Notes from Exile, Teatr Polonia

A story of loss, humiliation, and forced departure from one’s own country. The play moves the audience because it speaks with both a personal and a collective voice — the voice of those whom history sought to erase.

On September 6, 2022, Aula Artis in Poznań hosted Notes from Exile, directed by Magda Umer, with a powerful performance by Krystyna Janda. The production is based on the memoirs of Sabina Baral, a twenty-year-old emigrant of 1968 who left Poland with her parents.

The play combined text with archival footage, songs performed by Janda, and fragments of political speeches, creating a multilayered narrative about a time when thousands of Polish Jews were forced to leave the country. It was less a reconstruction of events than an emotional record of memory, in which personal history becomes a warning.

Notes from Exile is theater simple in form but deeply moving — demanding attentiveness, empathy, and reflection.