Jewish Past and Future of Poland

Aleksandra Lekowska, Miłosz Lindner, Vlad Ivchenko

HiA Fellowship Warsaw program 2017 was focusing firmly around the rights of minority groups. In absolutely relevant in the context of modern Poland, where about 97% declare themselves as catholic Poles. Is there a space for the Other in this picture of homogenous Poland?

According to the last census, about 8 000 Jewish population live in Poland. Our project “8 Thousand Jews” aimed to encourage the Jewish community in Warsaw to tell their stories and to dismantle the stereotypes.

Therefore, we wanted to provide a safe space for Polish Jews, so they can freely appear in virtual space and speak up. In order to do so, we created the “8 tysięcy Żydów” project, which in Polish means “8 thousand Jews.” The action plan is relatively simple: we invite members of the Jewish community in Poland to take part in a photoshoot, take professional pictures of them (with or without their face shown), and ask what they would like to communicate to the rest of Poland. The final product entirely depends on the featured person. They choose the style of the picture, pose, and what it shows or does not. All sorts of messages are important, from what it means for them to be a Polish Jew, through their favorite food, to the fact that they go to work and come back from it daily. The whole point is to provide a safe space for the Polish Jews to show Poland their diversity, as well as the fact that they are essentially no different from another Pole.

We have created a Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/8tysiecyZydow/) for our campaign at @8tysiecyZydow which currently contains infographics about Jews in Poland, as well as an invitation to take part in the photoshoot.

During the campaign, we have met with different Jewish communities in Warsaw. I was very  surprised to see that members of the Jewish community focus on their families. Mrs. Anna Zielińska guided us around the nursery and told us about regular fathers' meetings. In my opinion these meetings provide for the children in the community needed support and care within the community.

After meeting with the workers of the Community and visiting the Nożyk Synagogue, the only still existing pre-war Jewish prayer house in Warsaw, we were asked to support the work of the community. Our work was primarily concerned with the reorganization of the rabbinical library. Additionally, we helped in the transcription of the interview.

I am very grateful for the opportunity to meet with the community. Although it is a relatively small group (about 700 members), it remains very active and works with children and elderly people in the community.

With our project, we would like to address the issue of the conservative Polish society by showing the presence of other ethnical and religious group. This campaign aimed to dismantle stereotypes people have about Jews and encourage the community and its members to show them up.

The initial idea that we developed, focusing on poetry written by Polish Jews, received a warm feedback from the Jewish Community, however non-Jewish audiences had some concerns about design and the concept itself. Here are some excerpts from what we’ve heard:

Member of the Jewish community of Warsaw:
“I think it's great! There are so many ways and to develop It.”
HIA Senior Fellow:
“Love it! Particularly the fact that it appeals to nursery rhymes that all Polish children know!”
This year’s Fellow:
“I like your idea. As far as I remember I would fit into your "target group". I would go broader than the literature itself. For example - Nobel Prize laureates who are not very well known in Poland, like Jozef Rotblat. “

Instead, we decided to pursue the idea of “8 tysięcy Żydów”. The situation changed and the approaches switched binarily. The non-Jewish followers of the website got interested in the new content and the possibility to ‘meet’ the modern Jewish counterparts, but on the other hand the Jewish Community was reserved and defensive towards the project that requires involvement of individuals. What’s interesting is that some representatives from Jewish Community in Wrocław contacted us and wanted to take part in it. That surprised us, but also made us think that the campaign has its supporters.

Our group had faced some challenges. It was inevitable to experience the team formation cycle. In the end we got along pretty well and it was a pleasure to work on a project that demanded our creativity and sensibility regarding the issues that it tackled.