Baj Pomorski Theater

The Baj Pomorski Theatre was started by Irena Pikiel-Samorewiczowa – an artist, painter, and repatriate from Vilnius who came to Bydgoszcz in April 1945, with a document from The Ministry of Arts and Culture entitling her to organize the first puppet theatre in Pomerania. It was supposed to be a younger brother of Warsaw's Baj Theater, hence the name Baj Pomorski. The Bydgoszcz theatre was situated in the city's slaughterhouse, which had functioned as a German marionette theatre during Nazi occupation. On October 28, 1945, it performed its premiere for children – Ewa Szelburg-Zarembina's Little Wandering Taylor. However, the conditions of Bydgoszcz’s stage did not meet the needs of the young puppet theatre, so Pikiel accepted the proposal to move the headquarters of Baj Pomorski to Toruń. As early as April 1946, the Theatre had been granted a building at 9 Piernikarska Street, which had previously belonged to the German Castle Theatre during the war.