15 AUG 2020 · Even though most Ashkenazi Jews around the world can trace their roots back to Poland, the 1,000-year history of the Jewish experience in Poland is still not widely known. Instead, it is often mythologized or demonized, unfortunately losing its enormous contributions to Poland and impact on world Jewry in the process.

15 AUG 2020 · While the entertainment industry can easily go online to reach their audiences during the lockdown, an interactive museum, with eight carefully curated historical galleries, cannot easily translate into the digital realm. Watch Professor Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Chief Curator of Muzeum Historii Żydów Polskich POLIN (POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews) and Zygmunt Stępiński, its recently appointed director, as they discuss reopening and future directions of the award-winning museum. Professor Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett is a world-renowned scholar, cultural anthropologist, author, and museologist. Her work merges performance studies, history, and museum design to provide engaging, memorable, and authentic experiences for visitors. As the Chief Curator of the award-winning POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Professor Kirshenblatt-Gimblett has created a compelling and interactive journey through 1,000 years of Polish Jewish life. A recipient of many awards and honorary doctorates, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2017. In 2020, she was honored with the Dan David Prize. Zygmunt Stępiński graduated from the Department of History at the University of Warsaw. Prior to joining the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews as its deputy director in 2012, he was a publisher and journalist, and the co-founder of the MURATOR Publishing Company. During his tenure as deputy director, Mr. Stępiński supervised the departments of education and communication, as well as sales and marketing. He is credited with overseeing the Museum’s record-breaking attendance and the success of its well-received temporary exhibitions as well as the institution’s cultural and educational programs. He was appointed POLIN Museum Director in March 2020.

15 AUG 2020 · One clandestine group in the Warsaw Ghetto vowed to defeat German Nazi lies and propaganda; not with guns or fists, but with pen and paper. Exclusive webinar with Prof. Samuel Kassow, the author of bestselling “Who Will Write Our History”. Professor Kassow was joined by Professor Dariusz Stola to discuss the inspiring story of the Oyneg Shabes Group, a network of journalists, scholars and community leaders who took the narrative into their own hands and made sure that the voices of the victims would be heard. WHO WERE THE CREATORS OF THE WARSAW GHETTO UNDERGROUND ARCHIVE? This story began on a Saturday. In Autumn 1940, a group of several dozen people living in the Warsaw Ghetto began to collect and edit an extensive account of the fate of Polish Jews under German occupation. At that time they weren’t yet aware that increasing persecution will develop into mass extermination of their nation, and that the work which they decided to pursue will become the most important testimony of the Holocaust. They held their meetings on Saturdays, hence the name Oneg Shabbat – „the joy of Sabbath” in Hebrew.

15 AUG 2020 · pisode two of #TJHTalks features our special guest Dr. Deborah Lipstadt, professor of Modern Jewish History at Emory University (Atlanta, Georgia). Professor Lipstadt is a world-renowned scholar, best-selling author, most recently of Antisemitism Here and Now, and a Taube Jewish Heritage Tours scholar-in-residence. We discuss "softcore” Holocaust denial, an increasingly visible issue in the current political and social discourse. The session was moderated by historian Dr. Dariusz Stola, former director of the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, a scholar of 20th Century Polish History and prize-winning author.

3 AUG 2020 · We are honored to welcome our first guest speaker, MICHAEL SCHUDRICH, Chief Rabbi of Poland and Chairman of the Taube Center’s Board. The series is hosted by Helise Lieberman, director of the Taube Center and its flagship program, Taube Jewish Heritage Tours.