The Documentary Podcast

Heart and Soul: Synagogue for sale


Listen Later

Dr Aleksandra Janus is a Polish Cultural Anthropologist with a Jewish background from Warsaw, Poland. Living in the capital flattened by Nazi bombs and then recreated by Communism, her multi-layered identity has always conjured mixed feelings about former Jewish memory and cultural spaces. As President of the organisation, Zapomniane Foundation (which means forgotten in English), one of her jobs is to trace mass graves in forests, cityscapes and death camps across the country in cooperation with local villagers, WWII survivors and non-invasive scanning technologies. Alerted by her friend Karolina Jakoweńko, she's come across an interesting proposition – an historic synagogue in the area of Poland that belonged to Germany before WWII. Once owned by a thriving Jewish community who were exterminated by the Nazis, now decades later the synagogue is in the hands of a private owner and Jewish people no longer live in the village. Synagogues in Germany were at first destroyed by the Nazis but not this synagogue – it miraculously survived. So, she's trying to grapple with the idea - does she buy a synagogue back to revive it or leave it where it belongs - in the past. The BBC’s Amie Liebowitz travels across Poland to explore the daily life of Aleksandra and her quest to both bury the dead and re-sanctify spaces. Driving through cities, forests and villages in between, Amie and Aleksandra alongside her colleagues unpacks what this purchase could look like and what post-Jewish, post-German spaces represent in modern Poland. Presenter/ Reporter: Amie Liebowitz

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

The Documentary PodcastBy BBC World Service

  • 4.3
  • 4.3
  • 4.3
  • 4.3
  • 4.3

4.3

1,595 ratings


More shows like The Documentary Podcast

View all
In Our Time by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time

5,389 Listeners

From Our Own Correspondent by BBC Radio 4

From Our Own Correspondent

381 Listeners

Global News Podcast by BBC World Service

Global News Podcast

7,901 Listeners

Business Daily by BBC World Service

Business Daily

538 Listeners

6 Minute English by BBC Radio

6 Minute English

1,782 Listeners

Learning English Conversations by BBC Radio

Learning English Conversations

1,050 Listeners

Discovery by BBC World Service

Discovery

953 Listeners

World Business Report by BBC World Service

World Business Report

286 Listeners

Lives Less Ordinary by BBC World Service

Lives Less Ordinary

586 Listeners

Witness History by BBC World Service

Witness History

963 Listeners

The Infinite Monkey Cage by BBC Radio 4

The Infinite Monkey Cage

1,925 Listeners

Newshour by BBC World Service

Newshour

1,081 Listeners

The Interview by BBC World Service

The Interview

363 Listeners

The Audio Long Read by The Guardian

The Audio Long Read

828 Listeners

The History Hour by BBC World Service

The History Hour

590 Listeners

BBC Inside Science by BBC Radio 4

BBC Inside Science

403 Listeners

The Inquiry by BBC World Service

The Inquiry

748 Listeners

Today in Focus by The Guardian

Today in Focus

998 Listeners

13 Minutes Presents: The Space Shuttle by BBC World Service

13 Minutes Presents: The Space Shuttle

4,121 Listeners

Americast by BBC News

Americast

741 Listeners

You're Dead to Me by BBC Radio 4

You're Dead to Me

2,979 Listeners

The Explanation by BBC World Service

The Explanation

28 Listeners

The Global Story by BBC World Service

The Global Story

170 Listeners