From ruined synagogue to culture and education centre - White Stork Synagogue Wroclaw
The White Stork Synagogue in Wrocław, Poland, was restored between 2008 and 2010 with funds from the EEA Grants (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) as well as funding from the city of Wroclaw, the Union of Jewish Religious Communities in Poland and its Wroclaw Branch and the Bente Kahan Foundation, the leader of the renovation project.
Poland had a large Jewish community before the Holocaust. The history of Polish Jews dates back a 1000 years, and is an important part of Polish cultural heritage.
The EEA Grants have funded several projects aiming at restoring this important cultural heritage.
Today the White Stork is not only a synagogue, but also houses the Wrocław Centre for Jewish Culture and Education. The Center is co-financed by the city of Wroclaw and run by the Bente Kahan Foundation in cooperation with the Wroclaw Jewish community.
They organise various events such as concerts, exhibitions, film screenings, workshops, lectures, and theatre and dance performances. The activities held in the White Stork Synagogue are already an integral and popular part of the cultural life of this region of Poland.
The Bente Kahan Foundation has recently received a grant from the EEA Grants for a project that will promote Yiddish language and culture in Poland and Norway. Norwegian partners for this project are Oslo Jewish Museum, the Centre for Research on the Holocaust and Religious Minorities, the Jewish Festival in Trondheim and Aarflot Productions.
The film is made by the Norwegian Embassy in Warsaw, July 2013
Jewish Community in Wrocław - an interview with Rabbi David Basok / January 2017, Poland
Conversation on conversions to Judaism and the future of the Jewish Community in Wrocław, Poland
The White Stork Synagogue in Wrocław
The White Stork Synagogue in Wrocław, Poland, was restored between 2008 and 2010 with funds from the EEA Grants (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) as well as funding from the city of Wroclaw, the Union of Jewish Religious Communities in Poland and its Wroclaw Branch and the Bente Kahan Foundation, the leader of the renovation project.
Poland had a large Jewish community before the Holocaust. The history of Polish Jews dates back a 1000 years, and is an important part of Polish cultural heritage.
The EEA Grants have funded several projects aiming at restoring this important cultural heritage.
Today the White Stork is not only a synagogue, but also houses the Wrocław Centre for Jewish Culture and Education. The Center is co-financed by the city of Wroclaw and run by the Bente Kahan Foundation in cooperation with the Wroclaw Jewish community.
They organise various events such as concerts, exhibitions, film screenings, workshops, lectures, and theatre and dance performances. The activities held in the White Stork Synagogue are already an integral and popular part of the cultural life of this region of Poland.
The Bente Kahan Foundation has recently received a grant from the EEA Grants for a project that will promote Yiddish language and culture in Poland and Norway. Norwegian partners for this project are Oslo Jewish Museum, the Centre for Research on the Holocaust and Religious Minorities, the Jewish Festival in Trondheim and Aarflot Productions.
The film is made by the Norwegian Embassy in Warsaw, July 2013.
Jewish Cemetery in Wrocław 1856 (museum) Walking tour, The most beautiful I have ever seen
Established in 1856, this 4.6 hectare cemetery is perhaps the most well-preserved testament to the former strength of Breslau's pre-war Jewish community, with over 1200 gravestones. Closed in 1942, the cemetery quickly fell into deep neglect: in 1945 it was turned into a fortress by the Nazis and saw fierce fighting as evidenced by the eerie bullet holes in many of the gravestones. Preservation began in the 1970s and in 1991 it was opened as the Museum of Jewish Cemetery Art in tribute to the craftsmanship of its sepulchral art. Indeed the beauty and diversity of styles and symbols on display is perhaps unmatched anywhere. Many noteworthy figures are buried here, including the renowned biologist Ferdinand Cohn, the historian Heinrich Graetz (author of the first complete history of the Jews), Clara Immerwahl (first female PhD student at the University of Breslau, and wife of Fritz Haber, who committed suicide in objection to her husband's work developing chemical warfare), Ferdinand Lassalle (founder and leader of the first labour party in Germany, killed in a duel), and the parents of Edith Stein; using old records some of their tombstones are slowly being restored. However, despite these modest efforts the Ślężna Street Cemetery remains a completely mysterious and evocative sanctuary of decaying vine-covered monuments, the broken pieces of which are stacked against each other, giving shelter to stray cats and shade to wildflowers. Well worth a visit.
