By Charlene Freadman Kahn, JTNews Correspondent
A documentary illustrating the painstaking renovation of an historic synagogue in Eastern Europe and the subsequent resurgence of Jewish life in post-Communist Poland will be shown at the Frye Art Museum in Seattle this Sunday, Nov. 11, at 2 p.m.
Through historical detail, archival research and on-site interviews with Wroclaw residents, religious and government officials, architects and project staff, filmmakers Ellen Friedland and Curt Fissel depict a rather miraculous story. The old synagogue’s transformation and rebirth is parallel to the steady — and surprising — resurgence of Jewish life in Poland today.
“From Kristallnacht to Crystal Day: A Synagogue in Wroclaw Glows Again” is a 33-minute documentary produced by JEM/GLO Productions of Montclair, N.J. It’s part of the Frye’s series of educational programs surrounding “Witness & Legacy, Contemporary Art About the Holocaust.” The programs were organized in coordination with the Washington State Holocaust Education Resource Center. The film will be shown at 2 p.m., but visitors are urged to arrive one hour earlier to pick up free passes.
The documentary details the reclamation and renovation of an early-19th-century synagogue in Breslau, a city once home to prewar Germany’s third-largest Jewish population. Once a grand structure in the community, it was desecrated during the Holocaust, but has since become a symbol for the resurgence of Jewish life in modern-day Poland. (The borders of post-war Europe had shifted.)
“This documentary will emphasize the re-emergence of Jewish life in today’s post-Communist Wroclaw, making the synagogue not only an historical monument but also a center and springboard for the continuity of the community,” notes filmmaker Ellen Friedland. Following the viewing of the film, Friedland and Curt Fissel will lead a discussion.
Miriam Greenbaum, Executive Director of the Washington State Holocaust Education Resource Center, chose “this documentary to be part of the programs in support of “˜Witness & Legacy’ because this building, this synagogue is a….strong witness to the past and its survival. Its restoration today represents the legacy of the Jewish community.”
Friedland, the film’s producer, believes the documentary deals with the Holocaust and its aftermath in a “different” way, by showing the positive spirit and fervor of a community. “This is a celebration of the Jewish life that is out there today,” she notes. “Despite all obstacles the Jewish community [in Wroclaw] is flourishing. They are finding their way. But when I first walked in, I saw rubble. It seemed hopeless at the time.”
The story becomes even more interesting after we learn that through their professional collaboration, JEM/GLO principals Friedland and Curt Fissel decided to make their connection a committed, personal union. They married in the White Stork Synagogue in July 2000, with government officials, clergy and Jews from across Poland in attendance.
Olympia resident Daddy Kadden attended the wedding in Wroclaw. A member of Olympia’s Temple Beth Hatifiloh and staffer to (former) State Insurance Commissioner Deborah Senn, Kadden is a cousin of Friedland and is a descendant of Holocaust survivors. “As a relative, I’m very proud. How appropriate that Ellen and her co-worker were brought closer together [through this project.] It was a rare occasion to have a traditional wedding that most Polish Jews have not witnessed before. Jews from Warsaw, Krakow and all over Poland came together for the event.”
The child of Holocaust survivors, Fissel discovered his Jewish roots (and since converted). The couple, both veterans of the news media in New Jersey, started a nonprofit organization to raise funds for Wroclaw’s Jewish community.
Kadden predicts the film will “bring out an interesting and personal dialogue among local survivors… issues for those who are trying to understand the Holocaust and its aftermath. The question [that remains] is: there a future for the Jews in Poland? And the answer is yes. The White Stork Synagogue is a living, breathing center of the community.”
This film, in video format, will be shown on Sunday, Nov. 11 at 2 p.m. Admission is free, but required passes will be available at 1 p.m.
“Seating in the 140-seat auditorium may be limited,” notes the Frye’s Mary Ann Barron. Call the Frye at 206-622-9250. For more information about JEMGLO’s projects, go to their Web site, www.JEMGLO.org. For more information about the Frye Art Museum’s related programs, click on www.fryeart.org.