News

From November 5 to November 8, 2024, the Jewish Historical Institute, in cooperation with the Polish Institute in Madrid and the Centro Sefarad Israel in Madrid, organized a seminar for Spanish teachers and educators entitled "El Archivo Ringelblum y su relación con España" ("The Ringelblum Archive and its Relations with Spain"). During several intensive days, our Spanish partners and their guests listened to lectures and participated in workshops prepared by employees of the Jewish Historical Institute.

The seminar began with a welcome and introduction of the partner institutions. Then Szymon Pietrzykowski took the floor, explaining the circumstances surrounding the establishment of the Ringelblum Archive and introducing the people who were involved in this project. The lecture aroused the interest of the participants and provoked many interesting questions. Then Dr. Agnieszka Witkowska-Krych shed light on the figure of Janusz Korczak from an unconventional side. Korczak is quite well-known in Spain too and he is still an inspiration for many teachers and educators. The next lecture, given by Dr. Agnieszka Jeż, was devoted to the musical culture of the Jews. The presentation was enriched with audiovisual material, which aroused genuine enthusiasm among the audience.

On the second day, we discussed the topic of the traces of the civil war in Spain that are present in the materials collected in the JHI Archives. Szymon Pietrzykowski passionately spoke about the Jewish participants in this event, which was special in many ways. Then, the seminar participants had the opportunity to visit the exhibition on Franz Kafka at the Centro Sefarad Israel, prepared on the occasion of the centenary of his birth. We were guided by Ana Pellicer, who coordinates international relations at the Centro Sefarad Israel. Later, Zuzanna Schnepf-Kołacz, Deputy Director of the Jewish Historical Institute for Programme, gave a lecture on Jewish life in the first years of post-war Poland. This topic also met with great interest from the participants.

On the third day, we continued the topic of contemporary Jewish life. Paweł Bysko, Head of the Education Department gave us the lecture on this topic. Then Dr. Agnieszka Kajczyk, Head of the Heritage Documentation Department, spoke about the collections of the Jewish Historical Institute and about two digital platforms (the Central Jewish Library and the Delet portal), on which the Institute's collections are presented. The day ended with an evaluation and the presentation of certificates to the participants.

We would like to thank the Polish Institute in Madrid and Centro Sefarad Israel for their excellent cooperation and hospitality. We hope that the seminar met the expectations of the participants and that, enriched with new knowledge and experiences, they will share them with their students.

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Photo credits: Szymon Pietrzykowski, Ana Pellicer, Maria Miquel, Agnieszka Witkowska-Krych, Paweł Bysko

The project was co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage under the “Inspiring Culture” program for 2024–2025.