We are Jews from Breslau Trailer
We are Jews from Breslau
Young Survivors and their Fates after 1933
A feature documentary by Karin Kaper and Dirk Szuszies
judenausbreslaufilm.de
Protagonists:
Esther Adler, Gerda Bikales, Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, Renate Lasker-Harpprecht, Walter Laqueur, Fritz Stern, Günter Lewy, David Toren, Abraham Ascher, Wolfgang Nossen, Eli Heyman, Mordechai Rotenberg, Max Rosenberg, Pinchas Rosenberg
and a German-Polish Group of young people in Berlin and Wroclaw
Music: Bente Kahan, Simon Wallfisch, Patrick Grant
In cooperation with Bente Kahan Foundation, Wroclaw
Under the patronage of Rafał Dutkiewicz, Mayor of the City of Wroclaw and the late Władysław Bartoszewski, State Secretary for International Dialogue in the Chancellery of the Polish Prime Minister (posthumously)
Project Coordination: Maria Luft
Academic Advice: Katharina Friedla
World Premiere 6. November 2016, 5 p.m.
Cinema Nowe Horyzonty in Wrocław
As Part of the Program of the
European Capital of Culture Wrocław 2016
German Premiere 13. November 2016, 4 p.m. in Berlin
Zeughauskino (Deutsches Historisches Museum)
German Cinema Release 17. November 2016
Sponsors and cooperation partners of the film project and the workshop:
Die Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien, Robert Bosch Stiftung, Auswärtiges Amt, Deutsch-Polnische Wissenschaftsstiftung, Deutsch-Polnisches Jugendwerk and Bethe-Stiftung within the program „Wege zur Erinnerung“, Tönnjes E.A.S.T., Ursula Lachnit-Fixson-Stiftung,
City of Wrocław, Foundation Zukunft Berlin
They were young, looking forward to the future with great expectations; they felt at home in Breslau, the city with the third biggest Jewish community in Germany at that time. Then, Hitler came to power. From this time onwards these young people were connected by the common fate of being persecuted as Jews. Some of them took flight, others went into exile and remarkably some survived the Auschwitz concentration camp. Deprived of their homes they escaped to all sides for rescue and built new lives in their different host countries. More than a few made significant contributions to the founding and building of the State of Israel.
14 survivors are the protagonists of the documentary. They remember not only vividly their former Jewish environment in Breslau. Their later experiences impressively illustrate a multifaceted portrayal of their generation. Some of them even took the long journey to the city of their birth upon themselves. There, in the Polish city of Wrocław of today, they meet with a German-Polish group of young people. Especially in these times of growing anti-Semitism, the documentary builds an emotional bridge from the past to a future that is shaped by all of us.
In the documentary, the new homes of the protagonists in the USA, Israel, England, France and even Germany are integrated to give the audience a conscious perception of the far-reaching consequences of their “Being-thrown-into-the world”.
Another significant element of the story is the building of a new Jewish community in Wrocław. This aspect shows the extent of the fall: the contrast to times past irreversibly lost, but yet reveals subtly the chance for new beginning.
CHANUKrAkow at the Jewish Community Center in Krakow Poland
emilysguidetokrakow.com
Christmas Markets aren't the only thing happening in Krakow this time of year- just a short look at part of the ChanuKrakow celebrations at the Jewish Community Center in Krakow this year! Donut and Potato Pancake Cooking class and Candle-Making too! Happy Chanukah or Happy Hanukkah from Krakow, Poland!
Tour of Jewish quarter WWII lesson in Wroclaw
Dymer: Jewish market in the center of Shtetl
Історик Григорій Іванович Гончарук розповідає про Євбаз в центрі Димера
Albion College Students Help Restore the New Jewish Cemetery in Wroclaw, Poland
This project honors the place of a people who have mostly vanished from Wroclaw and Poland in the wake of the Holocaust, and helps the remaining community to reclaim its cemetery.
