24 August (Sunday)
12.00 PM Following the trail of the ghetto – a walk around the Jewish Cemetery [PL]
Hosted by: Paweł Kulig – president of the “Strażnicy Pamięci” (Guardians of Memory) Association and Edyta Jerzyńska – licensed guide in Łódź
Gentlemen are kindly asked to put on their headgear.
Admission fee: 10 PLN to support the restoration of the Jewish Cemetery monuments
Starts at: Jewish Cemetery | entrance from Zmienna St.
During the walk, we will focus on the history of the cemetery during World War II, when its premises were included within the boundaries of the ghetto. We will describe what funerals in the ghetto looked like, explain the specifics of the so-called ghetto field, where most of the victims of that period were buried, and visit the graves of Łódź residents who died in the ghetto, recounting their stories.
26 August (Tuesday)
5.00 PM Resistance is our only way forward. In the footsteps of women in the Łódź Ghetto – a walk [PL]
Free admission
Hosted by: Ewa Kamińska-Bużałek, Izabela Olejnik
Please gather in front of the Bałucki Market on the side of Zgierska St.
They put on lipstick to look healthy and able to work, thus avoiding deportation from the ghetto. They wrote poems and kept diaries, even though pencils were so hard to come by. They fought to survive and to save their children. They were active in the underground resistance movement.
Join us for a walk in the footsteps of Jewish women in the Łódź Ghetto. We will tell you about pre-war artists and writers confined to the Litzmannstadt Ghetto, about women brought during the occupation from Western Europe to Łódź, a city foreign to them, and settled in the ghetto, about the problems and hardships that women had to face every day.
Walking around the former Łódź ghetto, we will present their profiles and show places linked to them. We will share the voices of Chawa Rozenfarb, Melania Fogelbaum, Irene Hauser, Rywka Lipszyc, and others, by reading excerpts from their wartime diaries, novels, and poems. We will talk about the civil resistance of women confined in the Łódź Ghetto.
Organised by: Fundacja Łódzki Szlak Kobiet (Łódź Women's Trail Foundation)
8.00 PM The broken heart of Bałuty – a theatrical encounter with Łódź history [PL]
Registration: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Venue: Centrum Dialogu im. Marka Edelmana (Marek Edelman Dialogue Centre) in Łódź | 83 Wojska Polskiego St.
The Gra/nice Foundation in Łódź is happy to invite you to the performance of the original play Ostatni sen Eugenii/Eugenias letzter Traum (Eugenia's Last Dream) directed by Dorota Abbe, inspired by the story of a German children's camp that operated on Przemysłowa Street in Łódź, and to a meeting with the authors. The main focus of the play is the character of Eugenia Pol, alias Genowefa Pohl, a camp guard. Her dual nature, total denial of her crimes, and her version of events contrasted with the memories of prisoners describing Pohl as an exceptionally cruel sadist, became the starting point for theatrical exploration. The authors want to ask questions about history and its connection to the present, the mechanisms of memory, oblivion and denial, the eternal dilemmas of the boundaries between good and evil, the relationship between the executioner and the victim.
27 August (Wednesday)
4.00 PM Performative reading of excerpts from Chava Rosenfarb's short stories by Anita Tomczak. [PL]
Venue: Park Ocalałych (Survivors’ Park) | 83 Wojska Polskiego St.
5.00 PM Memory map. Here-there-then-today – workshop [PL/ENG]
Hosted by: Patrycja Dołowy
Registration: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Venue: Centrum Dialogu im. Marka Edelmana (Marek Edelman Dialogue Centre) in Łódź | 83 Wojska Polskiego St.
Workshops and site-specific artistic activities (second part on Saturday, 30 August), incorporating contemporary stories of the descendants of Łódź residents into the fabric of their city of origin, involving both descendants from around the world and today's residents of Łódź in joint activities, allowing them to get to know each other better and build a diverse map of stories about today's and former Łódź, marking the paths leading from different places around the world, and originating and meeting again right here.
7.00 PM How much of the Survivors is in us? – a talk with the descendants of Survivors of the Łódź Ghetto [PL/ENG]
Registration: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Venue: Centrum Dialogu im. Marka Edelmana (Marek Edelman Dialogue Centre) in Łódź | 83 Wojska Polskiego St.
This event will attempt to answer a difficult but extremely important question: how much of the Survivors' experiences do we carry within ourselves – as their children and grandchildren? What was everyday life like for those who grew up in the shadow of silence or among snippets of stories about the Łódź Ghetto, the Holocaust, and the war? How did trauma, memory, and untold stories shape their identity, family relationships, and their view of the world?
We invite you to a conversation with the descendants of Survivors of the Łódź Ghetto – full of personal memories, reflections and emotions. It will be a story about inheriting memory, but also about its absence. About childhood marked by the experience of war, even though they were born after it. About questions that were often asked too late – or never at all.
