Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute
The Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute (JHI) holds the world’s largest repository of historical resources on Polish Jews. The oldest item dates from the end of the 9th century and an extensive archive dates back to the 19th century. Since 1947, the JHI has housed the vast material heritage of pre-WWII Jewry that was salvaged, reclaimed and preserved by the Central Jewish Historical Commission in 1944 in Lublin, while the war was still raging. These holdings include artifacts, documents, photographs and other items housed under difficult and underfunded conditions.
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The JHI was the first archive in the world to begin Holocaust research. After surviving four decades of Communist neglect and censorship, the JHI became free to set its own agenda, which included adding sorely needed state-of-the-art technology to conserve its collections, enabling Polish Jews to reclaim their collective and individual histories, providing researchers with access to archives, and illuminating the rich contributions of Polish Jewry to world history.
The JHI’s most treasured collection is the Emanuel Ringelblum Archives. Ringelblum organized a clandestine network of writers, journalists, historians and artists in the Warsaw Ghetto, called Oyneg Shabes, to document Jewish life and death during the war, intended for use in war crime tribunals against Nazis after the war. Most of the documents were later recovered and became the basis for the JHI’s collection. The Oyneg Shabes documentarians even met in the building which houses the JHI, which before World War II was occupied by Warsaw’s largest synagogue – the Great Synagogue, blown up by the Nazis in 1943.
After Communism, the JHI received support from the new Polish government, U.S. organizations, and the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation to start to modernize its conservation technologies. In the 21st century, the Taube Foundation, together with the Polish government and others, united to help it become an exemplary Polish Jewish archive for scholars and students around the world. The JHI was one of the first grantees of the JHIP in 2005 and continues to receive annual support. The JHI, as a world-class research institute, is an important partner of the new POLIN: Museum of the History of Polish Jews.
http://www.jhi.pl/en/institute
“These archives are a time capsule, a chorus of voices to speak for the experience of millions who lost their lives during this unthinkable time. Without them, a critical chapter of Jewish history would be lost. It is our honor to support their preservation and use by many thousands of researchers and visitors.”
-Tad Taube, Chairman, Taube Philanthropies; Honorary Consul for the Republic of Poland in the San Francisco Bay Area
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Jewish Genealogy & Family Heritage Center
In 1995, with support from The Ronald S. Lauder Foundation, the Jewish Historical Institute set up a modest genealogy project. Two people worked in a small office, responding to inquiries and setting up a database. When the Lauder Foundation was ready to retire support in 2006, the Taube Foundation stepped in. The Taube Foundation realized the great need for an organization that helps Poles discover their Jewish identity and allows millions of Jews around the world to trace their Polish origins. Because the demand had far exceeded the capacity of the original project, the Taube Foundation created the Jewish Genealogy & Family Heritage Center (JGFHC) in 2007.
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The JGFHC aims to be the 21st-century destination site for popular and scholarly explorations of Eastern European Jewish heritage by:
- Making Polish Jewish history accessible to the non-academic public;
- Educating individuals and families about family histories;
- Educating Jews about Poland’s relationship to the Jewish people and Poles about the Jewish contribution to Polish culture, society and history;
- Providing accurate and authentic information about Jews and Judaism to interested individuals, debunking stereotypes, and coordinating grassroots efforts to preserve and protect heritage sites and artifacts.
Today, thousands of individuals from Poland and around the world turn to the JGFHC to help them uncover documents, contact long lost relatives, and research family origins. The Center’s website facilitates guided genealogical research with online real-time consultations for lay people and scholars in Poland and worldwide.
http://www.jhi.pl/en/genealogy
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Jewish Culture Festival in Kraków
In 1988, before the official end of Communism, Janusz Makuch founded the Jewish Culture Festival in Kraków (JCF), now the world’s largest Jewish cultural festival, preparing to celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2015. Despite widespread oppression, the JCF successfully created a safe, public space where Jews and people interested in Jewish culture could explore Jewish cultural traditions – and Polish Jews could experience being Jewish in public. Even during the challenging transition between Communism and democracy, the Festival was able to interface with the government and gain social momentum. They acquired permission from city authorities to use public spaces for cultural projects that attracted audiences of thousands.
