the 80. Anniversary of the liquidation of the Litzmannstadt Ghetto

15.07.2024 12:51 Natalia Wątorowska / ŁOT

The Marek Edelman Dialogue Center has announced the program for the celebration of the 80. Anniversary of the liquidation of the Litzmannstadt Ghetto. We invite you to familiarise yourself with the prepared schedule. The celebrations fall on 28 and 29 August, including m.in guided walks, documentary screenings, concerts, and meetings.

August 29 is a symbolic date – in August 1944, the last inhabitants of the closed district were deported from the Lodz ghetto by the German occupiers to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Then the ghetto was liquidated. Lodz, which before the war was a very important centre of Jewish culture, science and trade, remembers its inhabitants, as well as thousands of Jews from towns near Lodz and many cities in Europe who lost their lives here or were deported to death camps.

28 August | Wednesday

Survivors' Day / 20th anniversary of the Survivors' Park in Lodz

Survivors in a documentary - film screenings

10:00 – Marian Turski My most important day dir. Michał Bukojemski [67 min.]. PL/ENG
11:15 – Mietek Wajntraub/Mitchell Winthrop Lessons from Mitch, dir. Klaudia Siczek [10 min.] ENG
11:30 – Tova ben Zvi Tova's World dir. Michał Bukojemski [37 min.]. PL/ENG
12:15 – Leon Weintraub Leon – the boy who survived hell, author: Jacek Tokarczyk, prod. TVP3 Łódź for TVP Historia [13 min.]. PL/ENG
12:30 – Chava Rosenfarb Chava Rosenfarb: That Bubble of Being [50 min.]. PL/ENG

Location: Marek Edelman Dialouge Center in Lodz|street.Wojska Polskiego 83

20th anniversary of Survivors' Park. Walk with an ENG guide

15:00 Conducted by: Justyna Tomaszewska, guide in Lodz Just Łódź.

Start: 15:00, parking lot in front of the Dialogue Center building, ul. Wojska Polskiego 83

Ceremony of awarding new PL/ENG memory trees

16:00

Since 2004, memorial trees dedicated to people or families who survived the war have been planted in the Survivors' Park. New names are added every year. They are planted by survivors or their descendants, children, sometimes grandchildren, who come from all over the world. Currently, there are over 660 memorial trees in the Survivors' Park.

Place: Dialogue Center in Łódź | street Wojska Polskiego 83

Meeting with a survivor

17:00

Youth gave us strength - an interview with Marian Turski, a Survivor of the Lodz Ghetto, about youth organisations in the Łódź Ghetto and with Dr Ewa Wiatr from the Filip Friedman Centre for Jewish Research at the University of Łódź. Led by Joanna Podolska, PhD, Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź. PL/ENG

Venue: Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź | Wojska Polskiego 83

Concerts - free admission

6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. – Concerts in the park on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Survivors' Park. Performers: Sounds of Memory Robert Stefański clarinet; Trace of presence Katarzyna Jackowska-Enemuo: singing, akordeon.PL
20:00 – Do not despair - a concert dedicated to the Survivors of the Lodz Ghetto. Performers: Semer Ensemble: Alan Bern (piano), Sveta
Kundish (vocals), Mark Kovnatskiy (violin), Fabian Schnedler (vocals), Martin Lillich (double bass). PL/ENG

Venue: Survivors' Park | Wojska Polskiego 83

Throughout the day, a stand with books published by the Dialogue Centre and books by the University of Lodz Press will be available.

29 August | Thursday

Main celebrations

Celebrations

10:30 a.m. – Religious ceremonies and symbolic lighting of candles at the monument to the memory of the Jews of Lodz at the Jewish cemetery in Lodz. PL/ENG, translation into PJM.

Place: Jewish Cemetery | 40 Bracka Street
The celebrations will be broadcast on the Internet on Facebook and Youtube

12:00 – Official ceremonies at the Radegast Station (laying flowers)

Place: Muzeum Tradycji Niepodległościowych w Łodzi – Oddział Stacja Radegast | al. Pamięci Ofiar Litzmannstadt Getto 12
The celebrations will be broadcast on the Internet on Facebook and Youtube

March of remembrance from the Radegast Station to the Old Market Square. PL/ENG

Start: Radegast Station.
Organisers: Archdiocese of Lodz, Cardinal Grzegorz Ryś, Jewish Religious Community in Lodz, Social and Cultural Association ofJews in Poland, March of the Living.

