Security concerns relating to the situation in the Middle East have forced Kraków’s annual Jewish festival, which is one of the largest in Europe, to cancel the public concert that is normally the centrepiece of the event. The decision was made after consultation with the police.
The Jewish Culture Festival has been taking place since 1988 and is seen as an emblem of the revival of Jewish life and culture in a country where Jews once made up 10% of the population but were almost completely wiped out in the Holocaust.
Each year, the main final concert, known as “Shalom on Szeroka Street”, sees a huge crowd gather in the former Jewish district of Kazimierz to listen to music, in particular the klezmer music that was once common in the region.
However, the organisers of the festival, which is taking place between 23 and 30 June, announced that they were cancelling the concert to ensure “the safety of viewers and listeners”. Other elements of the festival, including 15 smaller concerts, are still planned to go ahead.
“This year’s Jewish Culture Festival takes place in a very complicated political and social situation in Israel and the Middle East,” they wrote. “Although we do not engage in politics, unfortunately it sometimes affects us and influences our decisions.”
“The situation in the Middle East provokes many people to extreme behaviour, and we do not want to expose you to danger or even discomfort during a concert whose message is peace,” added the organisers.
Having consulted with the police and other security services, “we found that we were unable to guarantee the safety of the several thousand concert participants in Szeroka Street, with its gardens, narrow entrances and a huge amount of technical equipment”.
At last year’s festival, Israel’s ambassador to Poland, Yacov Livne, appeared on stage during the “Shalom on Szeroka Street” concert alongside an Israeli flag.
