Not the End, Not the Beginning. Reconstructing Jewish Life in Poland and Central Europe after the Second World War

Despite the catastrophe of the Holocaust, Jewish survivors in Poland managed to build a diverse network of institutions of social, political, cultural, religious and economic life in Poland. The conference at the POLIN Museum in Warsaw looks at various aspects of revived Jewish life in Poland, comparing developments in other countries of the region during 1945–1955.

Presentations include the functioning of various Jewish communities, patterns and directions of migration, issues of transnationalism and relations with Jewish communities outside Poland, the development of Jewish culture, literature and press, as well as postwar commemoration of Holocaust victims and the administration of justice to its perpetrators. The conference will also feature a roundtable discussion on the potential of oral history sources in research on contemporary history.

This conference and the exhibition »1945: Not the End, Not the Beginning,« presented simultaneously at the POLIN Museum, mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.