1945. Not the End, Not the Beginning

In the general consciousness, World War II ended in 1945. Although it should have been a time of euphoria, for Jews grappling with loss and loneliness, it was primarily a moment of decision-making – what next? What was this moment like for the survivors? How did they cope in the first post-war years, and what decisions did they make? We show that time from the perspective of Polish Jews. Those who survived were deprived of almost everything – their loved ones, community, home, and sense of purpose. But for each survivor, no matter how desperate, exhausted, stunned, and filled with fear, the end of the war meant that they had to invent and build their lives anew.

Inspired by an exhibition at the POLIN Museum, this publication is a collection of essays by Łukasz Bertram, Anna Bikont, Marek Bieńczyk, Jan Borowicz, Konstanty Gebert, Jan Tomasz Gross, Atina Grossmann, Elżbieta Janicka, Kamil Kijek, Andrzej Leder, Piotr Osęka, Krzysztof Persak, Katarzyna Person, Roni Schlesinger, Zuzanna Schnepf-Kołacz, Alina Skibińska, Joanna Tokarska-Bakir, and Yechiel Weizman.