Hideouts – The Architecture of Survival: Together with Koffler Arts, POLIN present a lecture by Dr. Natalia Romik. In this illustrated lecture, Natalia Romik presents her artistic tribute to the hiding places that Jews improvised in tree hollows, wardrobes, urban sewers, caves, empty graves, and other precarious locations in their efforts to survive the Holocaust in Poland and Ukraine. Hideouts: The Architecture of Survival  both documents and honors their creativity. The results of the research (documentary films, forensic recordings, photographs, documents, and objects found in the hiding places) are juxtaposed with silver castings made at these sites.

From Shtetl to “Post-Jewish Town”: Opatów through the Eyes of Mayer Kirshenblatt: Together with Toronto Holocaust Museum, POLIN present a lecture by Dr. Natalia Romik at the Leah Posluns Theatre in Toronto. Millions of Jews in Eastern Europe once lived in towns, shtetlekh, where they created a vibrant Jewish way of life. Today, these shtetlekh are “post-Jewish” towns. Not a single Jew remains. This illustrated lecture juxtaposes the paintings of Toronto artist Mayer Kirshenblatt, who recalls his vivid childhood in Poland before the Holocaust, with the “post-Jewish” town that his birthplace, Opatów (Apt in Yiddish), has become. Join the Toronto Holocaust Museum and POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews for a chance to unpack this unique history through the lens of art and architecture.

The Ger Mandolin Orchestra & Marcin Masecki concert in Toronto: Ashkenaz and Warsaw’s POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews present the Ger Mandolin Orchestra for the first time in Toronto since 2013. The international string supergroup will be joined by Polish pianist/composer Marcin Masecki for the live premiere of his “Ger Suite,” co-commissioned by Ashkenaz and POLIN.