Inauguration of the conference took place on 18 October at the Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź. The University of Lodz Vice-Rector for International Relations, Prof. Dr hab. Łukasz Bogucki welcomed the guests on behalf of the University of Lodz Rector, Prof. Dr hab. Elżbieta Żądzińska. The Dean of the Faculty of Philology, Prof. Dr hab. Joanna Jabłkowska, also addressed the meeting participants.
Dr Joanna Podolska, Director of the Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź and a lecturer at the University of Lodz as well as Dr hab. Małgorzata Domagalska, Associate Professor – Head of the Centre for Jewish Cultural Studies of the University of Lodz Faculty of Philology spoke on behalf of the event organisers. The persons involved in the event organisation also included Secretary Dr Julia Dynkowska and Dr hab. Danuta Szajnert, Associate Professor.
Special guests
The conference was attended by Prof. Goldie Morgentaler, the writer's daughter and a translator along with her immediate family as well as researchers from Canada, the USA, Argentina, Sweden, Ukraine, Germany, Italy, England and Poland, and from Israel (online). During the three days of the conference, over 40 papers were delivered, reflecting on the work of the author of "Drzewo Życia" [The Tree of Life] and other writers of the Holocaust and post-Holocaust generation.
The participants also took part in accompanying events: a screening of the film "Yiddish Montreal, Chava Rosenfarb & Goldie Morgentaler", a performative reading of Chava Rosenfarb's “List do potomnych” [Letter for the Living] by Jane Arnfield from Northumbria University, UK, and a concert “Tree of Life” inspired by poetry of Chava Rosenfarb (composer: Artur Zagajewski).
The conference at the Faculty of Philology of the University of Lodz was part of the series of celebrations of the Year of Chava Rosenfarb, marking the centenary of her birth in Lodz.
Text: Organisers of the conference
Photos: inauguration of the event – Agnieszka Cytacka, conference proceedings at the University of Lodz Faculty of Philology – Eryk Woźniak (Promotion and Communication Office of the Faculty of Philology, University of Lodz)
