To commemorate the 80th anniversary of the muder of Otwock’s Jews, local community activists in collaboration with the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews are organising an exhibition of paintings by Wojciech Cieśniewski, ‘And yet life’. The works of the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts professor include portraits of former Otwock residents, inspired by historical photographs. The opening of the exhibition will take place on 18 August 2022 at the St Vincent à Paulo Parish Church in Otwock.

Before the Second World War, Jews accounted for more than half of all inhabitants of Otwock. On 19th August 1942, the Nazis deported about 8-10 thousand of them to the Treblinka extermination camp. It is likely that the next day the Otwock Jews were murdered in the gas chambers. The survivors were shot by the German occupiers on the spot. On 19 August and in the following weeks, about 2,000 people who managed to hide from the death transports were killed in the forest at Reymont Street. A memorial stone has been standing at the site since August 1949.

The tragic events of 80 years ago are recalled in works by Wojciech Cieśniewski, a professor at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. The artist attempts to depict the experiences of the Otwock Jews. He dedicates some works to the survivors, whose children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren wrote and are still writing new pages of history, against the wishes of the Nazi regime. The title “And yet life” completes this message — emphasises the Museum of the History of Polish Jews POLIN in its information about the exhibition.

Wojciech Cieśniewski was born in 1958 in Działdów. Before he took up painting, he graduated in mathematics. In 1988, he graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts and has worked at his alma mater since 1990, serving as deputy dean of the Faculty of Painting from 2005 to 2012. In 2012, he was appointed Professor of Art. His works have been presented at over 130 solo and group exhibitions.

Adrian Andrzejewski