The Jewish Culture Festival in Cracow is one of the most important and largest events of its kind in the world. The First Festival took place in 1988 and its program focused on a scholarly conference on the encounter between two cultures, Jewish and Polish.
Shaped by outstanding figures in various fields of Jewish culture and art, the Festival became over time a place where Jews and non-Jews from all over the world could meet. They are linked by the shared values that they find in Kazimierz and Cracow , the space of the Festival. For over a week, Kazimierz resounds with synagogue song, klezmer music, and Hasidic, classical, and Jewish folk music. There are films, performances, presentations, and exhibitions to see and stories told by the Jews about their culture to listen to.
In its present form, the Festival not only introduces the living Jewish tradition to a wide audience, but also offers a share of the joy in creating that tradition. Workshops in Hasidic dance and song, klezmology, Hebrew calligraphy, Jewish paper cutting and cooking, conducted by people from both Ashkenazy and Sephardic culture, attract numerous learners. Every year, the Festival puts on over 100 events featuring dozens of performers and thousands of participants from all over the world. During the most recent Festival, 13,000 people attended "Shalom on ulica Szeroka," the grand finale concert. The number of Festival guests grows from year to year, and television coverage brings the Festival to viewers across Poland and Europe and around the world. To all of them, we address the main idea of the Festival: dialogue as a pathway to mutual respect and understanding. Each year, the Festival's celebration of life commemorates the past, traces of which can still be found in Kazimierz, Cracow , and Poland .
The Festival is a span of the symbolic bridge where Poles and Jews meet to strengthen the process of understanding and reconciliation. The Jewish Culture Festival in Cracow is, after all, a symbol of tolerance, pluralism, and the faith that we have a chance, through the celebration of Jewish culture and the celebration of life, to build mutual relations based on truth and respect.