Interested in learning more? Email holocauststudies@albion.edu to get your name on an interest list and receive notification of an upcoming information session.
To Whom Can We Transmit the Yiddish Language?”: Jewish Cultural Programming in Contemporary Wroclaw
Henryk Robak, native Yiddish speaker born in Warsaw, laments the lack of programs about and in Yiddish in Bresloy (Wroclaw), Poland today.
To learn more about the Yiddish Book Center’s Wexler Oral History Project, visit:
Deportation from Breslau to Theresienstadt in April 1943. Testimony of Lory Cahn.
Excerpt from the testimony of Lory Cahn (born: Hannelore Grünberger), describing her deportation from Breslau, the conditions during the trainride and the arrival to Theresienstadt in April 1943. Interview conducted by the USC Shoah Foundation Institute.
A Polish-Born Yiddish Speaker Explains the Formation of Post-WWII Jewish Organizations in Poland
Henryk Robak, a native Yiddish speaker, explains the formation of organized Jewish institutions in Wroclaw (Bresloy in Yiddish) in the years immediately following World War Two and the Holocaust. In particular, he explains the work of the Yiddish Social Culture Association and the Jewish Committee.
To learn more about the Yiddish Book Center's Wexler Oral History Project, visit:
How to Tell Jewish Story in Poland? | Lecture by Marcin Wodziński
Jewish Days in the City Hall: (Un)Displayed Past in East European Museums
Marcin Wodziński (Wroclaw University)
How to Tell Jewish Story in Poland? From Jewish collections to the Museum of the History of Polish Jews
July 13, 2017
Modern museums are mirrors carried along high road. Just like a nineteenth-century novel, they reflect they ways contemporary individuals and societies see themselves and how they portray each other. This lecture told the history of Jewish collections and museums in Poland and how they have been related to Jewish life, past and present.
More at
IN UKRAINIAN
WARSAW: BEAUTIFUL STATUES AND FOUNTAINS ⛲ DECORATE SAXON GARDEN (POLAND)
SUBSCRIBE: - Let's visit the fascinating capital of Poland, the city of Warsaw and let's go to The Saxon Garden which is a 15.5–hectare public garden in central (Śródmieście) Warsaw facing Piłsudski Square. It is the oldest public park in the city. Founded in the late 17th century, it was opened to the public in 1727 as one of the first publicly accessible parks in the world. Once serving as the gardens of Saxon Palace, this magnificent park features shady tree-lined avenues, Baroque sculptures, an elegant 19-century fountain and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula River in east-central Poland and its population is officially estimated at 1.78 million residents within a greater metropolitan area of 3.1 million residents, which makes Warsaw the 8th most-populous capital city in the European Union. The city limits cover 517.24 square kilometres (199.71 sq mi), while the metropolitan area covers 6,100.43 square kilometres (2,355.39 sq mi).[6] Warsaw is an alpha global city, a major international tourist destination, and a significant cultural, political and economic hub. Its historical old town was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Vic Stefanu, vstefanu@yahoo.com.
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Jewish cemetery in Poland (Wroclaw 2009)
David 's travel diary in Wroclaw, Poland
Okay, for me, it is amazing, might be my favorite city so far.=)
The basic information of Wroclaw is as below:
Wroclaw is the largest city in western Poland. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, roughly 350 kilometres (220 mi) from the Baltic Sea to the north and 40 kilometres (25 mi) from the Sudeten Mountains to the south.
It's Very Interesting to Understand Why: Varied Jewish Communities within Poland
Katka Reszke—writer, filmmaker and Polish-Jewish activist—gives examples of the different Jewish communities in Poland: Wroclaw, Warsaw, and Krakow. She explains that the tensions that may arise within or between Polish Jewish communities are part of a healthy process of finding organic modes of Jewishness that work for those involved.
