The end of the action and its repercussions
Following the Polish-German negotiations, an agreement was signed on 24 January 1939. Its provisions allowed for the temporary return of family representatives to Germany to regulate their personal and economic affairs. Within a few weeks, they were to sell the property and transport their belongings. In practice, however, obtaining an agreement was complicated and required overcoming many bureaucratic obstacles - 3,632 people took advantage of the permits. They sold their property at heavily discounted prices and most of the property disappeared.
With time, the number of escapes from the camp increased, as did the number of permits to travel deep into Poland. At the end of November, the temporary camp in Zbąszyń housed about 4, 000 people. The large-scale exodus began in late spring of 1939. The camp was dissolved at the end of August 1939.
On 7 November, 17-year-old Herszel Grynszpan killed a German embassy employee, Ernst vom Rath in Paris, in revenge for his family's fate in Zbąszyń. It was a pretext for the Crystal Night - the pogrom against Jews in Germany and Austria on the night of 9-10 November 1938.
The exhibition presented at the headquarters of the Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute reminds us of the events of October 1938. The history of Polenaktion was shown through the prism of the individual fate of the victims. The central theme of the exhibition are the stories of six Berlin Jewish families. The exhibition consists of three chronologically arranged chapters: “Life in Berlin up to 1938”, “The deportation action of October 1938”, “The history of persecution
and salvation”.
The exhibition was prepared by the History Department of the Institute of Eastern Europe at the Free University of Berlin and the Actives Museum in Berlin in connection with the celebration of the 80th anniversary of “Polenaktion” in 2018.
The exhibition was presented at the Stiftung Neue Synagogue - Judaicum Center in Berlin from 8 July 2018 to 28 February 2019. Over 400,000 people visited the exhibition.
The exhibition was co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage as part of the commemoration events of the 75th anniversary of the death of Emanuel Ringelblum.