Bio(topo)graphies. Rediscovering the Lost

Closing event of the third edition of the educational project

Uczniowie stoją przed muralem. Mural jest podzielony na dwie części. Po jego lewej stronie znajdują się namalowane domy, a na dachu jednego z nich siedzi skrzypek. Po prawej stronie muralu znajdują się druty kolczaste, a za nimi wieże strażnicze na tle biało-niebieskich pasów. Na środku muralu pomiędzy dwoma częściami unosi się postać mężczyzny, który trzyma kobietę. Nad postaciami widnieje napis: „Kto nie pamięta przeszłości, będzie skazany na to, że ją przeżyje powtórnie…”
The third edition of the ‘Bio(topo)graphies: Discovering the Lost’ project marked the culmination of an initiative carried out since 2024 by pupils at the Rev. Jan Twardowski High School No. XXX in Lublin.

The aim of this initiative was to encourage young people to independently explore the individual fates of Lublin’s Jews and to learn about their centuries-long history, which has helped shape the city’s identity.

A male and a female student are speaking into a microphone, holding cue cards with their text. Next to them is a screen displaying the content of a multimedia presentation. The title of the presentation is: ‘Bio(topo)graphies. Discovering the Lost’.

Over the course of three years of research, the project participants gathered information covering the period from the 14th century to the present day, gaining knowledge about the culture, traditions and the social and economic situation of the Jewish population. Each year, they presented the results of their work to the school community, using a variety of media, such as multimedia presentations and video recordings.

The pupils are sitting on chairs. They are looking straight ahead.

The final, third stage of the project was not only an opportunity to summarise the young people’s work to date, but also an attempt to artistically commemorate the Jewish inhabitants of Lublin. The pupils created a mural themselves, reflecting on the fate of the Jewish population in the 20th century. Drawing inspiration from the work of Marc Chagall, they created a symbolic narrative about the past, which will become a permanent feature of the school.

Mural: left-hand side: houses and a figure of a fiddler on the roof, obscured by a balustrade and stairs; right-hand side: barbed wire and watchtowers against a background of white and blue stripes; centre: the figures of a man and a woman floating in the air. Inscription: ‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it…’
The pupils are standing in the sports hall. They are holding books in their hands.

Pupils from other classes also took part in the event summarising the project, and had the opportunity to listen to the story told by their peers. The meeting concluded with a joint commemoration of the 83rd anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

A group of pupils are sitting on chairs; in front of them is a screen showing a multimedia presentation. The slide on display reads: ‘Conflicts and social relations’. A pupil is standing next to the screen, giving a talk.
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