Forum for Dialogue has been expanding its offer for teachers involved in teaching about the history of Jews in Poland. We organize workshops and seminars to broaden their knowledge and a set of educational tools concerning this subject.

During the online seminar “Who Will Write Our History – teaching about Polish/Jewish heritage” we hosted teachers from the Lodz province. Together we reflected on using the documentary “Who Will Write Our History” in the classroom, and how to talk about the history and culture of Polish Jews by focusing on individual, local experiences. The participants, with the support of educators, had a chance to search for materials in the Ringelblum Archive, as well as other archives concerning their town or the nearest vicinity.

One of the highlights of the seminar was the meeting with a local activist – Miroslaw Skrzypczyk, teacher and Leader of Dialogue from Szczekociny, who talked about how he understands the school’s mission: as a place that is a catalyst for change in a town, also in regard to the memory of the Jewish heritage.

We also organized a workshop for teachers from all over Poland, which concerned the use of the online archives collecting Jewish history. This workshop was led by Julia Machnowska, a historian specializing in archival research, and project coordinator at Forum for Dialogue. During the workshop the participants had an opportunity to see up close the collections of the most important museums, archives and information centers in Poland, Germany, Israel and the United States. They learned more about research results that can be found in the databases without leaving home. They were introduced to ways of finding pre-war photographs, documents, recorded testimonies, maps, genealogical sources, which are available at your fingertips thanks to virtual tools. We hope that these tools will prove useful in educating young people and engaging them in activities aimed at restoring the memory of Jewish communities in their towns.

This past year was difficult for all. For us at the Forum, it was a year of rapid changes of plans, switching to remote work, redesigning programs to fit the online context, but it was also a year of embracing new possibilities. For an organization that believes in the power of dialogue and face-to-face conversations that require time, these new Vovid-19 working conditions was a real challenge. In our efforts to adapt to the new situation, we focused on making sure to continue realizing our ultimate goals, which stem directly from our mission, rather than simply moving it simply online. Today, as we look back on 2020, we can proudly say that we have succeeded.

Zoom in on the Forum
To maintain the connections with our international network  of friends, we started Forum’s “Zoom in on the Forum” series of meetings for Polish and international recipients of our programs, dedicated to Polish/Jewish dialogue and featuring scholars, experts, local activists, and eyewitnesses to history. In the past months we had almost 50 online meetings, with a total audience of 600 people!

Leaders of Dialogue Regional Groups
The previous year saw the launch of 8 regional groups with 79 Leaders of Dialogue joining. During the time of the pandemic, these regional groups offered members a way to network and support one another in regional endeavors. Apart from meetings dedicated to panning and diagnosis of local needs, the regional groups organized online workshops and trainings responding to the needs identified by group members. These sessions, happening both online and in real time, included meetings with experts, skills trainings, and micro study visits (13 in total!). The groups are already planning new activities!

Leaders of Dialogue Grant Competitions
This fall we have organized an online training session for Leaders of Dialogue planning to apply for Forum grants and scholarships. We received 21 applications containing plans for projects commemorating and educating about local Jewish heritage and for individual development of Leaders wanting to learn more about Polish/Jewish relations, be more effective in preserving local heritage, or maintain relations with descendants of local Jews. We’re looking forward to the next stage: reviewing the applications to select the winning entries!

Programs for Teachers
In 2020 we were able to deepen our connections with teachers interested in learning more about Jewish history and heritage education in Poland. As a way to support these teachers, we have developed opportunities for them to gain knowledge about Jewish history and culture, as well as about contemporary Jewish life. We organized online day-long seminars, individual sessions, and meetings with experts attended by a total of 70 teachers. We’ve also launched a dedicated newsletter highlighting educational opportunities and events organized by Forum and other institutions, as well as available educational materials and toolkits on Polish/Jewish history.

Moving School of Dialogue Online
As result of the Covid-19 pandemic we were forced to move the School of Dialogue Gala planned for March 2020 online, but the virtual event had over 3000 participants! Similarily, in the fall we begun a new semester of the School of Dialogue program also online. Our experts developed a new system of effective online education, which inspires students to discover their local Jewish history. We were shocked by the sheer creativity of the projects students crated online and the tenacity in uncovering traces of Jewish heritage in their towns. Stay tuned for the upcoming updates on the achievements of the School of Dialogue participants, on the incredible work that they did, and awards presented to the best commemorative projects!

Scholarly Advisory Board
In 2020, Forum for Dialogue set up its Scholarly Advisory Board, which includes nine leading experts in their respective academic fields, chaired by Michał Bilewicz, Forum’s former VP and the Director of the University of Warsaw’s Center for Research on Prejudice.

We’re entering 2021 with new energy and ideas for how to continue with the growth and development of our programs dedicated to Polish/Jewish dialogue.

Haaretz, one of the most influential Israel’s daily newspapers, has written about Poles preserving Jewish heritage of their hometowns. Judy Maltz’s article The Self-appointed, non-Jewish ‘Guardians of Jewish Memory’ in Poland, the third in a series of special reports from Poland, highlights the amazing work of Leaders of Dialogue as well as countrywide impact of the School of Dialogue program.

We have finished the Polish Jewish Exchange Program visit to the U.S. organized in cooperation with the AJC. April 22-29 our delegation visited Washington, Chicago and New York. Their stay in the U.S. was filled with meetings, among others with AJC staff, regional and national board members, as well as Rabbi Andy Baker, AJC Director of International Jewish Affairs, AJC Assistant Director Belle Yoeli, AIPAC Director of the International Affairs Department Stephen Schneider, HIAS Senior Director Naomi Steinberg, and David Harris, Chief Executive Officer of the AJC. Among the highlights of the trip were site visits, including United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., as well as tour of the Borough Park neighborhood of the borough of Brooklyn. This visit to the one of the largest Orthodox Jewish communities outside Israel and home to many Hasidic Jews, mainly of the Bobover branch, was guided by Prof. Robert Moses Shapiro of the Brooklyn College of the University of New York.

The program is offering ample opportunities for less formal conversations during lunches and dinners as well. For our participants it is an unique chance to look into the life of the Jewish community in the U.S. and see how the Jewish organizations contribute to the civil society, but also to learn more about the Jewish perspective on Polish/Jewish dialogue.

photo: Z.Radzik, M.Weiss