The ghetto benches (segregated seating in universities between Jews and Non-Jews) were an institutionalized form of discrimination against the Jewish community inspired by the activities during the interwar period of the right-wing nationalist organizations. In the 1930s, ethnoreligious segregation of students of Jewish origin was intensified, for example, by forcing them to take specific seats in lecture halls.

This discussion will be attended by representatives of the academic community from Kraków, Warsaw, and Poznań, who are involved in restoring the memory of the ghetto benches, which has just begun. The meeting will be an opportunity to reflect on this specific example of difficult heritage – its complex history and far-reaching implications – in a multi-voiced, substantive discussion about this dark period in the history of Polish universities.

The event is co-organized with the Research Center for Memory Cultures and the Galicia Jewish Museum in Krakow as part of the project “NeDiPa: Negotiating Difficult Pasts”, which FestivALT is implementing together with Fundacja Zapomniane and the Urban Memory Foundation thanks to the support of the European Union in the framework of the program Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV).

The webinar will be conducted in Polish with simultaneous interpretation into English.
Free admission. Registration required: click here.