Book Launch and Discussion: Lucky Jews at Librairie Drawn & Quarterly
Launch of Lucky Jews: Poland’s Jewish Figurines and Discussion
October 16, 2014
7 – 9 PM
Librairie Drawn & Quarterly
211 Bernard Ave. Ouest
Montréal, QC H2T 2K5
Facebook event
Please join us to celebrate the publication of our director’s new volume Lucky Jews: Poland’s Jewish Figurines for an evening of film and discussion about a unique aspect of Poland’s current fascination with Jewish culture.
Shtetl Montreal host Tamara Kramer will talk with anthropologist and curator Erica Lehrer her book, which grew out of her 2013 exhibit in Krakow of Polish-made Jewish figurines. The film “A Jew for Luck” (24 min., English & Polish with subtitles) by Polish director Paulina Fiejdasz will also be shown.
In Poland today, “Lucky Jews” outnumber Polish Jews. Figurines and images of Jews holding money have proliferated in Poland with the country’s transition to capitalism. These good luck charms hang in homes and sit by cash registers in shops and restaurants across the country. Are these images positive or negative? Do they divide Poles and Jews, or bind them together? Are they souvenirs, talismans, toys? Holocaust ghosts or patron saints of Polish capitalism? By exploring what Jewish figurines mean to those who make and buy them, Lucky Jews offers a provocative perspective on the place of Jews in Polish consciousness today.
