INTERVIEWEE’S NAME: Tadeusz Belerski INTERVIEWEE’S BIOGRAPHY AND DETAILED ANALYSIS OF THEMES: https://sztetl.org.pl/pl/historia-mow... INTERVIEW BY: Joanna Król, Elizabeth Mostowski RECORDING: Joanna Król DATE OF RECORDING: August 25, 2015 COPYRIGHT TO THE RECORDING: POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews MOST IMPORTANT THEMES: 00:00:04 – First years of life, mother’s suicide, stay with aunt and uncle, the interlocutor’s father’s release from arrest, move to Warsaw, the father’s work in the pre-war period. 00:03:55 – The wartime fate of family members. 00:05:48 – The father’s affiliation with the Catholic Church, description of the interlocutor’s baptismal certificate. English: 00:07:29 – Searching for information about the family. 00:10:20 – Celebrating religious holidays at the home of my grandparents – Evangelicals. 00:11:27 – The interviewee’s school education, lack of contacts with the Jewish community. 00:12:35 – First fascinations with history during my school years, history studies at the University of Warsaw. 00:15:17 – Memories of the student rally on March 8, 1968. 00:19:00 – Letters against the removal of “Dziady” from the stage. Rally at the University of Technology on March 9, 1968, clashes with the militia, attempt to organise a strike at the University of Warsaw. 00:25:22 – A chance meeting of students with FSO workers. Unmasking of an “undercover agent” during Zygmunt Rybicki’s speech in the Auditorium Maximum. English: 00:28:10 – Jews’ speech during an oath-taking ceremony at a military camp in 1968. 00:31:20 – The interlocutor’s father’s reactions to his son’s participation in the events of March ’68. 00:32:22 – The father’s memories of the brewery in Lviv, the father’s friendships before the war and during the occupation. The father’s activities in the Home Army, membership in the Polish Socialist Party, the interlocutor’s father’s hiding of his Jewish identity. 00:37:04 – The family’s fate during the war, the occupation in Lviv, the departure to Warsaw, hiding his sister in Otrębusy, the fate of family members after the fall of the Warsaw Uprising. The post-war fate of the interlocutor’s sister, the sister’s attitude towards Jewish identity. 00:45:03 – Discovering Jewish identity. 00:46:47 – Emmanuel Singer – the interlocutor’s brother-in-law. English: 00:48:36 – The interviewee’s historical interests, patriotic upbringing in the family home. 00:50:22 – Searching for Jewish roots, visit to the Jewish Historical Institute, finding his brother. 00:55:28 – Emotional attitude towards his father hiding his Jewish identity, taking away the ability to choose his own identification. 00:58:23 – Awareness of his father’s Jewish origins, finding a family member’s grave in a cemetery in Gliwice. 01:02:22 – The interviewee’s family in Israel and Donbas, establishing contact with his cousin Ari Ramon via the MyHeritage portal. 01:10:12 – Establishing contacts, exchanging knowledge and experiences between family members. 01:13:56 – Trips to Israel: meeting with the Honorary Consul of the Republic of Poland in Jerusalem Zeev Baran, meeting with his cousin and his relatives in Israel. 01:23:20 – Jews – Knights of the Order of the Smile in a publication prepared by the interviewee. 01:24:04 – Attitude towards Jewish tradition and religion, reflections on the diverse approaches to religion in Israel and multiculturalism. 01:27:41 – Learning Hebrew, reflections on the presence of the Yiddish language in Poland. 01:33:18 – Motivations for writing down the history of the family, absence in historiography of the subject of Jews in the Home Army and other minorities of the Second Polish Republic. 01:38:24 – Memoirs of Emmanuel Singer. 01:42:36 – Identity. Discover the POLIN Museum's oral history collection: https://sztetl.org.pl/pl/historia-mow... Subscribe to our channel: / @historiamowionapolin Watch the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews channels: POLIN (announcements and reports from events at the Museum): / mhzp2013 Virtual Shtetl (history and culture of Polish Jews): / wirtualneshtetl Polish Righteous (stories of help provided to Jews during the Holocaust): / polscysprawiedliwi Contact for interview sharing: [email protected]