Tarnów was an important centre of Jewish life in Galicia, yet its rich Jewish history remains little known to the general public.

In this episode of Bridging Voices – Polish-Jewish Dialogue, Orit Margaliot speaks with Magda Bartosz about the city’s Jewish past and the people working to preserve its heritage today.

Our conversation explores the work of the Committee for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Tarnów, the restoration of the city’s historic Jewish cemetery—one of the largest and most significant in southern Poland—and the story of Debora Wechsler, a prominent Jewish philanthropist whose generosity helped shape community life.

Through these places and individual stories, we consider what it means to care for a community’s heritage, reconnect names with lives, and create space for Polish-Jewish dialogue in the present.

Bridging Voices – Polish-Jewish Dialogue is dedicated to the memory of Alex Dancyg.

Why did Auschwitz become one of the central symbols of the Holocaust? How can a museum communicate the complexity of a place that was at once a concentration camp, a killing center, and a site of suffering for different groups of victims?

In this episode of Bridging Voices – Polish-Jewish Dialogue, I speak with Paweł Sawicki, Deputy Spokesperson of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, about the history of the museum, the changes it has undergone over the decades, and the challenges of presenting Auschwitz to contemporary audiences.

We discuss how the museum was established, how its educational and commemorative role has evolved, and how it confronts questions of memory, interpretation, authenticity, and responsibility today. We also ask what it means to preserve the physical site while ensuring that its history remains understandable and meaningful for future generations.

A conversation about Auschwitz not only as a historical site, but as a place where history, memory, education, and contemporary public discourse constantly intersect.

In this episode of Bridging Voices – Polish-Jewish Dialogue, I speak with Karolina and Piotr Jakoweńko from Brama Cukermana in Będzin — dedicated guardians of memory working to preserve and reinterpret the Jewish history of Zagłębie.

We talk about memory and what comes after it: how commemoration is created, how memory is shaped, and how traces of the past can become meaningful in the present.

Karolina and Piotr share their vision for the Ghetto Fighters’ House, where a wartime bunker was discovered and can now be visited, as well as their archaeological work and the recent discovery of another bunker. They also share some of the fascinating findings emerging from these excavations.

At the heart of our conversation is their understanding of Będzin as an open-air museum — a city where Jewish history is still embedded in its streets, buildings, and landscape.

A conversation about memory, discovery, responsibility, and the choices we make about what to preserve for the future.

Episode 2 features Dr. Katarzyna Person, one of the leading Holocaust historians and Director of the Warsaw Ghetto Museum.

We discuss the history of Polish Jewry during and after the Holocaust, including the Jewish Police, Jewish converts to Christianity, the postwar Honor Courts, the Ringelblum Archive, and the vision behind the Warsaw Ghetto Museum, scheduled to open in autumn 2027.

We also talk about Dr. Person's book Hour of Revenge, which explores the experiences of Jewish Holocaust survivors in postwar Poland.

Together, we reflect on historical research, difficult moral questions, and the challenges of preserving and presenting Holocaust history for future generations

In the first episode of Bridging Voices – Polish-Jewish Dialogue, Orit Margaliot speaks with Robert Gądek, Director of the Jewish Culture Festival in Kraków. Their conversation explores the festival’s history and significance, the place of Jewish culture in contemporary Poland, and the possibilities and challenges of Polish-Jewish dialogue today.

The podcast is dedicated to the memory of Alex Dancyg and to his lifelong commitment to education, dialogue, and building bridges between Poles and Jews.