Płock, the synagogue, 2015

The photograph presents an external view of the seat of the Museum of Mazovian Jews, a branch of the Mazovian Museum in Płock. The museum was opened in 2013, in the building of the former so-called Small Synagogue at 7, Kwiatka St.

The synagogue was built in the first half of the 19th century. After World War II, it was used for some time by the few Płock Jews who had survived the Shoah. Later, a knitting cooperative operated there; after 1992, the building stood abandoned and devastated. In 1997, the property was regained by the Jewish Community in Warsaw. A year later, it was purchased by the city. Thanks to the initiative of the Synagoga Płocka Association, the ruined building was renovated and converted into a museum.

Wojciech Wilczyk photographed the old Płock synaggoue in 2008, when working on his exhibit and album devoted to abandoned synagogues, entitled “There’s no Such Thing as an Innocent Eye”. The photo presented here was taken in 2015, in connection with the preparations for the exhibition at the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews: “(nie)widzialne / (in)visible” (see W. Wilczyk, „Niewinne oko nie istnieje. There’s no Such Thing as an Innocent Eye”, Łódź 2009; https://www.polin.pl/en/news/2015/09/04/wojciech-wilczyk-niewidzialne-invisible). Both photographs document not only the change in the condition of the building – they also show the process of restoring the memory of Jews in Poland.

An article on the history of Jews in Płock can be found at: https://sztetl.org.pl/en/towns/p/414-plock/99-history/137854-history-of-community.

Krzysztof Bielawski