nd I Still See Their Faces: The Vanished World of Polish Jews
Edited by Madelyn Miller, the TravelLady
 Yeshiva
University Museum will present an exhibition of approximately 450 prewar
photographs of Polish Jews from through June 24, 2007. On view in New York for
the first time, And I Still See Their Faces: The Vanished World of Polish Jews
was organized by the Shalom
 Foundation
in Warsaw, and has been shown throughout Europe, South America, Canada and
Israel as well in the American cities of Boston, Los Angeles, Detroit and
Lancaster, Pennsylvania. As the home of so many people of Polish ancestry, New
York City is the long-awaited venue for this remarkable show.
 In
1994, the Shalom Foundation made a public request for photographs of Polish Jews
and has since built an archive of some 9,000 photographs. Drawn primarily from
nameless family albums, many of these photographs were abandoned by their owners
or hidden for safe-keeping during the war. The majority were submitted by
Polish Jews who managed to flee the German occupation of
 Poland
and their non-Jewish friends and neighbors. Once collected, the poignant
photographs were digitized for reproduction. The 450 images selected for this
exhibition have been published as a hard-cover and online catalogue, accessible
at
www.shalom.org.pl.
 The
exhibition's photographs date from the late 19th through the first decades of
the 20th century, providing an intimate view of the everyday activities of
Polish Jews prior to the 1939 Nazi invasion of Poland. Rather than focusing on
the devastation that ensued in the coming years, the exhibition
 offers
insight into the rich prewar life enjoyed by the Jewish community. Recorded
Jewish presence in Poland dates back to the 11 th century; by 1939, there were
over 3 million Jews in Poland, the largest Jewish population in Europe at the
time. In 1946, the Jewish community of Poland numbered around 250,000; of
these, most spent the war years in Soviet Russia. Today, Poland's Jewish
population is estimated at less than 40,000.
This exhibition is co-sponsored by the Museum of the
History of the Polish Jews, North American Council, and The Florence & Chafetz
Hillel House at Boston University.
About Yeshiva University Museum
Since its founding in 1973, the Yeshiva University Museum's
changing contemporary art and historical exhibitions have celebrated the
culturally diverse intellectual and artistic achievements of over 3,000 years of
Jewish experience. In 2000, the museum moved to its current location in the
Center for Jewish History, where it occupies four spacious galleries, a
children's workshop center, and an outdoor sculpture garden. Also on site is a
café and reading room.
Hours: Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday: 11 am - 5
pm
Madelyn Miller is a travel and food writer. Her work is
seen on
www.travellady.com,
www.chocolateatlas.com,
www.cocktailatlas.com,
www.teaAtlas.com and
www.carladynews.com
Photos
Courtesy Shalom Foundation
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