::.. Bayit Hadash 2000
::.. Bayit Hadash 2001
::.. Bayit Hadash 2002
::.. Bayit Hadash 2004
::.. Bayit Hadash 2005



Bayit Hadash 2000

Organizers:
+> The Judaica Foundation - Center for Jewish Culture
+> The Italian Cultural Institute in Cracow
+> The Goethe Institute in Cracow

Sponsors:
+> The Stefan Batory Foundation
+> The Department of Culture and Education, City of Cracow Cracow Municipal Office
+> The Ministry of Culture and the National Heritage of the Republic of Poland
+> LOT Polish Airlines
+> The Israeli Embassy in Warsaw
+> The Friedrich Ebert Foundation

MORDECHAJ GEBIRTIG (1877 - 1942)
The fifth edition of the BAYIT HADASH Month of Encounters with Jewish Culture was dedicated to Mordechaj Gebirtig. He was born in the Kazimierz district of Cracow on May 4, 1877. He did not have much schooling except for a traditional religious education in cheder. He worked as a carpenter all his life.

In his youth he was a fervent socialist. He made his print debut in 1905 on the pages of the Cracow Socjaldemokrat newspaper. He was encouraged to write by the eminent man of letters Abraham Rajzen. Gebirtig's first published verse was entitled Der general-sztrajk (General Strike).

In the First World War Gebirtig was drafted into the Austrian army and served as an orderly in the military hospital in Cracow. He wrote many poems during this time, later printed in his little volume Folkstimlech (To a Folk Tune). ... Gebirtig was a true master of music and words, and when he invoked folk motifs he raised them to the heights of artistry. There are many autobiographical strands in his work. Some songs were written for the theater, and others were deeply personal....

In the interwar period Gebirtig was involved in the work of the Jewish theater at 7 Bocheńska Street. In 1924 he was even a member of the board of the Jewish Art Lovers Society. He met actors and Jewish intellectuals at the "Shmata" literary evenings or at Thorn's Restaurant. At one such evening in 1921 he met Molly Picon and Jakub Kalich, who appeared on the stage on Bocheńska Street in the operetta Jankiel. The guests were delighted with the songs Gebirtig sang and bought performance rights (for 25 dollars per song) to Huliet, huliet, kinderlech (Play, Children) and Kinder-yorn (Childhood years). In this way the humble carpenter's songs journeyed across the ocean....

The outbreak of the war found Gebirtig in an apartment at 5 Berka Joselewicza Street in Cracow. In 1940, with his wife and three daughters he was forced to "resettle" to Łagiewniki near Cracow. When in the spring of 1942 Gebirtig was moved to the ghetto in the Podgórze district of Cracow, a few months of life were still left to him. In the ghetto he met his friends: the artist Abraham Neuman, and the musician Juliusz Hoffman who before the war had written down melodies Gebirtig composed. It is not known exactly how many poems and songs were written during this difficult period.

Mordechaj Gebirtig was shot to death on June 4, 1942, on the way to the wagons that took Cracow Jews to the Bełżec death camp. Abraham Neuman died together with him at the corner of Janowa Wola and Dąbrówki Streets. None of the immediate family of the carpenter poet survived the war.




BAYIT HADASH
Month of Encounters with Jewish Culture
October 2000 - Tishri 5761

Sunday, October 1
Rosh Hashanah

Monday, October 2
6:00 p.m. opening of the photographic exhibition "Gehat hob ich a hejm... Once I had a home...," the Kazimierz district of Cracow in Mordechaj Gebirtig's time, in photographs film showing, Five Polish Cities, showing Jewish life in five cities of prewar Poland opening with the participation of Rembert SCHLEICHER, former Austrian Consul in Cracow
7:00 p.m. concert by the REINER TRIO, consisting of Roman REINER (violin), Barbara ŁYPIK-SOBANIEC (cello) and Sławomir CIERPIK (piano); program featuring Max Bruch's Kol Nidre and Jewish melodies

Tuesday, October 3
6:00 p.m. "The Bund: the historical achievements of a murdered party" lecture by Abraham BRUMBERG (U.S.A.),
Abraham Brumberg, born in Warsaw, was a Bund activist. After emigrating to the U.S.A. he became a highly regarded sovietologist.