The participants will share their own stories and talk about whether the past was discussed in their homes or whether silence prevailed. How do you grow up in the shadow of a ghetto that no longer exists but still recurs in stories, dreams and emotions? How do they carry the memory of their parents and grandparents with them today?
This meeting is an effort to understand that although the war is over, its echoes still resound – in us, our families and our memories.
28 August (Thursday) – Survivors’ Day
4.00 PM Presentation of memorial tree certificates – a ceremony awarding new memorial trees to the families of Survivors of the Łódź Ghetto and a concert by the Łódź Children's Choir and the Clil Jewish Choir [PL/ENG]
Free admission
Venue: Park Ocalałych (Survivors’ Park) | 83 Wojska Polskiego St.
Memorial trees have been planted in the Survivors' Park since 2004. They are dedicated to individuals or families who survived the war. New names are added every year. They are planted by Survivors or their descendants, children, sometimes grandchildren, who come from all over the world. At the moment there are over 650 memorial trees in the Survivors' Park.
The Children's Choir of the City of Łódź together with the Clil Jewish Choir will perform the following pieces: Marzenie (Dream) (lyr. Abram Koplowicz, mus. Lena Piękniewska, Paweł Skorupka, arr. Przemysław Roland Orawski), conducted by Przemysław Roland Orawski; and Jadą dzieci, jadą (The Children Are Coming) (lyr. Miriam Harel, from the repertoire of the Clil Jewish Choir), conducted by Maciej Lewy.
In addition, the Children's Choir of the City of Łódź will perform: Arum dem fayer (author unknown, arr. Waldemar Sutryk), conducted by Przemysław Roland Orawski. The Clil Jewish Choir will perform: Ani Maamin (mus. cantor Ariel Dawid Fastag), conducted by Maciej Lewy.
5.00 PM We will not stay indifferent – remembering Marian Turski
Guests: Joanna Turska, Zuzanna Herzberg, Joanna Podolska. Hosted by Estera Flieger.
Free admission
Venue: Centrum Dialogu im. Marka Edelmana (Marek Edelman Dialogue Centre) in Łódź | 83 Wojska Polskiego St.
A meeting dedicated to the memory of Marian Turski – a Holocaust survivor, prisoner of the Łódź Ghetto, historian, journalist, human rights activist and witness of the 20th century, who passed away this year. His words, ‘Don’t be indifferent’, became a call for accountability and empathy, resonating far beyond the borders of Poland.
At this evening of remembrance, we will attempt to recall Marian Turski – a man deeply involved in preserving the memory of the Holocaust, but also an active citizen whose voice was never silent on contemporary issues. We will talk about his life, values and the legacy he left behind.
We will be joined by Joanna Turska, Marian Turski's daughter, who will share her personal memories of her father; Joanna Podolska – journalist, publicist, long-time director of the Marek Edelman Dialogue Centre, expert on the history of Łódź and intercultural dialogue; Zuzanna Herzberg – artist and activist, whose work often touches on the themes of memory, heritage and resistance.
The meeting will not only be an opportunity to reminisce, but also to reflect on the responsibility we have as a society – towards history and towards each other.
7.00 PM Jewish songs – concert by Maciej and Marek Kądziela [PL]
Marek and Maciej Kądziela are artists who share not only blood ties, but also a unique musical sensitivity. They are returning to a repertoire that has matured with them over the years – Jewish songs.
Free admission
Venue: Park Ocalałych (Survivors’ Park) | 83 Wojska Polskiego St.
The concert is a tribute to tradition – not only musical, but also spiritual and cultural. In Jewish songs, deeply rooted in history and emotions, the brothers find space for intimate dialogue – between themselves, with the audience, and with the memory of generations.
Their interpretations are authentic, bold and moving. On the one hand, respect for the original melodies and language of tradition; on the other, modern jazz expression, improvisation, moments of silence and intense expression. Marek's guitar and Maciej's saxophone intertwine in a narrative that needs no words to touch the deepest strings of human sensitivity. This is not a concert. It is an experience. An encounter with music that remembers. And with brothers who can translate that memory into sound.
8.00 PM Shekhinah smiles quietly – concert by the band NACHUM
Performers: Miłosz Pękala / percussion, Ola Bilińska / vocals, Ola Rzepka / drums, Noem Zylberberg / piano, Piotr Łyszkiewicz / saxophone
Registration: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Venue: Centrum Dialogu im. Marka Edelmana (Marek Edelman Dialogue Centre) in Łódź | 83 Wojska Polskiego St.
