The Foundation for Jewish Heritage was a project partner in an Arts Festival under the heading Time Regained – Memory and Participation that took place at the 17th century Orla synagogue in Eastern Poland in 2021. The collaborators were the synagogue owners - the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland (FODZ), and The University of the Arts Poznan.
A number of contemporary art installations were produced by students and teachers from the University, all in response to being situated within and around the striking synagogue. There were also various workshops held to engage the local population in the project. The event ended with an Open Day that included a conference and finished with a moving concert by the Targanescu Trio filling the synagogue with soaring klezmer sounds.
Jews settled in Orla in the 1600s and the synagogue was at the heart of the community. In the spring of 1942 the community was forcibly moved into a ghetto and, later that year, transported to Treblinka extermination camp bringing centuries of Jewish life to an end.
The University recently produced a brochure commemorating the event.