Wednesday, October 4
6:00 p.m. Concert of Yiddish songs and poems. Abraham Brumberg and Lesław Lic

Thursday, October 5
6:00 p.m. "Israel and the Holocaust"

lecture by Michał SOBELMAN, Press Secretary of the Israeli Embassy in Poland Friday, October 6
6:00 p.m. Concert by the KROKE ensemble: Tomasz KUKURBA (violin, viola), Jerzy BAWÓŁ (accordion) and Tomasz LATO (double bass)

Sunday, October 8
KOL NIDRE

Monday, October 9
YOM KIPPUR

Tuesday, October 10
6:00 p.m. Who did Szmul Zygiebojm give his life for?
Meeting with Marian Turski and film showing, The Death of Zygielbojm, directed by Dżamila Ankiewicz; meeting with the director after the screening.

Wednesday, October 11
6:00 p.m. "The Jewish identity in Poland and in Germany"
Panel discussion with Prof. Michael WOLFFSOHN (Germany) Marian TURSKI and Adam KRZEMIŃSKI (moderator), arranged jointly with the Goethe Institute in Cracow, with simultaneous translation. Prof. Michael Wolffsohn was born in 1947 Tel Aviv to German Jewish emigrants. He has lived in Germany since 1954. He studied history, political science and economics in Berlin, Tel Aviv and New York. Since 1981 he has been professor of contemporary history at the University of the Bundeswehr in Munich. His books include Eternal Guilt and My Jews, Your Jews. "German-Jewish relations are marked by many misunderstandings and contradictions. In his new book, Michael Wolffsohn, known for not mincing his words and for telling it like it is, speaks of painful matters, of intended and unintended mutual offense." (Die Zeit, 1997)

Thursday, October 12
6:00 p.m. Kibbutznik from Nir-Oz Meeting with Alex DANZIG (Israel) and showing of a film about him directed by Krzysztof Bukowski, screenplay by Michał Sobelman.
Alex Danzig left Warsaw with his parents in 1957 when he was nine years old. For years he has lived in the Nir-Oz kibbutz in the Negev Desert. He completed a history degree in Israel, later was a schoolteacher and worked in the kibbutz. Thirty years after leaving Poland he returned for the first time. Currently he works in Israel's Ministry of Education, training Israeli guides who take youth groups on tours around Poland and also piloting groups of Israelis himself.

Friday, October 13
7:00 p.m. Wandering Mass according to Edward Stachura
Performance by Anna CHODAKOWSKA and Roman ZIEMLAŃSKI (guitar)

Saturday, October 14
SUKKOT I

Sunday, October 15
SUKKOT II

Monday, October 16
5:00 p.m. Opening of an exhibition by Justyna CHWASTEK Justyna Chwastek designed the cover to the book Żydowski bard by Natan GROSS. Exhibition of computer art inspired by Mordechaj Gebirtig's verse, which she came to know through contact with Natan Gross.
5:30 p.m. Book promotion, Żydowski bard. Gawęda o życiu i twórczości Mordechaj Gebirtiga (The Yiddish Bard: A Tale of the Life and Works of Mordechaj Gebirtig), published by the Academic Bookstore in Cracow. The first Polish monograph on the work of Mordechaj Gebirtig. At the book promotion were Natan GROSS, Rafael F. SCHARF, Dr. Eugenia PROKOP-JANIEC of the Institute of Philology of the Jagiellonian University, and Dr. Józef WRÓBEL, editor of the book.
Natan Gross was born in Cracow in 1919. There he survived the Second World War. He wrote of those days in the book Who are You, Mr. Grymek?, published in Polish in 1991. Before he emigrated to Israel in 1950 he published Wybór współczesnej poezji hebrajskiej (Selection of Contemporary Hebrew Poetry, 1947) and Pieśni o Izraelu (Song of Israel, 1948); he returned to poetry in the book Co po nam zostało z tych lat (What Is Left to Us from Those Years?, 1971) and Okruszyny młodości (Fragments of Youth, 1976) He is active as a writer and publicist in the Polish-speaking community in Israel. Another professional interest of his is film; he has directed three feature-length films and more than a hundred documentaries. His books in Hebrew include a history of Yiddish film in Poland (1990), and a history of Israeli film (1991) which he co-authored.
7:00 p.m. Memories of Cracow's Kazimierz
Concert by the JASCHA LIEBERMAN TRIO: Jascha LIEBERMAN (violin, viola), Jacek HOŁUBOWSKI (accordion), Roman ŚLAZYK (double bass)

