by tskzOnce again, this year, Łódź is going to celebrate THE DAYS OF REMEMBRANCE. In the period from 24 January to 27 January 2025, we are going to celebrate the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which was established by the UN twenty years ago. It is yet another time when thanks to the co-operation of the Social and Cultural Association of Jews in Poland, Stefan Jaracz Theatre in Lodz and the Marshall’s Office in Lodz, a number of concerts, performances and Q&A sessions, are to be hosted for four consecutive days as part of this event.
On 27 January, many events are held all around the world in order to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust. The Social and Cultural Association of Jews in Poland has been recalling the history of the Holocaust and nurtured the memory of the victims of the Holocaust for more than 70 years, and since the post-war period when Jewish themes were neither trendy, nor popular.
This year marks the 75th anniversary of establishment of the Social and Cultural Association of Jews in Poland, and the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz Birkenau Camp.
When I think of this year’s, and every future edition of DAYS OF REMEMBRANCE, the words of Julian Tuwim come to mind:
Przetrwam… Minęły lata i lata przeminą,
Będzie tysiąc utraceń i tysiąc zdobywań,
Będę tęsknił – godzina pójdzie za godziną
W tańcu żalów, nadziei, łez i oczekiwań
I will survive… The years have passed and the years will pass,
There will be a thousand losses and a thousand gains,
I will yearn – hours will go by
In a dance of regrets, hopes, tears and expectations
We decided to make our programme this year a call for memory but also for life. It is those of us who are alive who must carry memory but also life. This life may be different, full of twists and turns, but it is still a life to be cared for. This is the highest value. The world has entered a time of successive wars. We know this from history, and the history is repeating itself before our eyes.
Both the main agenda of the celebration, and the Special Educational Package have been devoted to recognising the human being in every dimension. We seek dialogue and unity in life. This is what we wish to bring to everyone’s attention – says Artur Hofman, Chairman of the Board.
For the fifteenth consecutive years, during THE DAYS OF REMEMBRANCE, within the premises of the Stefan Jaracz Theatre in Łódź, Museum of Independence Traditions, Museum of the City of Łódź and Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography in Łódź, everyone will able to get a glimpse of the cultural and historical world of Polish Jews. In consideration of the huge interest in previous editions of the event, for this year’s DAYS OF REMEMBRANCE the event hosts, together with their distinguished partners, have prepared numerous attractions such as lectures, concerts and interesting meetings.
This year’s celebrations will commence on 24 January at the Stefan Jaracz Theatre in Łódź, where Izabela Szafrańska and her band will present an opening concert at 6:00 pm. On the next day i.e. 25 January, TSKŻ and other co-hosts of the event, would like to invite everyone to see the play titled ‘THE CAMP’ presented by the Theatre Nobilis of Gdańsk, which is to be performed on the Chamber Scene of the Stefan Jaracz Theatre at 7:00 pm. The drama tells the story of Luda, a girl who, during the Second World War, was incarcerated with her mother Hanna in the Birkenau death camp at Auschwitz. After the war, no one heard from Hanna, who left Birkenau on a death march, and Luda had to learn how to survive in the post-war world. She was helped in this by her substitute mother – Mrs Bogumiła. Unforeseen fates led to Hanna being found many years later, and Luda being confronted with the decision: who is the real mother for her? The one who gave birth, or the one who raised her? We will be led through this emotional story by the wonderful actors Angelika Okroj, Agnieszka Babicz-Stasierowska and Piotr Lewicki.
On the following day i.e. 26 January, we would like to invite everyone to the Chamber Scene to see the play titled ‘The Story of Jacob’, a one-man drama by Łukasz Lewandowski, where we recreate a story inspired by facts. The protagonist of the drama is a priest and philosopher who suddenly finds out that he is not really who he thought he was. He therefore makes an uneasy attempt to discover his true identity. However, rediscovering his roots, having to define his faith, nationality and origins and, above all, logically combining all of this with his life up to now, turns out to be both scary and funny. Jacob’s personal story is narrated without pathos and is saved from a tragic climate by laughter and a rapid-paced plot, because, as is well known, it is life itself that dictates the most interesting stories.
On 27 January at 12 noon, we are going to gather together at the Radegast Station in keeping with the established tradition. This is where we will pay tribute to all the Victims.
The grand finale evening will be ended in a traditional way with the gala concert of the 15th EDITION OF THE DAYS OF REMEMBRANCE. At 6.00 pm, at the Grand Scene of the Stefan Jaracz Theatre in Łódź will be filled with more and less well-known melodies sung by Daniella Rabbani, a Broadway and cinema star and Yiddish singer. The excellent repertoire has been selected thanks to the cooperation of two great artists, musicians and arrangers i.e. Neal Brostoff from the United States and Sebastian Wypych with his band.
Moreover, in the premises of the Stefan Jaracz Theatre in Łódź an original exhibition titled “WHAT KIND OF REMEMBRANCE? If not me for myself – then for whom? If I only for myself – then who am I?” will be displayed. The exhibition will consist of a series of sculptures devoted to the theme of memory. Memory is treated here individually, personally, and collectively, in a general sense. The synthesis of memory contained in the sculptures that make up the series comes from several sources: from the author’s own life as experienced by Tatiana Nowak, seen from the perspective of a mature person, and from the stories of her grandparents and parents, which she listened to for years and then, over the years, set them in the context of history, above all the history of the Second World War up to the present day. Another important source of studies over the history of human beings and humankind is theology, and most of all, the broadly defined, Judaic religious thought.
Also worthy of special mention is this year’s Special Educational Package of THE DAYS OF REMEMBRANCE, an initiative successfully continuing for the eighth year in a row. The programme’s agenda includes a series of workshops hosted by the Museum of the City of Łódź, the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography in Łódź, the Museum of the Independence Traditions and the Warsaw Ghetto Museum, at the Stefan Jaracz Theatre in Łódź. The programme includes a number of performances by outstanding artists, intended for almost all age groups of both children and adolescents.
All these events are available free of charge. Free tickets for concerts and plays will be available exclusively at the box office of the Stefan Jaracz Theatre in Łódź from 20 January 2024.
For the last fifteen years, at the end of January, the organisers of the DAYS OF REMEMBRANCE have been committed to familiarising the citizens of Łódź with extraordinary lectures, exhibitions, films, plays and concerts, all in an effort to nurture the memory of our shared history, of the victims of the war, of a world that no longer exists but whose memories are just waiting to be rediscovered…
