Polish Jews and Righteous Exhibition st the Podlaskie Opera
The largest of the exhibitions is the already well-known And I Still See Their Faces(I ciągle widzę ich twarze), a collection of photographs of Polish Jews which was put together by the SHALOM Foundation during the 1990’s. This exhibition has already been on view in many places in Europe and around the world. Białystok is hosting it for the first time.
Next ti it stand the historical exhibition He Who Saves a Single Life, Dsaves the World Entire: Help Extended to the Jewish Population During the German Occupation of the Białystok Province (1941–1944), prepared by the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) in Białystok.
The exhibition takes in the topic of Polish resistance against the Holocaust by the populace, the Church and by the Polish Underground. It presents stories of the help provided by the Polish Righteous. The exhibition was created ten years ago to mark the 60 anniversary of the liquidation of the Białystok ghetto, and had been constantly updated. This year, the story of Katarzyna Meloch was added. As a child, she was in the Białystoki ghetto for half a year. She then ended up in the Warsaw ghetto and, from there, she found herself in a convent in Turkowice where she survived the War. Katarzyna Meloch was present at the preview of the exhibition on March 6th.
The lobby of the Podlaskie Opera features the work of painter Józef Charyton – portraits of Polish Jews. During the War, the artist lived in Wysoki Litwesk, near the ghetto at the time. After the War, when the village found itself outside the eastern border of Poland, he left for Siemiatycz. There he created his paintings and drawings documenting scenes from the Holocaust, as well as the everyday life of Jewish communities in the Polish provinces
The exhibitions are on display at the Podlaskie Opera and Philharmonic – European Centre for the Arts ul. Odeska 1 in Białystok.
