We kindly invite you to the opening of the exhibition “My Jewish parents, my Polish parents”
29 SEPTEMBER 17.00
The Ulma Family Museum of Poles Saving Jews in World War II
They were born with a death sentence. They survived thanks to the love of their parents – those who gave them away and those who received them as their own. The exhibition “My Jewish parents, my Polish parents” was created by the initiative of Joanna Sobolewska-Pyz, the chairwoman of the “Children of the Holocaust” Association in Poland, who will be the special guest at the opening of the exhibition. She will be accompanied by Jacek Gałązka and Anna Gałązka – authors of the exhibition texts.
Around five thousand of nearly one million Jewish children survived the Holocaust. Many of them found shelter in Polish families. Often, Poles who took care of the child, later became his parents. They generally kept the fact of the adoption a secret, some revealed the truth before death, others took it to the grave. Children brought up in foreign homes, which they considered their own, had to face their history and create an identity connecting a lost and gained family. Often, for years they searched for traces of their Jewish relatives, names, and dates of birth. Those who have failed still hoped.
The fate of fifteen survivors, born in 1939-1942, are presented on the boards. The exhibition was shown for the first time at the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw in 2015. Now it travels around Poland and the world to give a testimony to limitless parental love, which forced them to give their beloved children to strangers and the courage of people who considered them their own daughters and sons.
Authors:
Anna Kołacińska-Gałązka – press and book editor, publisher, teacher. A graduate of studies on the History and Culture of Jews in Poland at the Faculty of History of the University of Warsaw. Editor of the volume of memories “Children of the Holocaust speak …”, author of interviews with survivors. Member of the Second Generation Association – Descendants of Holocaust Survivors.
Jacek Gałązka – information designer, graphic designer of newspapers, illustrated magazines and websites in Poland, Belgium, the Republic of South Africa, Sweden, Pakistan and the USA.
Maciej Śmiarowski – author of photographs
Admission based on a ticket to the Museum (PLN 5 / PLN 2 / PLN 1).