Wacław Izaak Kornblum: ‘Memories. My version’

“Say Wacek – and if you caught a Jew, would you kill him? Sure; I didn’t even blink” – such words can be found in the book ‘Memories. My version’ by Wenceslas Isaac Kornblum. In the fourth and final part of ‘The Ghetto in Literature’, the participants of the program meet with the Holocaust Survivor to learn about the Warsaw Ghetto history from the perspective of the victim of systemic persecution during the German occupation.

‘The Ghetto in Literature’ brings closer four publications: ‘Shielding the Flame’ by Hanna Krall, ‘Conversations with as Executioner’ by Kazimierz Moczarski, ‘Campo di Fiori’ by Czesław Miłosz and ‘Memories. My version’ by Wacław Izaak Kornblum. The aim of the project is to show the ghetto from three perspectives: victim, executioner and witness – engaged or indifferent. In each episode, those taking part get to know the place where the events occurred, confronting them alongside the Warsaw of today, and interpret literary texts.

The project was completed according to the idea and concept of Dr. Wiesława Młynarczyk from the Education Department of the WGM. It was attended by director Paweł Passini and young people from the theatre group ‘U Machulskich’.

The presentation of the series accompanies the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the closure of the borders of the Warsaw Ghetto, organised by the Warsaw Ghetto Museum together with the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and the TSKŻ-Social and Cultural Society of Jews in Poland. The main events took place on November 16, 2020.