A walk in the footsteps of "Diary" by Dawid Sierakowiak PL

16:00

Guide: Aleksandra Ciach, Centre for Development Initiatives REGIO

Participation is paid, PLN 20 / person, payment on the spot to the organizer
Start: 16:00 Church Square, from Zgierska Street
Organizer: Centrum Inicjatyw na rzecz rozwoju REGIO

Concert

7.00 p.m. – Concert on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the liquidation of the Litzmannstadt-Ghetto performed by the Choir and Orchestra of the Grand Theatre in Łódź, the Children's Choir of the City of Łódź and the Jewish Choir CLIL. PL/ENG

Tickets can be collected at the Teatr Wielki box office
Venue: Grand Theatre, Dąbrowskiego Square
Organisers: Grand Theatre in Łódź, Jewish Community in Łódź, Social and Cultural Association of Jews in Poland

Accompanying events in EN

21 August (Wednesday)

17.00 The Łódź Ghetto in Documentary and Photography - opening of the exhibition, curator: Adriana Bryk. PL/ENG
Place: Survivors' Park, 83 Wojska Polskiego Street.
Organizers: State Archives in Łódź and Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź.

24 August (Saturday)

15.00 Unveiling of the Stolpersteine memorial stone for the family of Survivor Leon Weintraub. PL/ENG
Place: 2 Włókiennicza Street.
Description: Leon Weintraub decided to commemorate his mother Nacha (Natalia) Wajntraub, who died in August 1944 in Birkenau, and his sister Rajzla, who was murdered in Stutthof. Leon Weintraub was born on 1 January 1926 in Łódź in the family of Szul-Szloma, who died in 1927 in Łódź, and Natalia, who died in 1944 in Auschwitz. In order to provide for her children (Leon had 4 more sisters), his mother opened a small laundry at 2 Kamienna Street. Until the outbreak of the war, he completed 6 grades of primary school, and later continued it until the schools in the ghetto were closed in the autumn of 1940. In 2022, Magdalena Jaros published an extended interview with Leon Weintraub entitled "Reconciliation with Evil". Leon is also the protagonist of many documentaries, and to this day he conducts meetings with young people in Germany and Poland, during which he educates in the spirit of Polish-Jewish dialogue.

15.30 A boy from Kamienna Street. Meeting with Leon Weintraub, a Survivor of the Łódź Ghetto. PL/ENG
Place: InLodz21, 11 Włókiennicza Street.
Organizers: Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź and InLodz21.

25 August (Sunday)

16.00 Zenia Marcinkowska Larsson. Sculptures. Memory. Words. Opening of the exhibition of sculptures by Zeni Marcinkowska Larsson. Curator:
Urszula Ulla Chowaniec. The vernissage combined with the promotion of the first Polish edition of the book Shadows at the Wooden Bridge (translated from Swedish by Piotr Zettinger and Katarzyna Tubylewicz). PL/ENG
Place: Galeria Bałucka, Stary Rynek 2.
Organizer: Municipal Art Gallery in Łódź, Marek Edelman Dialogue Center
in Łódź and Bałucka Gallery.

17.15 Women writers from the Łódź ghetto - a walk.
Guide: Joanna Podolska, director of the Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź. ENG
Start: Galeria Bałucka, Stary Rynek 2.
Organizer: Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź.

18. 30 Undying love – film screening and meeting with Simone Lucas and Helena Kłodawski (Canada) – second and third generation Holocaust survivors. Moderator: Jolanta Lechowska-Białecka, Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź. PL/ENG
Venue: Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź, 83 Wojska Polskiego Street.
Organizer: Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź.

26 August (Monday)

10:00 Presentation of documents from the Lodz Ghetto for research, group of up to 30 people. Moderator: Kamila Pawełczyk-Dura, PhD. ENG
Registration: zapisy@centrumdialogu.com.
Place: State Archives, 1 Wolności Square.
Organiser: State Archives in Łódź.

10.00 Survivors in the documentary: Arnold Mostowicz Amateur Photographer dir. Dariusz Jabłoński [55 min.]. PL/ENG
Venue: Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź, 83 Wojska Polskiego Street.

11.00 Survivors in the documentary: Radegast dir. Borys Lankosz [50 min.].
Venue: Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź, 83. PL/ENG Wojska Polskiego St.

16.00 Such was our youth – meeting with Zofia Lubińska-Rosset and Leon Weintraub, Survivors of the Łódź Ghetto. Hosted by Michalina Majewska, Jewish Cinema. PL/ENG
Venue: Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź, ul. Wojska Polskiego 83 (amphitheater).
Organizer: Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź.
Zofia Lubińska-Rosset, a survivor of the Łódź Ghetto, published her memoirs in 2022 entitled “Fragments of Memory”. Her story about life and the cruelty of World War II is another publication of the Dialogue Center Library in the “People” series. When the war broke out, little Zosia was only six years old. In 1940, she ended up in the Łódź ghetto with her parents. She survived Wielka Szpera, the liquidation of the ghetto, and then the camps in Ravensbrück, Königs Wusterhausen, Oranienburg-Sachsenhausen. For a long time she did not want to talk about her experiences. After many years she decided to write her story.

