The history of the ghetto as the theme of the fifth photo exhibition of the Warsaw Ghetto Museum

Due to the current epidemic, the museum had to resign from organising an exhibition at Grzybowski Square, with the hope of installing displays with photographs there, as soon as the situation allows that. Then, most probably in June, the Exhibition Department of the Warsaw Ghetto Museum is planning to organise a curatorial tour. Meanwhile, we encourage everyone to see all the boards using the link: https://1943.pl/wystawy/co-trzeci-sposrod-nas/ The fifth museum exhibition is an invitation to get acquainted with the most important information about the history of the ghetto that is presented in the descriptions accompanying the photographs. It is prepared in an accessible way and for the general public.

Until September 1939, the Jewish population constituted one third of the capital city inhabitants. Most of them lived in the area of Gęsia, Świętojerska and Nalewki streets. That was the place where the Germans decided to establish the ghetto – the largest in occupied Europe. The exhibition “Every third of us” consists of twenty boards. They introduce into the history of the ghetto, from its creation, through the self-organisation of everyday life of the people incarcerated there, problems with overpopulation, hunger and diseases, trade, cultural life existing there, and the process of its liquidation – the so-called Grossaktion – the uprising and its gleanings. The photographs come from such collections as: Bundesarchiv, “Warszawa1939.pl” Foundation, the National Library of Poland, Bildarchiv, the State Archive in Warsaw, the Warsaw Rising Museum, the National Digital Archives, Yad Vashem, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), the Ghetto Fighters’ House, the Museum of Warsaw, the Jewish Historical Institute, the Institute of National Remembrance and the Warsaw Ghetto Museum. The exhibition is curated by Rafał Kosewski from the exhibition department of the exhibition department of the Warsaw Ghetto Museum. The exhibition was organised by the Warsaw Ghetto Museum in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, with media patronage of the Polish Radio RDC. Honorary patronage is held by the President of the Capital City of Warsaw.

Anna Kilian

Photo: Crowded streets of the ghetto, corner of Dzika and Miła Streets in 1941. (The Warsaw Ghetto Museum)