On the 25th of October, 2011, in cooperation with the Institute of Poland in Vilnius, the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania and the International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania the exhibition „They Came to Stay: Polish Jews” was opened in the Tolerance Center. The exhibition put on by the Emanuel Ringelblum Institute of Jewish History in Poland shows the historic passage of Jews to Poland, old Jewish culture, various facets and ways of their life there. The focus is on the intellectual contribution of Polish Jews to Polish society, world culture, and Judaism. In spite of the tragedy of World War II and the Holocaust, Jews by no means left Poland completely. Their descendants, though few in number, have been reconnecting with Jewish life since the 1980s. Many non-Jewish Poles have started to study Jewish ways and Jewish imprint on Polish history and culture. Jewish Poles and non-Jewish Poles are working together to preserve the remnants of the past and to enrich contemporary Jewish culture and life in Poland. The exhibition is based on the collections of the Jewish Historical Institute in cooperation with the Orange Foundation. Historian of Literature, analysts of the Holocaust, Professor Jacek Leociak (Polish Center for Holocaust Research, Warsaw) was present at the opening of the exhibition.

Seminar “Our Memory About The Massacre of the Jews” organized for Lithuania’s teachers, as the targeted audience, took place in the Tolerance Centre before the opening of the exhibition. Executive Director of the International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania Ronaldas Račinksas presented the opening lecture „The Input of the Historians from the International Commission into Holocaust research”. Seminar was moderated by the Historian of Literature, analysts of the Holocaust, Professor Jacek Leociak.

Exhibition was opened until the 11^th of December, 2011.

More about exhibition:

http://www.rp.pl/artykul/739446.html?

http://dzieje.pl/kultura-i-sztuka/w-wilnie-wystawa-prezentujaca-historie-polskich-zydow;

http://www.wilnoteka.lt/pl/artykul/wystawa-upamietniajaca-polskich-zydow;

http://kurierwilenski.lt/2011/10/25/litwa-w-wilnie-wystawa-prezentujaca-historie-polskich-zydow/