The exhibition “10 Polish Cities—Ten Jewish Stories” is the second permanent exhibition presented at the Galicia Jewish Museum in the Taube Family Gallery. This exhibition is based on the personal stories and family photographs of ten Polish Jews.

All of them were born in the first decades of the 20th century, were brought up or reached adulthood in interwar Poland. They came from various towns and different backgrounds: their families represent the variety of Polish Jewish communities before the Second World War. The world that they knew fell apart in September 1939. Even though they managed to survive – in the ghettos, camps, hidden, as partisans, in the Soviet army, or in exile far away in the East – they lost their families, their family homes, and after the war they had to build their world from scratch. Six of the heroes of this exhibition stayed in Poland after the war; one person stayed in the Soviet Union and settled in St. Petersburg; one migrated to Israel and finally returned to Poland later; two migrated to the United States, but maintained their special connection with Poland.

In the background of each of these ten stories one can also see the history of the ten towns. The heroes of this exhibition recall specific sites they remembered from their childhood and situations related to these places: these situations are sometimes funny, and sometimes they are tragic. Seven of these towns are now within the territory of Poland, while three of them now belong to Ukraine. This also indicates a very complicated and difficult history of Central and Eastern Europe in the 20th century, and is yet another element of a narrative that describes the fates of many people who lived through the 20th century in this part of the world.

The exhibition was created in cooperation with Centropa, one of chief partners of the Galicia Jewish Museum. It was based on materials gathered as part of a broad project of documenting oral history which was led from 2000 until 2009 in fifteen countries. The documentation included conducting interviews and digitalizing family photos and documents of approximately 1,200 people. The captions of this exhibition are mostly created from quotes: these are excerpts from interviews with the heroes of the exhibition, which were conducted by Centropa representatives. The authors intentionally give the voice to the heroes, adding only explanations that are necessary to understand a specific story. This makes the heroes' experience of the 20th century fully heard, so that their personal stories are not lost among dates and numbers.

The exhibition at the museum was created in Polish and English. However, it is accompanied by multimedia tools: a website and a mobile app which give access to additional content and allow you to also visit the exhibition in other language versions: German and Hebrew.

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