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The Festival continues to grow, develop and maintain cultural relevance with larger and more internationally diverse audiences each year. It has fostered the development of Polish volunteerism and has helped establish cross-cultural collaborations.
The JCF received one of the JHIP’s first three grants in 2005 and continues to receive annual support. We are proud to be the largest American patron of the largest Jewish culture festival in the world.
In 2009, the Festival increased its programming from summer-only to year-round, most of which takes place in its newer physical space, Cheder Café. Its growth has not gone unnoticed – the Festival was nominated this year, on the 25th anniversary of democracy in Poland, by the readers of Gazeta Wyborcza, the largest Polish news daily, as one of 25 most significant Kraków events.
This year’s 24th annual festival was comprised of 244 events, including concerts, lectures, workshops, tours and exhibitions, featuring 119 artists from five countries. More than 30,000 people attended the festival, including international visitors from Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom, Colombia, Australia, China, Japan and South Africa. 52 volunteers, called the “Machers” (from Poland, Germany, and for the first time from Israel, Hungary and Bulgaria), helped plan the festival as well as participate in a year-round cultural program designed specifically for volunteers.
http://www.jewishfestival.pl/index,en.html
“We, as Poles, must admit that Jews have made and still continue to make a fundamental contribution to the development of Polish – and more broadly European – culture. Thus, we are especially obliged to take care of this Jewish heritage, and to constantly commemorate it.”
-- Janusz Makuch, Director, Jewish Culture Festival
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JCC Kraków
The JCC Kraków has a remarkable origin story. It was established at the initiative of Prince Charles of Wales, who met with representatives of the Jewish community during a 2002 visit to Kraków. He was moved by the history of Kraków’s Polish Jews and the rebirth of its Jewish community. When he learned that members had no other community space to meet other than the synagogue, he decided to help create that space.
Prince Charles announced a $1 million gift to build a center for Kraków’s Jewish community. He joined forces with World Jewish Relief and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee to raise an additional $3 million. Prince Charles and the Dutchess of Cornwall returned to formally open the JCC in 2008.
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Founding Director Jonathan Ornstein has helped the JCC Kraków focus its messaging on building a Jewish future locally. Fully aware that most Jewish tourists come to Kraków to see death camps, the JCC Kraków installed a neon green sign across its gates that reads, “Come inside and see Jewish life.”
The JCC receives more than 7,000 visitors per month, Jews and non-Jews, Poles and international tourists alike. Members are drawn to this community nucleus of pluralistic and innovative programming designed to engage, educate and inspire Kraków’s multi-generational, diverse Jewish community. The JCC’s weekly Shabbat dinner has become the largest Jewish community dinner in Poland, serving close to 100 people per week. It recently held a Shabbat dinner during the Jewish Culture Festival serving 430 people, the largest post-war Shabbat in Poland.
Among the other offerings that the JCC provides are Yiddish and Hebrew language classes, workshops on Judaism, Israeli dance lessons, cooking classes, book clubs, groups for seniors and students, a Jewish business forum, Sunday school, and a fitness club. The JCC also houses a popular Jewish library as well as art exhibitions. The Forward recently profiled the JCC’s multigenerational choir, citing it as proof of the growing and vibrant Jewish community in Kraków.
“We cannot change the number of Jews murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust. We can, however, affect the number of Jews lost to the Jewish world due to the Holocaust. And that, in essence, is our mission at JCC Kraków.”
— Jonathan Ornstein, Executive Director, JCC Kraków
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JCC Warsaw
The JCC Warsaw was established to meet a critical need of the largest Jewish community in Poland: to create a nucleus of non-denominational, pluralistic programs that would serve Jews at all levels of identification and involvement. By 2010, it was clear that the majority of Warsaw’s Jews sought community, culture and traditions rather than strict religious observance. Unfortunately, the offerings were slim.
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In response, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the Taube and Koret Foundations concluded that a JCC could meet the needs of Warsaw Jews seeking safe, neutral spaces in which to explore their faith. Using the successful model established in Kraków and other European cities, the three organizations together launched a “JCC without Walls” in 2011. Its range of community activities included celebrations of religious holidays, and it served as an incubator for programs taking place around the city.
