Institute of European Studies of the Jagiellonian University and the Center for Holocaust Research Castle in Przegorzaly

 Submitted by Jan Darsa

 

Despite resembling an ancient royal residence, The Castle in Przegorzaly, a picturesque estate, actually only dates back to the late-1920s when local architect and conservator Adolf Szyszko-Bohusz built the building today known as the “Bastion” as his family residence. Seized by the Nazis at the start of the war, the estate was soon transformed into a grand residential castle for Otto Wachter, the Nazi Governor of the Krakow district. Today, the Castle houses Jagiellonian University’s Institute of European Studies and the Center for Holocaust Studies.

Musical Performance and Presentation

Performers and Presenters:

·        Janusz Makuch, Director and Founder of the Krakow Jewish Festival

·        Urszula Makosz, Professional Singer and Actress, performs traditional Yiddish music

·        Przemyslaw Piekarski, Senior Lecturer in Yiddish at the Jagiellonian University

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Tonight we traveled to the beautiful Jagiellonian University for a dinner at the Center for Holocaust Research Castle. Although the castle resembles an ancient royal residence, it was actually built in the 1920's as a residence for a local architect and conservator. The castle was seized by the Nazis at the start of the war and transformed into a grand residential castle for Otto Wachter, the Nazi Governor of the Krakow district. Today the castle houses the University's Institute of European Studies and the Center for Holocaust Studies and is set atop a hill with a sweeping view of the valley and river below.

We had the opportunity to meet the Director of the Krakow Jewish Festival, which is a major event in Krakow Poland every year at the end of June in the old Jewish Quarter in Krakow called Kazimierz. This event, which is in it's 24th year, brings 15,000 people to Krakow to participate in a 10 day festival with over 300 different workshops, lectures, musical performances, seminars and guided tours. The festival was started in 1988 by 2 non-Jewish men who originally thought this would be a one-time festival lasting 3 days and bringing 100 people together. They wanted to bring back Jewish culture to Poland and celebrate the diversity of that culture with both traditional "Fiddler on the Roof" Klezmer music together with contemporary Jewish culture of all kinds. It has grown into an international event bringing Jews and non-Jews from Poland and around the world to Krakow each year.

We were treated to a taste of the festival with a wonderful musical performance with Urszula Makosz, a professional singer and actress, who performed songs in Yiddish (the language of the Jews of Eastern Europe before the war), Sephardic (the language of the Jews of Spain and the Balkan countries) and Hebrew. Urszula brought a spirit of the musical diversity of the Jews with her beautiful voice and provided an uplifting moment after some difficult days of delving into the painful history of the Holocaust. It was a great ending to a day of exploring the rich Jewish life of Krakow and Galicia's pre-war community and the of the disappearance of that community while also learning about a new and emerging small Jewish community that exits today in Krakow.