The Sobibor Foundation participated in an International Seminar Tour in Lublin and Region June 16-21, 2024: Unveiling ‘Aktion Reinhardt’: A Multiperspective Exploration. The seminar was organized by Brama Grodzka Gate-Teatr NN in Lublin.
Teatr NN is a special organization, housed in the Grodza Gate in Lublin, the gate that originally separated the Jewish and Christian parts of the city. During the war, the Jewish ghetto was built in the neighborhood outside the gate. Teatr NN organizes theatre performances and art productions that all focus on the life of the (pre)-war Jewish population in Lublin. After the war, this population group was never part of the history of the city of Lublin until very recently. Also little is known about the central position Lublin occupied in Aktion Reinhardt, the operational heart of the Holocaust.
The seminar focused on this piece of history, of which Sobibor is one of the three extermination camps. With organizations from Israel, Ukraine, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland and the Netherlands, the sites were visited and the different ways of commemorating and transferring knowledge to the next generations were discussed. A fascinating network that showed how much we can still learn from each other to make a ‘common’ narrative possible and this part of history of the Holocaust. For more information about the Brama Grodzka Gate and their activities, see this link.
In terms of museums, the Grodzka Gate is worth a visit. In this interesting building, 43,000 folders have been collected, 16,000 interviews have been recorded, giving a picture of pre-war life. The folders represent every inhabitant of Lublin before the war. At least half of the folders are empty; no name, no addresses, no pictures of the people who were taken away. The Grodzka Gate works every day to search for and collect new data. An impressive task, which does not leave anyone who visits the Teatr unmoved.
