We are now in the middle of the second round of workshops in all the 20 schools of the 2018 School of Dialogue spring semester. In three of them the workshops are conducted with the support of local institutions. In Czeladź students are working in cooperation with Muzeum Saturn w Czeladzi (Saturn Museum), cultural institution located in the historic villa formerly belonging to “Saturn” coalmine director. In Pacanów the workshops are organized in collaboration with Centrum Bajki w Pacanowie (Fairytale Center), and in Radziejów students are assisted by experts working in a local public library.

Students from Pacanów are also preparing to host a very special guest in the course of 3rd and 4th workshops – their school will be visited by Jasmine Bakalarz, an acclaimed photographer from Buenos Aires, whose grandparents lived in Pacanów and who recently conducted an artistic project during the artist-in-residence period at POLIN Museum.

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

We are deeply saddened by the passing of Holocaust Survivor Aaron Elster, who died on April 11, 2018. He was a wonderful speaker and person, always ready to share his experiences with the Polish participants of the Polish Jewish Exchange Program run by Forum in cooperation with the AJC. We extend our heartfelt condolences to Aaron Elster’s family, friends, and co-workers.

Aaron Elster was a child Survivor of the Holocaust. He escaped the liquidation of the Sokołów Podlaski Ghetto and found refuge in the attic of a Polish family, where he hid for two years until the war’s end. He came to the U.S. in 1947, was educated in Chicago and served in the armed forces in Korea. He was an active member of the community and served as Vice President at Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center. He was the co-author of “I Still See Her Haunting Eyes,” which chronicles his Holocaust experiences. Aaron Elster continued to speak extensively about his experiences and lessons of the Holocaust. In 2015, he reflected on the purpose of tirelessly sharing his testimony: “When I speak to children every day at the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center, I ask that they take away two ideas from my story. First, you must believe in yourself … Second, I want children to learn that prejudice and indifference will only lead to hatred and violence that will impact innocent lives, including their own. As the decision makers of tomorrow, our children must engage in the creation of new stories that speak to a more hopeful world that doesn’t echo our past.”

photo: M.Rancewicz

George Elbaum, a Warsaw-born Holocaust Survivor and the author of “Neither Yesterdays, Nor Tomorrows. Vignettes from the Holocaust” was a special guest during the 2017 School of Dialogue Gala, where he delivered a powerful speech before an audience of over 1,200 people, including School of Dialogue students, their teachers, representatives of local government, as well as Forum friends and allies, journalists, artists, politicians and diplomats. After the Gala he traveled to Legionowo, Żyrardów and Mińsk Mazowiecki to meet with students. Young audiences were very moved and a lively Q&A sessions followed afterwards.  Students in all three towns lined up to have their copy of the book signed. George Elbaum ended his visit to Poland with meeting with Forum for Dialogue’s office staff and School of Dialogue educators team.

photos: D.Kawka, W.Dobrogojski, M.Usiekniewicz, M.Jensen, M.Piekarska

The 2017 School of Dialogue Gala was preceded by an NGO expo. We are grateful to all the organizations’ representatives for sharing their knowledge with Gala’s participants – the NGOs and institutions present at the expo included POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Humanity in Action Polska, Polish History Museum, Stacja Muranów, JCC Warszawa, Polska Debatuje, Towarzystwo Krajobraz and Jan Karski Educational Foundation.

photo: D.Kawka, W.Dobrogojski

Before the new School of Dialogue educators start to lead their workshops, first they have to go through an intensive training process. In February 2018 a set of training workshops took place. During an intense week in Konstancin participants mastered their facilitating skills, learned the methods of Forum’s work, deepened their knowledge about the history and culture of the Polish Jews and Israel as well as ways of fighting prejudice and stereotypes.

The program included lectures and meetings with experts: Prof. Michał Bilewicz, Dr. Agnieszka Haska, rabbi Małgorzata Kordowicz. Kamil Śliwowski facilitated the workshops aimed at leraning the methods of using the new media during the School of Dialogue activities. Matan Shefi gave lecture about the modern Israel. During the last two days of the training our new educators were joined by their more experienced colleagues – it was a perfect opportunity for integration and experience sharing.

photo: I.Meyza

With the School of Dialogue Gala exactly two weeks away, we are proudly presenting this year’s poster designed by Tymek Jezierski, an up-and-coming Polish illustrator and poster designer, featured in the Lürzer’s Archive’s selection of 200 Best Illustrators Worldwide. A recipient of many prestigious awards, his style is, according to Culture.pl, “both imaginative and comprehensible – it thus comprises features that are greatly valued in illustration. Moreover, his tendency to experiment with form and non-digital media, has led him to create projects that exceed design and lend themselves to the art exhibiting context.”