Bialystok Deserves a Jewish Museum

Bialystok Deserves a Jewish Museum

Dear Sir or Madam, dear Friends, Residents of Bialystok and all the friends of our city around the world,

       We ask you to support the initiative to create in Bialystok a "Public Museum of History and Culture of Bialystok Jewry." We aim to make it a Jewish place in Bialystok: we will run workshops and other educational activities aimed to bring Jewish Bialystok closer to the people who participate in them. There is no such place. And yet, Jews constituted the majority of Bialystok's residents and, at the outbreak of World War II, almost half of its inhabitants were Jewish.

       The contribution of the Jewish community to creating this city is manifold and invaluable: Jews developed Bialystok economically, socially, and culturally. It is mainly because of its Jewish heritage that Bialystok is now known around the world. The city was home to people of merit to the world of culture and civilization, such as Ludwik Zamenhof (who created the Esperanto language), Boris Kaufman (an Oscar winning cinematographer), Aron Cytron (the founder of Citroen) and Albert Sabin (the developer of oral polio vaccine). To numerous descendants of Bialystok Jews, wherever they live, Bialystok remains a magical place; here one of the most interesting Jewish communities of twentieth-century Europe lived, worked, loved, and created works of art.  

      This is a time of unique opportunity. A Bialystok entrepreneur - Rogowski Development - provides us with a venue in a prestigious location. The Committee on Culture of the Bialystok City Council has endorsed our project.   We have access to valuable collections. Collectors and descendants of Bialystok Jews offer us free access to their resources. We have an idea and a plan. We will run a modern institution aiming to effectively promote the achievements of this amazing community.

      We want, first of all, to pursue educational activity. We want to create and maintain relations with those in the Jewish Diaspora who feel emotionally connected to Bialystok.   We need your support. We want to be assured in our belief that our efforts make sense; that they arouse interest in Bialystok, Poland and the world. Finally, we want to know that we can also count on your support and cooperation later, when our dreams have become a reality.  

Jan Oniszczuk

President of  "Searching for Poland Society"

szukamypolski@gmail.com

Zbigniew Siwiński

President of "The Association of Friends of Jewish Culture"

tpkz_bialystok@wp.pl

Tomasz Wiśniewski    Contact the author of the petition