Part of the events accomanying the 80th anniversary of the liquidation of Litzmannstadt-Getto will take place in the Survivors' Park, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. The park is a unique place - it was created on the initiative of a Lodz Ghetto Survivor, Halina Elczewska. The initiator was extremely keen to make this place vibrant. And this is indeed the case - it is a place for meetings, artistic and cultural activities. On August 28, the Dialogue Center invites the public to participate in: film screenings, a walk through the Park with its main creator, a ceremony for naming new memorial trees, a meeting with Marian Turski and three concerts.
The Park has changed since its founding - more than 660 memorial trees have already been planted there, and on August 28 (Wednesday), Survivors' Day, more trees dedicated to those who survived the Lodz Ghetto will be planted. Families of the Survivors will receive certificates from the hands of Lodz Mayor Hanna Zdanowska. Also on that day, the Park's creator, Grazyna Ojrzynska, along with guide Justyna Tomaszewska, will show interested parties around this unusual place, and in the evening the green space will be filled with music. At 6:30 p.m., the public will be able to listen to the “Sounds of Memory” concert performed by clarinetist Robert Stefanski, who will interpret klezmer music associated with Jewish religious rituals. This will be followed by the singing of Katarzyna Jackowska-Enemuo, who, accompanied by an accordion, will perform in Polish and Yiddish songs by Polish composers of Jewish origin, as well as compositions of her own. At 8pm, Alan Bern, conductor, musician and director of Brave Old World, who has put together another stellar ensemble to celebrate this year's round anniversary of the liquidation of the Lodz ghetto, will play on the outdoor stage. The stage will feature the music and poetry of Jankiel Hershkovich, David Baigelman, Yeshayach Spigel, Chava Rosenfarb, Rachmil Bryks, Henoch Kon, Pinkas Lavendar and other artists who lived in Lodz before and during the war. Musicians perfectly interpreting Jewish music will perform: Sveta Kundish (singing), Mark Kovnatskiy (violin), Fabian Schnedler (singing), Martin Lillich (double bass). Yuri Vedenyapin (vocals) and Jankiel Hershkovich's granddaughter Lucja Hershkovich (vocals) will be guest performers. The day before, also at the Dialogue Center, Izabela Szafranska and her band will perform. The artist will come to Lodz with her “Jewish street/Jewish street” project, which was born out of her love for Jewish music and culture. Szafranska will sing in Polish, Yiddish, Hebrew and Ladino. Recipients will be able to hear the famous “Rebekah,” “Hava nagila,” “Shalom Aleichem,” “Dona Dona” and “Warszawo ma,” among others. The singer will be accompanied by: Przemyslaw Zalewski (keyboards), Marcin Drabik (violin) and Przemyslaw Skałuba (clarinet, duduk, saxophones).
SURVIVORS’ DAY/ 20th Anniversary of Survivors’ Park in Łódź
10:00 AM – Survivors in the documentary: Marian Turski My Most Important Day Michał Bukojemski [67 min.]. PL/ENG
Location: Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź | 83 Wojska Polskiego Street.
11:15 AM – Survivors in the documentary: Mietek Wajntraub/Mitchell Winthrop Lessons from Mitch, dir. Klaudia Siczek [10 min.] ENG
Location: Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź | 83 Wojska Polskiego Street.
Description: Mitchell (Mitch) Winthrop is Mietek Weintraub, born in Lodz to a middle-class family in 1926, a student at the private Kacenelson Gymnasium, a fun guy - as he refers to himself, forced to live in the ghetto since 1940. There he had to learn to work and fight to survive. His father died in the ghetto from starvation, his mother and family members died in the camps, but he survived and wanted to live. Klaudia Siczek's film tells of a man full of optimism and joy of life, whose passion became billiards. He has spent his free time in the billiard club for 50 years, while infecting others with his smile and sense of humor. In 2012, he wrote the memoir "The Arrival: I sought God in Hell." The documentary was made by the granddaughter of Marian Turski, Mitch's peer.
11:30 AM – Survivors in the documentary: Leon Kowner Leon loves the sea and we love Leon and Art_opening_1940 by Elyasaf Kovner. [10 min.] ENG
11:45 AM – Survivors in the documentary: Tova ben Zvi Tova's World Michał Bukojemski [37 min.]. PL/ENG
Location: Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź | 83 Wojska Polskiego Street.
