Rediscovering a Jewish Wrocław

The oldest piece of evidence of Jewish material culture in Wrocław goes back as early as 1203. Jewish life flourished there until it was brutally destroyed by the Holocaust. It was reduced further by post-war emigration and the infamous March of 1968 which pushed the majority of Jewish residents out of Poland. Some of them returned after 1989 and are now reviving the Jewish community. Thus, you can hear Jewish prayers in Wrocław today.

Wrocław is an extraordinary city. Its uniqueness lies not only in its charm, vitality and openness, but its extraordinary history, which is part of the history of Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany and Austria. It is also the capital of Silesia, a region where the European East and West meet, diffusing, enriching and inspiring one another. It is also a city where the memory of previous identities was often erased – as it did not serve the new nationalist, exclusiveness, which would doom the city’s past for centuries of silence and falsehood. Such was the case in Germany during the time of Bismarck and even more during the period of communist Poland.