I don’t really know how I managed to forget to write about this place when I was writing about our four day trip to Kraków. We had gone to Kazimierz, the old Jewish quarter of Kraków, not to do anything as exciting as sightseeing but to change my battery in my phone, which had been playing up for some time and now when I needed the camera most, it was down to ten percent every hour after charging. I couldn’t bring my portable charger because they’re not allowed in hand baggage on the plane, and so I couldn’t take any quirky photos of what I saw on the way. Deeply frustrating, though maybe a relief for my family who accuse me of spamming the internet! Anyway we had to wait for an hour for the change to be made, so we went to this magnificent little museum which happened to be round the corner.

This has been taken from their website and it gives a very good idea of what the museum is about. It has a fantastic multilingual bookshop too.

“The Galicia Jewish Museum exists to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust and celebrate the Jewish culture of Polish Galicia, presenting Jewish history from a new perspective. An innovative and unique institution located in Kazimierz, the Jewish district of Kraków, Poland, the Museum is a registered charity in Poland. The objectives of the Museum are to challenge the stereotypes and misconceptions typically associated with the Jewish past in Poland and to educate both Poles and Jews about their own histories, whilst encouraging them to think about the future. “

There were five exhibitions and one, about the Pisek’s family Odyssey through Siberia especially resonated with me, as it was very similar to my parents’ story.

The whole collection of pastels was made from memory many years after the war, and because they are so reflective, and juxtaposed with many actual photos, they are extremely moving. The exhibition is on till April, so well worth seeing.

And now I have a strange feeling that I have written about this before. Never mind – It’s well worth going to.