Meetings
Reconnecting Ties
Reconnecting Ties
June 2017
In June 2017, George Elbaum, a Holocaust survivor, came to Poland with his wife Mimi, his son Jordan and his daughter-in-law Rebecca. During their stay in Poland, they met with School of Dialogue alumni in the Mazovia region, including students from School Complex in Mszczonów and the two-time School of Dialogue in 2013 and 2017.
Talking to young people about the Holocaust with honesty and sensitivity can be difficult at times. Nevertheless, Warsaw-born George Elbaum mastered this art to perfection.
With his book “Neither Yesterdays, Nor Tomorrows. Vignettes from the Holocaust”, published in Polish with the help of the Forum for Dialogue, and depicting his childhood during the war and further fate, he moved the audience and inspired a lively discussion. The conversations were so lively that the meeting in Mszczonów was prolonged by an hour! The students queued up to have their copy of the book signed.
We invite you to watch a film from George Elbaum’s meetings in Grójec, Błonie and Mszczonów:
The program is co-financed by Malka and Pinek Krystal Scholarship Fund.
Przemysław Iwanek April 4th, 2020
Posted In: EN Meetings
September 2015
In the fall of 2015, guests from Israel came to Poland on a study trip to learn about the history and present day of Polish/Jewish relations. They visited Radoszyce to meet with Barbara Tkacz, a local Leader of Dialogue, who told them about local memory of the Jewish community. As a teacher at Kazimierz Wielki Junior High School No. 1, she has stayed involved with the School of Dialogue program for many years.
Przemysław Iwanek April 4th, 2020
Posted In: EN Meetings
May 2015
In May 2015 three Rubensohn siblings, descendants of Chełm Jews, came to Chełm. They devoted their visit to search for family roots. In Chełm, they received help from graduates of Jadwiga Młodowska High School No. 4, School of Dialogue in 2011 and 2012. They came back to school for the occasion and took the guests on a walking tour of their town following the traces of its Jewish past.
Przemysław Iwanek April 4th, 2020
Posted In: EN Meetings
February 2017
At the end of February 2017, participants of the Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program from Brandeis University in Massachusetts visited Poland following the traces of its Jewish history. During their stay they wanted to learn about the local Jewish heritage and what its function is today. American students met with students of the Władysław Stanisław Reymont Junior High School in Brzeziny, the alumni of School of Dialogue 2016, who took their guests on a tour of their town following the traces of its Jewish past. One of the participants, Tamar, said that while browsing the Internet that day, she came across information indicating that her family was partly from Brzeziny.
High school and university students immediately found common conversation topics, also the difficult ones. The guests emphasized the great commitment and maturity of the students, who were able to talk about complex issues related to Polish/Jewish dialogue in a sincere and open way in respect of everyone’s feelings.
The program is co-financed by Malka and Pinek Krystal Scholarship Fund.
Przemysław Iwanek April 4th, 2020
Posted In: EN Meetings
June 2017
At the end of June 2017, while on a study trip to Poland, a group of teachers affiliated with Classrooms Without Borders, an American organization for professional development of teachers, met with Schools of Dialogue alumni from Starachowice – students from Kamil Baczyński High School No. 3 with Integrated Classes and Polish Nobel Prize Winners Junior High School No. 4. After icebreaker activities, the students invited their guests on a walking tour following the footsteps of the Jewish community in Starachowice.
The most moving part of their visit was the meeting with Howard Chandler, a Holocaust survivor from Starachowice, who also accompanied the group during the walk. He shared his story with the participants who gatehered in the Starachowice Cultural Center.
More about the meeting in Starachowice in the following video:
The program is co-financed by Malka and Pinek Krystal Scholarship Fund.
Przemysław Iwanek April 3rd, 2020
Posted In: EN Meetings
March 2018
March 2018 gave students of the School of Dialogue from three localities the opportunity to meet with George Elbaum, a Warsaw-born Holocaust Survivor, the author of “Neither Yesterdays, Nor Tomorrows. Vignettes from the Holocaust” – a special guest of the School of Dialogue Gala 2017.
The meeting in Żyrardów gathered students from Stefan Żeromski High School called “Czerwoniak” who took part in the School of Dialogue program in 2010, supervised by their teacher Bożena Gąsiorowska, a Leader of Dialogue involved in keeping the memory of Żyradów Jews.
“The meeting felt very good. I hope to have more classes based on personal stories. We want to thank Forum for Dialogue for this opportunity. It is worth mentioning that in 2010 we took part in the School of Dialogue project, maybe someone else would like to join in?”, said a note left by one of the participants. And indeed, there were new students who joined the program. In the fall of 2018, the high school in Żyradów once again took part in the workshops and another group of young students rediscovered the local Jewish history. Maybe the meeting with George Elbaum inspired the curiosity of “Czerwoniak” students.
The program is co-financed by Malka and Pinek Krystal Scholarship Fund.
Przemysław Iwanek April 3rd, 2020
Posted In: EN Meetings
March 2018
March 2018 gave students of the School of Dialogue from three localities the opportunity to meet with George Elbaum, a Warsaw-born Holocaust Survivor, the author of “Neither Yesterdays, Nor Tomorrows. Vignettes from the Holocaust” – a special guest of the School of Dialogue Gala 2017.