12:30 PM – Survivors in the documentary: Leon Weintraub Leon – the boy who survived hell, author: Jacek Tokarczyk, prod. TVP3 Łódź for TVP Historia [13 min.]. PL/ENG
Location: Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź | 83 Wojska Polskiego Street.
Description: Leon Weintraub is 96 years old. He is one of the last living "Lodzermensch". Born and raised in Lodz, imprisoned in the city's ghetto, Holocaust Survivor. He lives in Sweden on a daily basis, but visits his hometown exceptionally eagerly and as often as possible.
02:00 PM – Survivors in the documentary: Halina Elczewska Halina Elczewska in Łódź produced by Marek Edelman Dialogue Center. [27 min.] PL/ENG
Location: Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź | 83 Wojska Polskiego Street.
Description: Until the outbreak of war, Halina and her sisters, the elder Jadwiga and Inka, lived at 3/5 Łąkowa St. She studied at the Orzeszkowa Gymnasium at 21 Kosciuszko Avenue.
After the outbreak of war, the family moved to the Bałuty area, in the ghetto they lived at 39 Brzezińska St. They survived in the ghetto almost to the end, until liquidation. They were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau on August 24, 1944, where her husband, parents and younger sister Inka died.
After the war, Halinka was vice mayor of Mieroszow, then moved with Jadwiga and her husband, Arnold Mostowicz, to Wroclaw, where she was director of the school of company counselors.
In August 2004, on the initiative of Halina Elczewska, with the support of Mayor Jerzy Kropiwnicki, the Survivors' Park is established in Lodz.
3:00 PM – 20th anniversary of the Survivors' Park. Walk two. Guided by: Grażyna Ojrzyńska (guiding in Polish) and Justyna Tomaszewska (guiding in English). PL/ENG
Start: parking in front of the Dialogue Center building, 83 Wojska Polskiego Street.
Organizer: Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź.
4:00 PM – Ceremony of awarding new trees of remembrance. PL/ENG
Location: Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź | Wojska Polskiego Street 83.
Organizer: City of Łódź and Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź.
Description: Since 2004, memorial trees dedicated to people or families who survived the war have been planted in the Survivors' Park. Every year new names are added. They are planted by Survivors, or their descendants, children, sometimes grandchildren, who come from different parts of the world. At the moment, there are already over 660 memorial trees in the Survivors' Park.
5:00 PM – Our youth gave us strength – a talk with Marian Turski, a Survivor of the Łódź 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. Conducted by: Joanna Podolska, PhD, Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź. PL/ENG
Location: Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź | 83 Wojska Polskiego Street.
Organizer: Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź.
Description: Practically immediately after the closing of the ghetto, hundreds of young people, instead of going to cramped apartments in the densely built urban area of the ghetto, took up residence in small houses in Marysin and began to organize their lives according to kibbutz patterns. Gradually, other groups of young people were formed, linked primarily by political or religious beliefs, environmental or social ties. The young people had gardens and orchards under their care, learned to work the land, but also did other jobs. Above all, however, they organized cultural life and self-education groups, libraries, lectures, interest groups, and published a newspaper. Young people in the ghetto discussed literature and politics, argued about the future postwar shape of Poland and what the new Jewish state should look like. But they also helped each other. Although the groups gradually disbanded, the young people continued to meet in each other's homes and often supported each other. In many cases, the bonds stood the test of time and even lasted for decades. We'll talk about youth organizations in the Lodz ghetto with researcher Dr. Ewa Wiatr and, most importantly, Survivor Marian Turski.
6:30 PM – Concert in the park on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Survivors' Park. Performer: Sounds of Memory Robert Stefański clarinet. PL
Location: Survivors' Park | 83 Wojska Polskiego Street.
Organizer: Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź.
Free admission.
7:00 PM – Concert in the park on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Survivors' Park. Performer: Trace of presence Katarzyna Jackowska-Enemuo: singing, akordeon. PL
Location: Survivors' Park | 83 Wojska Polskiego Street.
Organizer: Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź.
Free admission.
8:00 PM – Do not despair / Nie rozpaczaj - a concert dedicated to the Survivors of the Łódź Ghetto. Performers: Alan Bern (piano), Sveta Kundish (vocals), Mark Kovnatskiy (violin), Fabian Schnedler (vocals), Martin Lillich (double bass). PL/ENG
Location: Survivors' Park | 83 Wojska Polskiego Street.
Organizer: Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź.
Free admission.
Throughout the day, a stand with books published by the Dialogue Centre and books by the University of Lodz will be available.