatchi’s Lux Sei Photo Art © collections, to decorate the premises of the both pensions.
The Yenike Stipend is a continuation of the Rogatchi family philanthropic tradition in Dnepropetrovsk. Previously, their Rogatchi Foundation has run the Anna Buyanover Award for Teacher Excellence programme for several years; and also the Anna Buyanover stipend for orphans from the Jewish community of the city.
Anna Buyanover (1932 – 2005), Inna Rogatchi’s mother, was an outstanding and famous teacher who has brought up and educated several generations during her 40-years distinguished career in Dnepropetrovsk. Many of her students have become well-known leaders in education of the city. They all do remember Anna Buyanover as very talented, inventive and creative teacher who has inflicted a desire to become a teacher to many of the leading teachers of Dnepropetrovsk and other places of Ukraine.
In her interview to Tkuma Institute press-service, Inna Rogatchi mentioned that The Rogatchi Foundation will be continuing and will widen its activities in support of the children and youth of Dnepropetrovsk. The active well-known public stand of this talented family leaves us with no doubts that we will be hearing of their new plans and initiatives soon.