An Inclusive Model of Memory Work in Poland: Bridge to Poland as a Case Study

Authors

  • Jolanta Ambrosewicz-Jacobs Jagiellonian University in Kraków
  • Leora Tec Bridge To Poland

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12797/Politeja.18.2021.70.17

Keywords:

memory work, Holocaust, Polish-Jewish relations, postmemory

Abstract

The memory of World War II in Poland is sometimes plagued by an us/them mentality or a competition of suffering. This paper will attempt to answer several questions: how are non-Jews contributing to Holocaust memorialization in Poland today? How can recognizing this contribution serve to heal rifts and change deep-seated stereotypes? We will present a case study, based on participant observation, of Bridge To Poland, which emphasizes memory work conducted by non-Jewish Poles. Bridge To Poland’s latest project in conjunction with the Grodzka Gate-NN Theatre Centre, The Neshoma Project: Conversations with Poles Rescuing Jewish Memory, highlights those whom Tec calls “Rescuers of Memory”. Exposing people to their work, Tec believes, results in breaking down negative stereotypes about non-Jewish Poles and building bridges between people.

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Author Biographies

Jolanta Ambrosewicz-Jacobs, Jagiellonian University in Kraków

Professor of the Jagiellonian University (JU), teaches at the UNESCO Chair for Education about the Holocaust at the Institute for European Studies at the Jagiellonian University. She was a Kościuszko Foundation fellow (2018/2019) at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley and Ina Levine Invitational Scholar at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. (2011/2012). Jolanta Ambrosewicz-Jacobs is the author of the books: Me–Us–Them. Ethnic Prejudices and Alternative Methods of Education: The Case of Poland (2003) and Islands of Memory: The Landscape of the (Non)Memory of the Holocaust in Polish Education from 1989 to 2015 (2020).

Leora Tec, Bridge To Poland

Is the founder and director of Bridge To Poland, which seeks to educate people about Jewish history in Poland with an emphasis on how the Jews of Poland are being remembered by non-Jewish Poles today. Leora is the Special Projects Partner of the Grodzka Gate-NN Theatre Centre in Lublin, Poland and a Mary Elvira Stevens Traveling Fellow from Wellesley College (2018-2019). In cooperation with the Grodzka Gate-NN Theatre Centre, Leora Tec has created the online video library, The Neshoma Project: Conversations with Poles Rescuing Jewish Memory. Leora holds a B.A. from Wellesley College and a J.D./LL.M. from Duke University School of Law. She sits on the board of the American Association for Polish-Jewish Studies and recently published an article in Jews in Dialogue (Brill 2020) entitled, “Bridge Building in the Polish Jewish Landscape”.

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Published

2021-02-01

How to Cite

Ambrosewicz-Jacobs, Jolanta, and Leora Tec. 2021. “An Inclusive Model of Memory Work in Poland: Bridge to Poland As a Case Study”. Politeja 18 (1(70):227-38. https://doi.org/10.12797/Politeja.18.2021.70.17.

Issue

Vol. 18 No. 1(70) (2021): Oblicza postpamięci 4

Section

Essay

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.