Bendin-Będzin: A Meeting on Shared Memory
October 13, 2026 (Tuesday), 4:00 PM
VENUE: Zagłębie Museum in Będzin (Mieroszewski Palace)
Będzin, 15 Gzichowska Street
“Right here—this house! It’s gone now… We used to play here. In those castle ruins—my sister Gucia and I. Every Saturday, after lunch, Dad would take us there. And Grandpa had an orchard… over there.”
This is an excerpt from the recollections of Dwojra Kalkopf, who spent her childhood in the Podzamcze district of Będzin. These words come from an interview conducted in 2015 with Dorota Bergman—as she was known at the time. When asked for details about her childhood, she could not provide definitive answers. Over the years, memories had faded, and the events that followed had overshadowed thoughts of those carefree days in Podzamcze.
Memory is fleeting; without preservation, it is susceptible to embellishment, overinterpretation, or fabrication. Can subsequent images and events woven into one’s memory distort it to the point where it loses its credibility? Is there a boundary—and where does it lie—for treating memory as a historical source? Is memory synonymous with fact? Or perhaps, in our desire to preserve often unique recollections, we should not probe too deeply?
We invite you to a special event: “Bendin-Będzin: A Meeting on Shared Memory”—a conversation between current residents of Będzin and their guests: descendants of the Jews of Zagłębie. We will ask about their own post-war memories, as well as those passed down by their families regarding the pre-war city. We will juxtapose different layers of memory: those of current Będzin residents and those of people who visit only occasionally—even though their roots here often run deeper. We will consider whether a shared memory of Będzin exists that can help us trace the city’s history.
We will attempt to create a map woven from memories, one that helps build a picture of the shared Polish Będzin and Jewish Bendin.
*The event will be accompanied by a publication
**The meeting will be interpreted into English
***Pictured: Dorota Bergman and Kazimiera Małek, Będzin 2015 (Brama Cukermana archive)
Event organizer: Brama Cukermana
Partner: Zagłębie Museum in Będzin
Event co-financed by the Forum for Dialogue and the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland
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