To learn more about the Yiddish Book Center’s Wexler Oral History Project, visit:
SONGS CARVED IN STONE - Yiddish and Ladino / PIEŚNI WYRYTE W KAMIENIU - Jidysz i Ladino
JIDYSZ I LADINO WE WROCŁAWIU
Fundacja Bente Kahan zaprasza od 5 do 9 maja na wydarzenia będące częścią obchodów Europejskiej Stolicy Kultury Wrocław 2016:
8 MAJA 19:00
PIEŚNI WYRYTE W KAMIENIU
Zapraszamy Państwa na niepowtarzalny koncert pieśni jidysz i ladino z udziałem artystów z Polski i zagranicy. Koncert obędzie się w Centrum Kultury i Edukacji Żydowskiej w Synagodze Pod Białym Bocianem.
Wokaliści/aktorzy: Bente Kahan (Polska/Norwegia), Rosa Zaragoza (Hiszpania), Ruso Sala (Hiszpania), Karsten Troyke (Niemcy), Anna Blaut (Polska) Tancerze: Isabel Ruiz de Villa (tancerka flamenco – Hiszpania), Irad Mazliah (choreograf/tancerz – Izrael) Muzycy: Eduardo Iniesta (gitara-Hiszpania), Dariusz Świnoga (akordeon/pianino-Polska), Greg Wall (klarnet/saksofon – USA), Daniel Weltlinger (skrzypce – Australia)
Bilety w cenie 35/25zł rezerwować można pisząc maila: bilety@fbk.org.pl lub kontaktując się telefonicznie: 71 782 81 23.
Projekt „Jidysz i Ladino” jest częścią programu Europejskiej Stolicy Kultury Wrocław 2016. Partner: Związek Gmin Wyznaniowych Żydowskich w RP Oddział we Wrocławiu. Dofinansowano ze środków Gminy Wrocław (wroclaw.pl)
ENG
The Bente Kahan Foundation
May 5-9, as part of Wroclaw European Capital of Culture 2016
MAY 8 19:00
SONGS CARVED IN STONE
You are invited to experience a one-time concert celebrating Yiddish and Ladino featuring international performers in the Wroclaw Center for Jewish Culture and Education in the unique White Stork Synagogue.
Singers/actors: Bente Kahan (Poland/Norway), Rosa Zaragoza (Spain), Ruso Sala (Spain), Karsten Troyke (Germany), Anna Blaut (Poland) Dancers: Isabel Ruiz de Villa (flamenco dancer- Spain), Irad Mazliah (choreographer/dancer-Israel) musicians: Eduardo Iniesta (guitar-Spain), Dariusz Świnoga (accordion/piano-Poland), Greg Wall (clarinet/sax -USA), Daniel Weltlinger (violin -Australia)
Tickets: 35/25zł. For reservations: bilety@fbk.org.pl or phone: +48 71 782 81 23.
For more info: fbk@fbk.org.pl or info@fbk.org.pl
Tel. +48 71 782 81 23
The project „Yiddish and Ladino” is a part of European Capital of Culture 2016 programme.
Partner: Jewish Community in Wroclaw
Project is co-financed by the City of Wrocław (wroclaw.pl)
Where is the money from restituted prewar Polish-Jewish properties going?
In 1997 the Polish government began returning millions of dollars worth of real estate that belonged to Jewish communal institutions before the Holocaust. These properties are being recovered by the Union of Jewish Religious Communities in Poland. Little is known about this tiny organization which, despite the vast sums it is recovering, has no website nor does it make public any annual reports. Registered as a religious organization it is treated like a church and is not required to provide an accounting of its finances. This piece asks, Where are the many millions it is recovering really going? In the absence of transparency all this money just seems to be disappearing. With over 70% of American Jews having ancestors laying in abandoned Jewish cemeteries throughout Poland, shouldn't some of the recovered monies be used for to care for their final resting places? Weren't these ancestors the same ones whose money paid for the recovered properties in the first place?
(For background, see pozsynpro.org/press_pdf/polityka/p_article10_02%5Bus%5D.pdf