An exhibition previewed in Warsaw in March is moving on to Brussels this April. Photographs, old paintings and documents depicting ten centuries of Jewish life in Poland will be on display at the European Parliament building in Brussels.
The exhibition is organized by the Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, an organization that houses Poland's largest depository of Jewish-related archival documents, books, pictures, and art objects. Formerly established on January 1, 2009, the institute is named in honour of Emanuel Ringelblum, who led a covert team that gathered materials chronicling Jewish life in the Warsaw Ghetto under Nazi occupation.
Starting with the first arrival of Jews in Poland during the Middle Ages after their expulsion from other parts of Europe, the exhibition depicts Jewish life in Poland as rich in culture and symbiotic with the larger Polish, mostly Roman Catholic, society. For centuries, Poland was one of the only places where Jewish culture was allowed to flourish alongside the dominant culture, and Jews often contributed to Polish society, politics, economy and culture. Through a variety of documents from the institute's archives, the exhibition tells the story of both assimilated Jews that were active in Polish society, as well as Jewish traditions that survived within the community. A portrait gallery also depicts famous Polish Jews who made their marks on the larger European population.
While most exhibitions about Jews in Poland focuses on the tragedy of the Holocaust and the loss of Poland's pre-war community of about 3.5 million Jews, this exhibition aims to send a message to the rest of Europe that before the Second World War, Jewish life flourished in Poland, and Jews have a very long and rich history here which is still being discovered. |