Centralne Muzeum Włókiennictwa

In Mrs. Goldberg’s kitchen

Exhibition in the Open-air Museum of Łódź Wooden Architecture (house no 6)

This is a multimedia exhibition, so it can be visited by only 10 people at the same time (visiting time: 1 hour) . The exhibition is available for visitors at the following times:
Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday:  10.00 a.m., 12.00, 2.00 p.m.
Thursday:  12.00, 2.00 p.m. , 5.00 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday:  12.00, 2.00 p.m.

Digital Scholarly Commons „Jewish Life in Interwar Lodz"
www.jewish-lodz.iu.edu

In Mrs. Goldberg’s symbolic kitchen, the Goldbergs, who before World-War II lived in the district of Bałuty, serve as virtual guides into Jewish Łódź of the past. Their Łódź is a Polish city with a distinctive flavor; a melting pot of diverse populations claiming multiethnic and multidenominational 19th-century roots.

Stemming from central Poland, the ancestors of Maria and Zenon Goldberg were established in Bałuty for four generations. Members of Zenon’s family engaged in professions typical of this large industrial city, such as weaver, laborer, or chauffeur. The family of Maria—consisting of petty craftsmen, wagoners, a cheder teacher and a mikvah owner—were relatives of the manufacturer Samuel Abbe and David Wolf Abbe—the first Jewish master weaver in Łódź, who was received in the Weavers’ Guild and who discovered a new method of yarn production

Visitors are invited to the apartment of a particular family, where they witness authentic conversations of their hosts, selected from audio and video recordings made during the years 1998-2002. Here surrounded by old furniture and objects, which accompanied this family after 1945, they listen to the Goldbergs’ personal experiences and observations. Stories told by the virtual hosts are further reflected in pictures and documents used in the exhibit. The narration, read by the Goldbergs’ daughter, is embedded in archival recordings of prewar popular music.