“They Risked Their Lives – Poles Who Saved Jews During the Holocaust” Exhibition in Tallinn

, 16 November 2016
Our exhibition, “They Risked Their Lives – Poles Who Saved Jews During the Holocaust” went on display in Talinn on Friday 31st January 2014 in the Estonia State Concert Hall. This was made possible with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Its launch was accompanied by the premiere of Henryk Mikołaj Górecki’s “Symphony of Pitiful Songs”. The concert, dedicated to the memory of Holocaust vistims, was co-sponsored by the Polish Embassy in Talinn and Eesti Kontsert.

This travelling exhibition is a part of the Museum’s ”The Polish Righteous – Recalling Forgotten History” project commissioned by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The exhibition is dedicated to those who came to the aid of Jews during World War II. It presents the faces, stories and motivations of those Poles who saved Jews, portraying them in the historical context of German-occupied Poland. It also explains the circumstances and scale of the help provided. One these Polish Righteous is a Polish diplomat and an underground activist through whom the West received evidence of the Nazi death camps – Jan Karski. 2014 is the 100th anniversary of Karski’s birth.

The one-off showing of the exhibition in Talinn, on 31st January 2014 was accompanied by the premiere of Henryk Mikołaj Górecki’s Third Symphony op.36 “The Symphony of Pitiful Songs”. The performance was conducted by Andres Mustonen, artistic director of the Mustonen Fest festival, and was dedicated to the memory of Holocaust victims. The event was co-organised by the Polish Embassy in Talinn and Eesti Kontsert, as part of the Jan Kaski Year commemorations.

The exhibition utilises priceless collections of interviews of the last living Righteous Among the Nations. The interviews were made by the Museum between 2007 and 2013. The exhibition is available in Polish and English language versions. Further translations are currently be prepared. It is being shown throughout the country, as well as overseas in Polish diplomatic missions and institutes of Polish culture. The first showing of the exhibition took place at UNESCO headquarters in Paris on 3rd December 2013. It was also shown in conjunction with the 70th anniversaries of the liquidation of the ghettoes in Warsaw and Vilna.

The Polish version will go on show at the Museum of the History of Polish Jews on 6th March 2014 as part of the events of the European Day of Righteous Remembrance. The exhibition will be open to the public from 7th to 24th March.