The Warsaw JCC became a vital gathering place for the ever-growing community of Warsaw Jews, providing cultural and educational activities for all ages. In 2012, the JCC launched its summer camp for children in response to the fact that the average age of the Warsaw Jewish community is getting younger. In 2013, the JCC moved into a new space, in a vibrant university and shopping district, to accommodate increased membership and activities. Tad and Shana joined the Warsaw Jewish community for the opening of the new JCC space in October 2013, a ceremony at which the Taube Foundation endowed a grant for building renovations and to ensure the maintenance of the facility into the future.
http://www.jccwarszawa.pl/?LangId=2
“In Warsaw, one can participate in Jewish programming of different kinds every day – research through conferences, lectures through Hebrew and Yiddish classes, Israeli folk dances through art classes, and Orthodox or Reform religious activity through the JCC, which actively serves different age groups and offers new forms of Jewish non-formal education.”
Karina Sokolowska, Director, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Warsaw
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Galicia Jewish Museum
Before the opening of the Galicia Jewish Museum (GJM), there were few modern gathering spaces that welcomed the Jewish community in the region. The GJM was a shining symbol of urban renewal in Kazimierz and the perfect complement to the Jewish Culture Festival, which was yet to be year-round or have its own physical space.
Used as a mill before the war, the renovated museum building now has a light, contemporary, post-industrial feel – utilizing glass, metal and dark woods – while still retaining many of the building’s original elements and structure. The flexible space is ideal for housing a range of exhibitions and hosting all types of cultural and social events, and the museum is a popular venue for local artists, performers and musicians.
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The GJM owes its existence to the late photographer Chris Schwarz and British anthropologist Dr. Jonathan Webber, who co-founded the institution in 2004 and together created its permanent exhibition, “Traces of Memory: The Ruins of Jewish Civilization in Polish Galicia.” The GJM’s mission is to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust, celebrate the Jewish culture of Galicia, and challenge the stereotypes and misconceptions often associated with Poland’s Jewish past. It aims to educate both Poles and Jews about their histories, while encouraging them to think about the future.
Ten years ago, we invited a small delegation to attend the opening of the GJM, recognizing its potential as a center for Jewish culture and as a sustainable partner institution in Kraków. The JHIP awarded a grant to the GJM in 2004 to support its investment in technology. Today, the GJM continues to receive our support.
The GJM just celebrated its 10th anniversary, with special events including workshops on Jewish culture, concerts and theater performances, an exhibition entitled “Street Life Jewish Style,” and a series of lectures under the theme, “A Decade of Change.” The GJM’s exhibit “Poland and Palestine: Two Lands and Two Skies: Cracovian Jews in the photographs of Ze'ev Aleksandrowicz” will travel to the San Francisco Contemporary Jewish Museum and Bay Area JCCs in Summer 2015.
http://www.en.galiciajewishmuseum.org/
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Office of the Chief Rabbi of Poland
The organized Jewish community, the Gmina, creates a nurturing space for people to explore Jewish traditions and to practice Judaism. In his role as Chief Rabbi of Poland, Rabbi Michael Schudrich leads the community in solving a bewildering array of social issues and problems – from deeply traumatized Holocaust survivors, who wanted their children to be Jewish but feared the consequences, to their “second generation” children, who usually shared these fears, but often combined them with hesitant efforts to practice Judaism in the uncongenial circumstances in which Jews found themselves in the decades following the war.
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Rabbi Schudrich has worked with many of these Jews, regardless of the uncertainty of their halachic status, confused identities, and resistance to guidance on how they should be living their lives. Rabbi Schudrich seeks instead to help Jews of all ages and backgrounds live their lives more Jewishly – should they choose that path. He reaches out to Jewish families making their first tentative steps back toward religion. His mandate extends to synagogue congregations across the country, from Warsaw and Łódź to Wrocław and Kraków.
Rabbi Schudrich helps Jews lead Jewish lives and provides the Taube Foundation with a connection to the religious activities of the Polish Jewish community. Every day, he answers the question of how one brings Judaism back to a country that experienced the double blows of Nazism and Communism. When asked how many Jews there really are in Poland, Rabbi Schudrich responds, “I don’t know. But I do know that tomorrow, there will be more.”
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