Planned Museum Exhibition on Galician Holocaust Survivors

The Galicia Jewish Museum in Kraków is reaching out to Holocaust survivors from towns that were once in Galicia to tell their stories through an exhibition planned for 2014 at the museum.  The new exhibition will focus on people from historic Galicia who survived World War II and the Holocaust.  The exhibition will present the fates of survivors to show similarities and differences in their stories, and, on a symbolic level, show moments where they did or did not receive help.

The goal of this project is to explore survivors' stories and recollections, presenting different paths and means of survival.  The museum wants to make visitors to the exhibition aware of the many elements and the complicated and dangerous situations that made up the experience of survivors during the Holocaust.  The planned exhibition is also a way of honoring those who survived, as well as recognizing those who aided them.

This exhibition will not be possible without the help of the members of the Jewish community, many of whom are either survivors or are in touch with survivors.  The museum needs your (their) memories and recollections and is counting on your willingness to share your stories of those events with the next generation.  Completing this basic survey, which requires only short answers, will help start the project.  Based on this survey, museum staff will contact you with more detailed questions.

As an alternative to completing the survey online, it may be downloaded in Word format from http://www.jgsgb.org.uk/SurveysurvivorsexhibitionfromGaliciaJewishMuseum.doc.  Once completed the survey should be sent to the museum via the addresses at the end of the survey.

Those responding to the survey should be from towns in what was "historic Galicia", today towns in Poland and Ukraine.  Museum staff are also interested in hearing from children of survivors from Galicia who are no longer living.

If you know of living survivors who are not online, or don't own a computer, you can assist them with accessing and filling out the survey, and this mitzvah is greatly encouraged. This also extends to outreach at old-age homes in your community, if you know of survivors from Galicia who are residents there, even if they are not your family.  Share the survey everywhere there is a possibility to contact survivors from Galicia.

If you prefer to find out more about the project before filling out the survey, contact the Galicia Jewish Museum's Education Project by postal mail, e-mail, or telephone:

Galicia Jewish Museum Education Project
Ul. Dajwor 18
31-052 Krakow, Poland

Project Coordinator:  Ms. Malgorzata Fus
E-mail: malgorzata@galiciajewishmuseum.org
Telephone: (0048) 12 421 68 42
Web:  www.galiciajewishmuseum.org

The Galicia Jewish Museum was established in 2004 with the mission to commemorate victims of the Holocaust and celebrate the 800-year history of Jews in Poland.  Its goal is to impart knowledge, but also encourage reflection.  The museum is located in the heart of Kraków's historic Jewish district.