The Jewish wedding without any Jews

The pair were married by a fake rabbi in front of villagers, in an attempt to teach onlookers about Jewish traditions.

Event organiser Agnieszka Rychcik-Nowakowska said hundreds of Jews, accounting for half of her village's pre-war population, were killed in the Holocaust. The event was intended to commemorate them.

“We want to remember all those homes of pre-war Jews, who lived a peaceful life punctuated by the rhythm of holidays, family celebrations and more mundane events," Ms Rychcik-Nowakowska said. “We remember those who lived here before us and entered the memory of our grandmothers and grandparents. It was so recent.”

In 1710 the Jewish community of Radazanow numbered 500 people, but the population dipped to fewer than 300 after the Germans occupied Poland in 1939. Most are believed to have died in the Mlawa ghetto.

Teresa Wrońska, an actress from the Jewish Theatre in Warsaw, was brought on board to assure the wedding’s authenticity. Ms Wronska choreographed the event — from the signing of the ketubah, to the traditional Jewish music that was played by a band of musicians from Warsaw.

Jonny Daniels, who documented the event and is the founder of From the Depths, a group that promotes Holocaust commemoration in Poland, said the wedding was not the only event of its kind in the country. Mr Daniels said it was “some kind of therapy taking place all over the country”.

Last year a high school attempted to reconnect residents of Radzanów with their village’s lost Jewish heritage by reopening the abandoned synagogue. The small building had survived the Nazi occupation.