About Lublin at Paris City Hall

On Monday, 7 December 2015, the Grodzka Gate – NN Theatre Centre made a presentation of its work and activities at  Paris City Hall (Hôtel de Ville de Paris).
The delegation of the Grodzka Gate Centre was invited by Paris Mayor’s Office and ”Farband" - Union des Sociétés Juives de France (Federation of Jewish Socities of France). The Centre’s 25th anniversary was a pretext for the visit. The prestigious venue suggested by the French organizers invested the event with special importance – institutions rarely have an opportunity to present their work and activity at Paris City Hall.

The event featured, among others, Vice Mayor of Paris Catherine Vieucharier, the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland in Paris, Andrzej Byrt, and the honorary president of the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF), Ryszard Prasquier. During their speeches, both the ambassador and the hosts greatly acknowledged the Centre’s activities connected with preserving the memory about Jewish inhabitants of Lublin.  

The Grodzka Gate Centre delegates told about their work on preserving memory in Lublin. Tomasz Pietrasiewicz put special emphasis on the importance of the ”Lublin. 43 Thousand” project. Historian Jean-Charles Szurek delivered a lecture on the history of Jewish Lublin. The program also included a spectacle titled ”Tales from the Gate” performed by Witold Dąbrowski, followed by a live act from the Yiddish singer Talila, who was accompanied by Teddy Larcy.
The event was also a chance to invite the descendants of Jews from Lublin and Lublin region to the forthcoming Lubliners Reunion 2017. Over the centuries, Jews helped create the history and culture of Lublin, thereby shaping its identity. Prior to the outbreak of World War II, Jews made one third of the city’s population. In 2017 Lublin will celebrate its 700th anniversary. The city’s birthday is an opportunity to recall our shared heritage and to meet again. 
The visit was also an opportunity to meet the authorities and staff of Mémorial de la Shoah (The Shoah Memorial in Paris). The delegates from the Grodzka Gate Centre also paid a visit to the Drancy internment camp for French Jews who were later deported to the extermination camps, mainly Auschwitz-Birkenau, but also to Majdanek and Sobibor.
A special and particularly emotional item on the agenda was a visit to Bagneux Cemetery located in Bagneux near Paris. The cemetery has a section of mass graves with ”the Children of Lublin,” i.e. members of Jewish Lublin compatriots' associations, as well as the grave of Anna Langfus, a French writer awarded with the French Literary Prize Prix Goncourt who was born and lived in Lublin until 1946.
The talks held with representatives of all French institutions will hopefully result in collaboration, which is particularly important given the celebration of Lublin’s 700th anniversary.