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POLIN Museum—The Less-Known Past With the New Generations; Commemorations of the March 1968 Events.

Mon, December 17, 10:30am to 12:00pm, Seaport Hotel & World Trade Center, Waterfront 1 Ballroom

Abstract

Since the fall of the Communism we witness recurring public debates concerning Polish-Jewish relations and the memory about Polish Jews, with the Holocaust as a central reference point in these debates. Initially located between bottom-up “coming to terms with the past” and the top-down politics of history, nowadays the debates brought back a cliché anti-Semitic hate speech—its newly strong presence in public discourse met silent approval of Polish right-wing government, which juggle the nationalistic narratives within the politics of history as a way of consolidating the voters.

The 50. anniversary of the Anti-Semitic campaign in 1968, which resulted in the exile of ca. 13,000 Jews from Poland, occurred right at the center of the hate wave against Jews, supported and magnified by the State-run and social media.
Even though the post-WWII history of Jews in Poland are absent both in the system of education and in the Polish collective memory, the anniversary of March 1968 unexpectedly fueled the so-called “Polish-Polish war” on the narratives about Polish Jews’ past.

The POLIN Museum became a significant actor in this battle, with the “Estranged. March’68 and Its Aftermath” exhibition. Against the backdrop of the historical narrative, the exhibition included also the most recent examples of hate speech in public discourse. Presentation of the social media quotes by politicians and private citizens alike inspired attacks at the Museum and its Director, with charges of manipulation and an attempt to denigrate Poles.

In my presentation I will further explain the broad context of the recent Polish disputes about Polish-Jewish relations, in particular the “Polish-Polish” battle on narratives about the past. I will also discuss the (silent/muted) role of current Jewish community in Poland in these disputes. It is within this context that I will discuss how the POLIN Museum designs and executes the education- and exhibition-related programming around the less-known past, aimed in particular at young audiences.

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