Nachum is a band that chose the work of a Jewish composer Nachum Sternheim, originally from Rzeszów, as the starting point for their music. Although his songs are taught and sung in the USA and Israel, and can be found in many anthologies of Yiddish songs published overseas, they remain virtually unknown in Poland. Percussionist Miłosz Pękala (Kwadrofonik, Mitch & Mitch) has adopted them into his musical repertoire, giving them an avant-garde character that oscillates between jazz, popular music and experimentation. The whole is complemented by arrangements by Noam Zylberberg, a pianist who has been living and working in Warsaw for many years, fascinated by Polish popular music of the interwar period, which he arranges and performs with his Mała Orkiestra Dancingowa (Little Dance Orchestra). The female members of the band are Ola Bilińska (Babadag, Berjozkele, Bye Broseley Butterfly), a singer known for her contemporary interpretations of traditional music, including songs in Yiddish, and Ola Rzepka (Drekoty, Pogodno, Alte Zachen) – a drummer and composer working in the field of alternative and contemporary improvised music. The concert line-up is completed by the saxophonist, composer and producer Piotr Łyszkiewicz.
30 August (Saturday)
11.00 AM Reconciliated with evil – meeting with Leon Weintraub, Survivor of the Łódź Ghetto [PL/ENG]
Registration: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Limited number of places available
Venue: Centrum Dialogu im. Marka Edelmana (Marek Edelman Dialogue Centre) in Łódź | 83 Wojska Polskiego St.
Leon Weintraub was born on 1 January 1926 in Łódź to the family of Szul-Szloma, who died in Łódź in 1927, and Natalia, who perished in Auschwitz in 1944. In order to provide for her children (Leon had four sisters), his mother opened a small laundry at 2 Kamienna Street. By the outbreak of the war, he had completed six years of primary school, and later continued his education until the closure of schools in the ghetto in the autumn of 1940.
1.30 PM Curator's tour with Paweł Michna of the exhibition The Fashion System [ENG] ATTENTION! The event has been cancelled due to reasons beyond the control of the Dialogue Center
Tickets: standard 38 PLN | reduced 28 PLN
Tickets can be purchased at the Museum ticket office and online at bilety.cmwl.pl
Curators: Karolina Sulej, Paweł Michna
Content supervisor: Marcin Gawryszczak
Coordinator: Aleksandra Kmiecik
Graphic design: Gra-Fika
Exhibition architecture: Koziej Architekci
Artists: Paulina Buźniak, Krzysztof Gil, Zuzanna Hertzberg, Małgorzata Markiewicz, Witek Orski, Agnieszka Wach and Błażej Worsztynowicz, Paweł Żukowski
Venue: Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź | 282 Piotrkowska Street
4.00 PM Site-specific walk – conclusion of the workshop with Patrycja Dołowy [PL/ENG]
Free admission
The second part of the Memory Map. Here-there-then-today workshop, to which present residents of Łódź and their descendants will be invited. It is a site-specific performance in several locations around the city – sites connected with the descendants. The activity will take the form of a walk, with a route based on places connected with the descendants, starting from the Survivors' Park. Small objects will be placed in selected spots (a minor intervention with symbolic and communal significance), each accompanied by a story told by a descendant connecting Łódź with other cities.
31 August (Sunday)
12.00 PM A walk in the footsteps of the Łódź ghetto. Radegast Station. Extended guided tour [PL/Polish Sign Language]
Starts at: Radegast Station Branch, 12 Pamięci Ofiar Litzmannstadt Getto Av.
Tickets: standard 12 PLN, reduced 6 PLN
Organised by: Muzeum Tradycji Niepodległościowych (Museum of Independence Traditions) in Łódź – Radegast Station Branch, 12 Pamięci Ofiar Litzmannstadt Getto Av.
2:00 PM Film Screening: The World Will Tremble, directed by Lior Geller, Distributor: Vertical, Countries: United Kingdom, USA, Bulgaria, Israel. [PL/ENG]
After the screening, there will be a Q&A session with the director.
Free admission
Registration: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Venue: EC1 – City of Culture | ul. Tuwima 46
Lior Geller is an Emmy-nominated Israeli-American filmmaker whose films have been presented at over 100 film festivals and have won more than 60 awards, including the German Film Award and the Cinema for Peace Award at Berlinale. His graduation film was screened at over 70 international festivals, setting a Guinness World Record as the most awarded student film in history, and earned him a nomination for a Student Academy Award.
About the film
The World Will Tremble, directed by Lior Geller, tells the previously untold, harrowing story of a group of Polish-Jewish prisoners during World War II. Forced to bury their fellow countrymen, Solomon Wiener (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) and Michael Podchlebnik (Jeremy Neumark Jones) make a daring escape from a Nazi death camp to create the world’s first eyewitness testimony of the Holocaust. The World Will Tremble is a moving tribute to the power of the human spirit, which— even in the face of unimaginable cruelty—can find the courage to fight for truth and justice. The film will be screened in English with Polish subtitles.
The Q&A session with the director will be held in English with Polish interpretation.
Organizer: Jewish Community of Łódź