THOU SHALT NOT BE INDIFFERENT
19 April marks the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. On that day in 1943, on the eve of Passover, 50,000 people were still imprisoned in the area of the Warsaw ghetto—among them 20-year old Mietek Pachter, 21-year old Mira Piżyc and 11-year old Helena Kuczer (Krystyna Budnicka). They were no fighters, just like very many others in the ghetto. And yet, their silent resistance was just as important as participating in armed combat. What happened to the tens of thousands of people who descended to underground bunkers during the Uprising and remained unreachable for many days?
The 80th anniversary is a point of departure for us not only to commemorate those who perished in the Warsaw ghetto, but also to listen to the stories of those who survived. Our program for the year 2023 will allow us to acquire a critical perspective on history as well as to look at the present day and into the future—which is what Marian Turski encouraged us all to do on 27 January 2020 when he reminded us of the so-called eleventh commandment—a message from his friend Roman Kent: "Thou Shalt Not Be Indifferent."
We are going to strive to introduce this commandment into our daily lives—both symbolically and practically—by means of the exhibition, numerous events, activities and publications, and the engagement of many people from the world of art and science. We are very keen to honour the eleventh commandment, because if we don’t:
"we will not even notice it when upon our own heads, and upon the heads of our descendants, ‘another Auschwitz’ falls from the sky".
Some of the anniversary events:
Academic session on the subject: "The Studies on Hunger Disease in the Warsaw Ghetto"
15 March 2023, 12 noon-8 PM
We invite you to an academic session to commemorate the work of the Warsaw Ghetto doctors and to highlight the importance of their research into the hunger disease. The session will be complemented by a lecture addressed to the general public, delivered by a globally-recognised Argentinian journalist Martín Caparrós, author of the outstanding work titled "Hunger".
"Around Us a Sea of Fire. The fate of Jewish civilians during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising" – temporary exhibition
18 April 2023 - 8 January 2024
We will open the exhibition on the eve of the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. For the first time ever, we present the hitherto untold story of the Uprising—we give the floor to the civilians who were hiding inside the ghetto. Against the despair, hunger, fear, inhuman living conditions, they fought "for every day, every hour, every minute" of staying alive. Their resistance was just as vital as armed combat in the streets of the ghetto.
Author of the exhibition concept: Prof. B. Engelking, exhibition curator: Z. Schnepf-Kołacz.
2023 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Campaign. The civilians
19 April 2023
It is the 11th edition of the social-educational campaign organised by POLIN Museum, this year under the slogan "Remembering Together". This year, the leading motif are the civilians. Volunteers will distribute paper daffodils—symbol of the remembrance of the Ghetto Uprising—in the streets of Warsaw. In 2023, for the first time ever, the daffodils will also be distributed by volunteers in five other Polish cities: Łódź, Kraków, Wrocław, Białystok and Lublin.
We have also planned a wide selection of events to accompany the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Campaign and the program around the "Thou Shalt Not Be Indifferent. 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising" commemoration, to be held on 16-22 April. The program of events will be published in the first half of March 2023.
European Jews Facing Imminent Genocide – international academic conference
23-25 April 2023
The aim of the conference is to identify and describe the experience of a Jewish life in the face of an imminent and inevitable threat of the Genocide. How did the news of mass killings spread? How did the Jews adapt to extreme conditions? What was their daily life like under these conditions? What were their experiences and emotions, and their awareness of the fate that awaited them?
Around Us a Sea of Fire temporary exhibition, 11th edition of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Campaign in six cities, workshops with Loesje, outdoor artistic activities, a meeting with Martín Caparrós, academic conferences and numerous educational workshops are merely
a fraction of events we have planned for the year 2023 as part of the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
POLIN Museum