Tuesday, October 17
6:00 p.m. Reflections on Polish-Jewish relations between the world wars lecture by Prof. Israel GUTMAN of Yad Vashem

Wednesday, October 18
6:00 p.m. Is the occupation over?
meeting with Antoni MARIANOWICZ Antoni Marianowicz has written more than twenty poetry collections, translations of German, British, American and French literature, many satirical works, plays and radio programs. He is the recipient of the Polonia Restituta Officer's Cross and Order of Chevaliers, and many other state honors. Chairman of the Board of the ZAIKS Federation of Authors. His book Życie surowo wzbronione (Life Strictly Prohibited) appeared in 1995, and his Polska, Żydzi and cykliści. Dziennik roku przestępnego" (Poland, Jews and Bicyclists: Journal of a Criminal Year) in 1999.

Thursday, October 19
6:00 p.m. book promotion, the album Malarstwo and rzeźba Żydów polskich in XIX and XX wieku (The Painting and Sculpture of Polish Jews in the 19th and 20th Centuries) by Prof. Jerzy MALINOWSKI published by PWN Publishing House.
This meeting with the author of the first contemporary synthesis of the art of Polish Jews was an occasion for discussions on this colorfully presented history of Jewish art. Up to now there has not been such a penetrating exploration of questions regarding the interpretation of the works of Jewish artists like Maurycy Gottlieb, Samuel Hirszenberg or Artur Markowicz. The first of the two volumes of this extraordinary book probes the art's complicated symbolism and its relation to political and social ideas. The volume treats Jewish artists from Polish, Lithuanian and Belarussian land, the group Young Yiddish, and the history of art from 1910 to 1939.

Saturday, October 21
SIMCHAT TORAH

Sunday, October 22
6:00 p.m. Concert of Mordechaj Gebirtig's songs performed by Tova BEN-ZVI (Israel)

Sunday, October 29
6:00 p.m. Concert of chamber music performed by Agnieszka MONASTERSKA (mezzo soprano), Bogusława HUBISZ-SIELSKA (viola) and Mariusz SIELSKI (piano)
Concert to promote a disc of music composed by Rachel Knobler. The concert also included works by F. Schubert, H. Vieuxtemps, J. Brahms, C. Debussy and B. Britten. Rachel Knobler was born in 1924 Słomniki near Cracow. She graduated from the Hebrew High School in Cracow and has lived in Munich since 1946. She is a composer, painter and poet.


INCONTRI CON LA CULTURA EBRAICA

Sunday, October 22
8:00 p.m. Film showing, Jonah Who Lived in the Whale, directed by Roberto FAENZA, with the participation of the director, at the Pod Baranami Cimena

Monday, October 23
6:00 p.m. Meeting with Nedo FIANO, former inmate of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, and panel discussion with Marcello PEZZETTI of the Center for Contemporary Jewish Documentation Foundation (CDEC) in Milan, Rudi ASSUNTINO, film director Roberto FAENZA and actress Elda FERRI.

Tuesday, October 24
6:00 p.m. Film showing, La Tregua, directed by Francesco ROSI, based on themes from Primo Levi's stories original version with simultaneous translation

Wednesday, October 25
6:00 p.m. Concert by the I Solisti di Perugia string quartet (Paolo FRANCESCHINI, Luca ARCESE, Luca RANIERI and Maria Cecilia BERIOLI) conducted by Maestro Eugenio De ROSA (piano)

Thursday, October 26
6:00 p.m. Film showing, The Garden of the Finzi Continis, directed by Vittorio De SICA. original version with simultaneous translation

Friday, October 27
6:00 p.m. Trzy córki - Dray tekhterlech (Three Daughters) musical spectacle by Rudi ASSUNTINO about the poetry, music and life of Mordechaj Gebirtig, performed by the TRIO SHIR AM (Italy): Faye NEPON (voice), Igor POLESITSKY (violin, viola), Mauro GROSSI (piano), Ludmiła RYBA (narration). Arranged by Joel Hoffman and Igor Polesitsky.

Saturday, October 28
8:00 p.m. Film showing, L'amante perduto, directed by Roberto FAENZA Pod Baranami Cinema