Commemoration

The heirs to the Zbąszyń history of 1938 and its beneficiaries are in equal measure historians (also those focused on regional, local and personal history) and the past and present day inhabitants of Zbąszyń. But the heirs are also the descendants of the Jews who found shelter in the town in 1938, and the descendants of the local families who contributed to it. In their name and with them we share today the history and memory of those events, being confident that this is the ”real history” and ”valid recollections”. Aside from anything else, the Zbąszyń events, even if they brought suffering to the deportees from the Third Reich and foretold the Holocaust, are the story of human decency. This is not the heroism, but common human decency, which we cannot let be forgotten.

There are many types of languages that can be used to talk about a difficult past. In this section of our website we wish to show various attitudes that result in various forms of commemoration. For many forms of artistic expression the impulse from the past often becomes an important aspect that creates new interpretations.