Making Use of Oral History in the Process of Narrating the Polish-Jewish Past: Exhibitions of the Grodzka Gate – NN Theatre Centre in Lublin

This article focuses on the role of oral history interviews as sources for narrating as well as enacting the Polish-Jewish past. Special attention is given to two exhibitions: The Portrait of a Place and Lublin: Memory of the Place. Both were prepared by the Grodzka Gate – NN Theatre Centre, a cultural institution in Lublin. Oral testimonies that constitute part of these exhibitions will be analyzed as both documentary material, which is a source of certain types of representation of the past, and as “artistic matter” for “memory staging.” This article discusses the substantial value of narratives created in this way in the context of the Center’s educational and commemorative activities.