Experts in Zamenhof: Agnieszka Kajdanowska and Jarosław Parzyszek

We invite you to a meeting as part of the series Experts/Experts at Zamenhof!

Agnieszka Kajdanowska and Jarosław Parzyszek: Not only Ludwik. The fate of the Zamenhof family

November 8, 2026, 3:00 p.m.

Ludwik Zamenhof Centre (Bialystok Cultural Centre), 19 Warszawska Street

free admission

Ludwik Zamenhof is the most famous Bialystok in the world, an ophthalmologist who, since childhood, had a dream to remove communication barriers between people. The instrument for this was to be created by him the Esperanto language. We can safely call him an idealist. For his efforts, he was nominated eight times for the Nobel Peace Prize.

We don't know much about his family. It is known that Doctor Esperanto had numerous siblings, three children, a grandson, and descendants of the Zamenhof family live to this day in different parts of the world. Many of them shared his passion for the promotion of Esperanto and actively supported the Esperanto movement, including participating in the Esperanto World Congresses. Some of them were fluent in the language and translated works of world literature into Esperanto. In addition to this, they also had their passions, professions to which they dedicated themselves every day and were successful in them. Among them were: the publisher and author of a well-read newspaper for ladies about health and beauty, the builder of the Olympic Stadium in Montreal, the author of several times renewed secondary school textbooks on geography and the German language, or the head of the ophthalmological department of the Jewish Hospital in Warsaw. They also acted socially, including cooperating with Janusz Korczak in his care of orphans. Idealism and the desire to make life better for the people of the world were, one might say, in their genes. Unfortunately, only a few of them survived the Second World War — Jewish origin, and in the case of the Zamenhof family, the name itself exposed them to mortal danger.

Agnieszka Kajdanowska — a graduate of history at the University of Bialystok and postgraduate studies of Polish-Jewish Studies at the Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He directs the work of the Cultural Heritage Department at the Bialystok Cultural Center. He studies and disseminates the history and multicultural heritage of Białystok and the region, including recording and compiling interviews in the framework of the CLZ Media Library — an archive of the oral history of the city and region, including interviews with Esperantists from Białystok. Originator and curator of exhibitions, including “Białystok under German occupation 1941-44” (Podlaskie Museum), “Ah! What a wedding it was. Wedding traditions of different faiths present in Podlasie in the Second Polish Republic” (Białystok Cultural Center/Ludwik Zamenhof Center). Editor and coordinator of publications, including “Białystok Photographers. Before and behind the lens 1915-1939” and the second editions of the books “Zamenhof w Warszawie” and “Ulica Zamenhof” by Roman Dobrzyński.

Jarosław Marek Parzyszek is a graduate of law at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń and studies at South Bank University in London and Bialystok University of Technology in Bialystok. Esperantist since 1981. He worked, among others, in the Student Scientific Circle of Esperantists UMK, the National Committee of Esperanto Student Circles, the Polish Association of Esperantists, the World Esperanto Youth Organization (TEJO), the Bialystok Society of Esperantists and the Ludwik Zamenhof Foundation. Co-organizer of several dozen international Esperanto events in Poland and abroad, including the 72nd World Esperanto Congress in Warsaw (1987) and the 94th World Esperanto Congress in Bialystok (2009). Co-editor: “Pasporta Servo”, “Pola Esperantisto” and “Studenta Gazeto”. Co-author and translator of articles, exhibitions, guides and poems. He has been living and working in Białystok since 1989.

The project is co-financed by the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute in Poland.

The project partner is the Bialystok Cemetery Restoration Fund.

In the photo: fragment of the Zamenhofów family house at 6 Zielona Street in Białystok. The photograph was taken at the beginning of the 20th century.