English Section

Exhibition in Israel tells story of Jewish children saved by Poles in WWII

06.12.2019 16:30
A new exhibition about Jewish children saved by Poles in World War II has gone on show in Israel.
The My Jewish Parents, My Polish Parents exhibition tells the story of 15 Jewish children who were saved from the Holocaust by Polish families.
The “My Jewish Parents, My Polish Parents” exhibition tells the story of 15 Jewish children who were saved from the Holocaust by Polish families.Image: polishinstitute.org.il

The exhibition, entitled My Jewish Parents, My Polish Parents, tells the story of 15 children born between 1939 and 1942 who were saved from the Holocaust by Polish families, The Jerusalem Post has reported.

It said the Polish Institute in Tel Aviv is hosting the exhibition near Haifa in northern Israel for the next two months, together with the Association of Children of the Holocaust in Poland.

Plans call for the exhibition to move to other locations across the country, the paper reported.

It quoted Joanna Hofman, director of the Polish Institute in Tel Aviv, as saying that the story told by the exhibition is about “the most important thing – life, morality and humanity.”

Hofman told the paper it is important to tell such stories to “preserve the memory of those who survived and were saved from the Holocaust, especially children.”

Hofman said, according to The Jerusalem Post: “They were adopted by Polish families, and all their life they tried to find a bridge or link between their Jewish and Polish parents.”

The Jerusalem Post reported that the aim of the exhibition is to share these stories, especially for future generations, so that the tragedy of the Holocaust will be never forgotten.

The paper also quoted Elżbieta Ficowska, one of the 15 Jewish child survivors being featured in My Jewish Parents, My Polish Parents, as saying it’s important that the exhibition has come to Israel because it tells a universal story and helps dispel stereotypes.

“There are good and bad people everywhere, and this is a story about the good people,” Ficowska said, as quoted by The Jerusalem Post.

She added: “Some people say Poland is an anti-Semitic country, which is not true, and some people say that Poland is a country of only heroes, which is also not true.”

Ficowska emphasised that “there were indeed some heroes, and this exhibition is about them,” The Jerusalem Post reported.

The exhibition, on display at the Kiryat Motzkin Library near Haifa since Thursday, is part of a wider awareness campaign undertaken by the Polish Institute in Tel Aviv to highlight the history of Polish-Jewish ties and help promote Poland in Israel.

(gs/pk)

Source: The Jerusalem Post, polishinstitute.org.il