Leon Weintraub was born on January 1, 1926 in Łódź to Szul-Szloma, who died in 1927 in Łódź, and Natalia, who died in 1944 in Auschwitz. In order to provide for her children (Leon had 4 other sisters), his mother opened a small laundry at 2 Kamienna Street. By the outbreak of the war, he had completed 6 grades of primary school, later continuing his education until the schools in the ghetto were closed in the autumn of 1940.

18.00 Literary bridges between Łódź and Sweden - a meeting with Nina Halden Ronnlund about the life and work of Mira Teeman - a survivor of the Łódź ghetto.
Moderator: Joanna Podolska, director of the Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź. PL/ENG
Venue: Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź, 83 Wojska Polskiego Street.
Organizer: Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź.
Description: before the war, Mira Teeman lived at 17 Wólczańska Street. In Sweden, she was involved in translation and writing. Her daughter Nina Halden Ronnlund, who researches the history of her family and Łódź roots, will talk about her life.

27 August (Tuesday)

10.00 Presentation of documents from the Lodz Ghetto for research, to a group of up to 30 people. Led by: Adriana Bryk, PhD. EN
Registration: zapisy@centrumdialogu.com.
Place: State Archives, 1 Wolności Square.
Organiser: State Archives in Łódź.

10.00 The Łódź Ghetto in the documentary: Dawid Sierakowiak's Diary dir. Michał Bukojemski [55 min.]. PL/ENG.
100th anniversary of the birth of Dawid Sierakowiak
Venue: Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź, 83 Wojska Polskiego
Street.

15.30 The Łódź Ghetto in the documentary: From the Depths I Call dir. Wojtek Gierłowski [25 min.]. PL/ENG
Venue: Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź.

16.00 How to talk about war with children? – screening of the animation Jutka's Insomnia and a conversation with the author of the book Dorota Combrzyńska-Nogala and the animation director Maria Gorlich-Opyd.
Moderator: Joanna Podolska, director of the Marek Edelman Dialogue
Center in Łódź. PL/ENG
Venue: Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź.
Organizers: Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź and EgoFilm.

17.00 Memory and Repression - debate with the descendants of the Survivors of the Łódź Ghetto: Aaron Krochmalnik (Germany), Uri Wizenberg (Israel), Ala Elczewska (Denmark), Marek Kleiman (USA), Nina Halden Ronnlund (Sweden), Witold Rosset (Poland). PL/ENG
Venue: Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź, 83 Wojska Polskiego Street.
Organizer: Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź.

19.00 Concert Jewish Street. Performers: Izabela Szafrańska, Przemysław Zalewski (keyboards), Marcin Drabik (violin), Przemysław Skałuba (clarinet, duduk, saxophones). PL/ENG
Admission is free, the number of seats is limited.
Venue: Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź, 83 Wojska Polskiego Street.
Organizer: Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź.

28 August (Wednesday) || DAY OF SURVIVORS
information above in the article

29 August (Thursday) || MAIN CELEBRATIONS
information above in the article

30 August (Friday)

10.00 Survivors in the documentary: Hana Svirski dir. Dariusz Bargieł [59 min.]. PL/ENG
Venue: Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź, 83 Wojska Polskiego Street.

11.00 Meeting with Survivor Hanna Svirski.
Moderator: Michał Adamiak, Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź. PL/ENG
Venue: Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź, 83 Wojska Polskiego Street.

15:00 What can spatial research tell us of the Jews of Lodz before WWII. Lecture on Chaired by Ruthie Kaplan, University of Haifa.
Venue: Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź.

19.00 Infinity concert in the Pianos of Freedom series. Artist: Adam Kośmieha PL/ENG
Venue: Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź, 83 Wojska Polskiego Street.
Organiser: Soundedit Music Producers Festival.
Synopsis: The album "Infinity" is a new, original reading of the popular song "Canto Ostinato" by the Dutch composer Simeon ten Holt. The piece, originally written for four pianos, was recorded by Adam Kośmieja for solo piano and multiplied in Dolby Atmos. "Canto Ostinato" by Simeon ten Holt is a beautiful music of trance, meditation and great emotions, which build climaxes based on repetitive musical structures. Its repetition, motoric and spacious character go far beyond the realm of classical piano performance. The composer's new brilliant and virtuoso reading of this music is a fascinating and engaging journey into the world of freedom, acting as a true musical ritual.

31 August (Saturday)

Singer's Warsaw: The Łódź Ghetto in Literature – a lecture by Joanna Podolska, PhD (Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź / University of Łódź) as part of the Singer's Warsaw Jewish Culture Festival. PL/ENG
Venue: Austrian Cultural Forum in Warsaw, 7/9 Próżna Street.
Organiser: Shalom Foundation.

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