As institutions of public history, museums play a vital role in presenting difficult histories. With recent efforts in Poland to dictate how the history of the Holocaust should be told, what stories are Polish museums telling and how free are they to tell them?
These issues are especially relevant this year, which marks the 100th anniversary of Poland’s regained independence, the 75th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, and the 50th anniversary of the March ’68 anti-Zionist and antisemitic campaign, which led to the last wave of Jewish emigration from Poland.
How are museums in Poland commemorating these anniversaries? Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Chief Curator of the Core Exhibition at POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, explored these questions at a special event presented by Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust, AJC Los Angeles, and the UCLA Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies.
Sunday, April 8 2018 | 4:00 – 6:00 PM
What’s Going on with Poland?
Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust
100 S. The Grove Dr., Los Angeles, California 90036
Tickets ($15) & Info: lamoth.ticketleap.com
On April 15, the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust presents its annual Yom HaShoah Community-Wide Holocaust Commemoration. Entitled “75 Years After the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising,” this year’s event will focus on Jewish resistance during the Holocaust and mark the 75th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
The event will begin at noon with “A Tale of Two Families”— a conversation with reunited Holocaust survivors Alice Gerstel Weit and Simon Gronowski, her rescuer’s son and a survivor of the 20th convoy, the only transport to Auschwitz stopped by a resistance group. At 2 pm, there will be a “Commemoration Ceremony in Pan Pacific Park,” featuring keynote speaker Hon. Nancy H. Rubin, Former U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Commission on Human Rights. The event will also include a performance of music by Ilse Weber, who perished in Auschwitz, by USC Thornton School of Music graduate Daniel Lessler.
The Museum will be open from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm with hourly docent-led tours.
Sunday, April 15, 2018 | 12 noon
Yom HaShoah Commemoration: 75 Years After the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust
100 S. The Grove Dr., Los Angeles, California 90036
Info: www.lamoth.org
All events free and open to the public. No RSVP necessary
[Sources: lamoth.ticketleap.com, lamoth.org]