Jewish Warsaw – Postwar Warsaw
This project explores the multifaceted history of Jewish life in Warsaw after the Holocaust, focusing on the personal testimonies of individuals who shaped and witnessed its postwar reconstruction. Through a curated selection of oral histories and narrative fragments from figures such as Bella Szwarcman-Czarnota, Leopold Sobel, Seweryn Blumsztajn, Henryk Rajfer, Stanisław Krajewski, Daniel Slomka and Joanna Baczko, the exhibition examines how Jewish identity, culture, and community life were renegotiated in the radically altered landscape of postwar Poland.
By foregrounding individual experiences, the project highlights both the continuity and rupture that defined Jewish presence in the Polish capital after 1945. These stories offer insight into the challenges of return, the trauma of loss, the persistence of memory, and the efforts to rebuild meaning and belonging in the shadow of the Shoah. “Jewish Warsaw – Postwar Warsaw” serves not only as a documentary endeavor but also as a reflection on the complexity of survival, adaptation, and cultural resilience in the aftermath of historical catastrophe.
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Director
Piotr Strojnowski
Screenplay
Piotr Strojnowski, Łukasz Kamil Kamiński
Cinematography
Piotr Strojnowski
Voice-over
Jakub Lasota, Julia Trębecka
Editing
Łukasz Kamil Kamiński, Piotr Strojnowski
Sound Postproduction
Łukasz Kamil Kamiński
Producer
Cinemagical
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Length in total
26 minutes
Producer
POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews
Year of production
2016