Collection

Selected and edited by:
Róża Król
Janusz Mieczkowski
Dorota Kowalewska

During the 3rd International Assembly of March Emigrants – Reunion 2010 – Szczecin, Róża Król and Janusz Miecznikowski released their album titled: Topography of Memory: 60 Years of the Szczecin Branch of the Social and Cultural Association of Jews in Poland. In the Preface, the authors stated that “the direct inspiration for this album was the desire to offer a summary on the occasion of the 60th  anniversary of the Social and Cultural Association of Jews in Poland, as well as the conviction that the people, events, meetings, and initiatives that shaped the organisation’s history should be remembered”. Apart from being a collection of 162 photographs documenting more than half a century of the everyday life of Jews in Szczecin, the album also served as a testament to the living memory of a community whose history became intertwined with that of the city.

This publication, prepared on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Social and Cultural Association of Jews in Poland, has been another initiative undertaken to preserve the memory of the Jewish community in Szczecin. Dr Dorota Kowalewska joined the team of authors, which included Chair of the Szczecin Branch, Róża Król, and Dr hab. Janusz Mieczkowski, Professor at the University of Szczecin. Alongside the original chapters – “The Years of the Provincial Committee of Jews in Poland (WKŻP), 1946–1959”, “The Establishment, Development and Decline of the Social and Cultural Association of Jews in Poland (TSKŻ), 1950–1969”, “Attempts to Revive the Organization – Are We Needed and by Whom? (1970–2010)”, and “Documents and Activists of the TSKŻ” – new sections have been added: “A Small Organization of Great Importance – The Activity of the Szczecin Branch in 2010–2025”, as well as a list of projects co-financed by local government funds and implemented in the years 2010–2025. As in the publication published in 2010, a significant portion of the present album comprises photographs from the Branch’s own holdings. 

In 2025, the Branch’s membership stood at 37 and it has been distinguished by a high level of activity. Over the past fifteen years, in addition to carrying out its statutory tasks and working for its own community, the Szczecin branch of the TSKŻ has implemented nearly twenty projects co-financed by local government funds and has continued its cooperation with institutions active in the fields of culture and education. This remarkable organizational dynamism has been reflected in numerous photographs, documents from the Branch’s own archives, and press reports.

We hope that this album will invite readers to reflect on the place of the Jewish community in the history of the city and the region, including its pre-war history.

Róża Król, Janusz Mieczkowski, Dorota Kowalewska (from the Preface)