"What we’ve been unable to shout out to the world"
The permanent exhibition at Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute constitutes the key element of the Oneg Shabbat Program, realized by JHI and the Association of the JHI in Poland.
Anna Majchrowska
On November 14th, President Andrzej Duda and his Wife, Professor Piotr Gliński, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Culture and National Heritage, Ruth Cohen-Dar, deputy ambassador of Israel in Poland, Karel Fracapane representing UNESCO as well as Piotr Wiślicki, head of the Association of the JHI in Poland, as well as the representatives of Jewish organizations, cultural institutions and diplomatic corps took part in the ceremonial inauguration of the exhibition.
Professor Paweł Śpiewak, director of JHI and curator of the exhibition, said: “It is impossible to imagine Jewish culture without memory. (…) The memory – passed on to the child by their father – builds credibility robimy, to jest praca nad pamięcią. Tę największą wykonali ludzie z Oneg Szabat w czasie wojny, ale zabrakło tych, którzy mogli ją przekazać. Można ją było tylko znaleźć. Została zakopana w bańkach, metalowych pudłach. I tak przetrwała, nieosobowo. Jeżeli chcemy wiedzieć, co się wydarzyło podczas wojny, wiemy to tylko z dokumentów”.
White, black, grey, Minimalistic. Quiet. Visual language reduced to a few materials: glass, wood, metal. Simplicity making it possible for all the atrocities which are now, after over seventy years, “shouted out to the world” to resound fully. .
These are the shades of permanent exhibition at Jewish Historical Institute devoted to the Underground Archive of the Warsaw Ghetto. This is the first time when original documents were presented, collected by secret group organized by Emanuel Ringelblum, patron of the Institute.
The exhibition is presented in the building at ul. Tłomackie 3/5, constituting before WW2 the centre of Jewish intellectual life (Main Judaist Library as well as the Institute of Judaist Studies had been located there). During the war, Oneg Shabatt used to gather there and nowadays, it is the seat of JHI and the Association. For the purposes of the exhibition, the area of the hall was renovated together with the conservation of historical floor, still marked by the traces of the fire which broke out after the Synagogue had blown up in 1943.