The meeting in Legionowo was attended by students of two Schools of Dialogue – the District School Complex participating in the program in 2012, and the Jan II Sobieski High Schools No. 2, School of Dialogue 2017 nominated in the Innovation category at the School of Dialogue Gala 2017.
During the meeting, the students gathered to listen to the personal story of their guest – his birth in pre-war Warsaw, the loss of his father, an officer of the Polish army, search for a hiding place outside the ghetto in villages near Warsaw, post-war life with his mother in devastated Poland, up until their departure to the United States at the age of 11 and the decade of struggle with the memories of the Holocaust. Each student received a copy of the book with George Elbaum’s memoirs, as well as the opportunity to chat with the author and have the book signed.
The program is co-financed by Malka and Pinek Krystal Scholarship Fund.
Przemysław Iwanek April 3rd, 2020
Posted In: EN Meetings
March 2018
March 2018 gave students of the School of Dialogue from three localities the opportunity to meet with George Elbaum, a Warsaw-born Holocaust Survivor, the author of “Neither Yesterdays, Nor Tomorrows. Vignettes from the Holocaust” – a special guest of the School of Dialogue Gala 2017.
During the meeting at the John Paul II Primary School No. 3 in Minsk Mazowiecki – School of Dialogue 2015 (then known as John Paul II Junior High School No. 2), students gathered to listen to the personal story of their guest – his birth in pre-war Warsaw, the loss of his father, an officer of the Polish army, search for a hiding place outside the ghetto in villages near Warsaw, post-war life with his mother in devastated Poland, up until their departure to the United States at the age of 11 and the decade of struggle with the memories of the Holocaust.
The meeting moved the audience and inspired a spontaneous speech by the school principal, Mr. Grzegorz Wyszogrodzki. He asked the gathered students to share the story with their loved ones. He underlined that the students can have impact to change the world as they decide with their hearts and not based on financial or personal benefits – as adults often do. He asked the students to think about whether they would be brave enough to take an innocent child under their roof targeted by the persecutors because of its origin. He also said that had the history of mankind been less tragic, there would be Jerzy, “our Jurek” and not George, standing before them. The words of the principal made a huge impression on the guest, and the students lined up to have their copy of George Elbaum’s book signed.
The program is co-financed by Malka and Pinek Krystal Scholarship Fund.
Przemysław Iwanek April 3rd, 2020
Posted In: EN Meetings
October 2018
In the fall of 2018, a group of participants of Forum’s Study Trip to Poland met with the students of C.K. Norwid Catholic High School in Garwolin – alumni of the School of Dialogue 2018. Even though access to sources on the Jewish community in Garwolin is difficult, high school students from Garwolin prepared a unique meeting.
After the icebreaker activities conducted by the Forum educator, the participants and students shared conversations and jokes over coffee and snacks before heading on a walking tour. Students prepared posters in English put in the classroom; printed brochures in English for each tour participant with a translation prepared in a professional way. During the walking tour, the students presented the Jewish past of their town centered on individual stories of Garwolin Jews.
When the group reached a forest covering the area of destroyed Jewish cemetery, one of the participants from Israel explained to the students how to read the inscriptions on the remaining matzevot, and the local activist Renata Masna talked about the activities for the commemoration of the cemetery, emphasizing the support of the students in this matter. This joint assistance does not have to end on the day of the meeting – the guests gave their email addresses to the students in case they ever needed help with Hebrew.
The program is co-financed by Malka and Pinek Krystal Scholarship Fund.
Przemysław Iwanek April 3rd, 2020
Posted In: EN Meetings
October 2018
In the fall of 2018, a goup of participants of Forum’s Study Trip to Poland celebrated Shabbat together with Leaders of Dialogue in Dębica, in the Podkarpackie region. On Friday evening, October 12, the participants and guests sat at one table in the historic Wiluszówka Villa to get to know each other and build bonds.
The meeting began with a tour of Jewish Dębica guided by the host, Ireneusz Socha, a local Leader of Dialogue. The tour included, among others, the Market Square in Old Dębica, streets of the pre-war Jewish life, the former ghetto area – now a park, a Jewish bakery building (where the participants bought challah) and the Nowomiejska Synagogue, where Ireneusz Socha, the keeper of the building, sang a funeral prayer. The mass execution site in the Wolica forest was the last stop of the tour, where the participants said kaddish.
Before the supper, Maya Liquornik, a participant to the study trip from Israel, read Parashah about the true righteous and their light, referring to the present Leaders of Dialogue – Ireneusz Socha, Jolanta Świerczek-Stelmach from Dąbrowa Tarnowska with her husband Jerzy Stelmach, and Tadeusz Królczyk from Ochotnica Górna
The guests where very impressed by the diversity of work for the preservation of local memory that the Leaders presented over the supper. The Leaders talked about their work for the preservation of local memory over supper table. Tadeusz Królczyk from Ochotnica also mentioned his work in local government – the Shabbath was held a week before the local elections (which he won and became a mayor). The participants were also impressed when during the dinner Ireneusz Socha sang“Lecha Dodi” song to the forgotten melody of the Dębica Hassidic Jews – they admitted that they had never heard such an arrangement.
The guests emphasized how that evening felt family-like to them – as if the hosts from Dębica invited them to their own home for Shabbat. “This isn’t the end – but the beginning of something” one of the guests said at the end.
The program is co-financed by Malka and Pinek Krystal Scholarship Fund.
Przemysław Iwanek April 3rd, 2020
Posted In: EN Meetings
