Teresa Jabłońska, an activist of Forum for Dialogue Network started her project introducing students from Września schools to the rich Jewish history and heritage of the region in 2021. This year, together with the Września Children Foundation and a wide supporting coalition of local school teachers and institutions, she organized lessons and workshops on Jewish culture, followed by an interactive walking tour of the history of Jews in Września for 130 students from 5 schools. Older students from 4 local high schools took part in classes on the Holocaust in preparation for the following study visits to three memorial sites, the Martyrological Museums in Poznań and Żabików, as well as the Museum of the Former German Kulmhof Death Camp.

Photos by Tomasz Małecki

“History and Culture of Jewish Września. Young People in Sites of Memory” project by Teresa Jabłońska and the Children of Września Foundation was co-financed by Forum for Dialogue as a part of 2023 Grant Competition.

In 2023, the program for activists belonging to Forum for Dialogue Network, including grants and scholarships, is financed thanks to the generosity of Friends of the Forum, LEDOR WADOR Foundation, United States Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, and individual donors and institutions from Poland and abroad supporting Forum for Dialogue. Scholarships for personal development are possible thanks to The David and Anna Dlugie Kliger Scholarship Fund.

We’re pleased to announce that Mariusz Sokołowski, member of the Forum for Dialogue Network, activist from Wasilków and Białystok, and recipient of the Forum grant for permanent commemoration, has won the 2023 POLIN Award. We couldn’t be happier for him. Also recognized were Saga Grybów Association, whose members – Kamil Kmak and Anna Boruch – are a part of our Network, and Ewa Paul, activist in Bełchatów. The list of nominees includes two more Network members: Dorota Bida working in Chełm, Bożena Gajewska active in Kutno, as well as Małgorzata Frąckiewicz active in Łomża. Congratulations to all!

Finally, and to our great joy and honor, Forum for Dialogue and its President, Andrzej Folwarczny, were presented the POLIN’s Director Special Award.

Photos by Anna Kurowicka and Marta Usiekniewicz

October 25-27, as a part of “Zbąszyń’s Days of Open Arms” commemorations of the 85th anniversary of the “Polenaktion,” Anita Rucioch-Gołek and Wojciech Olejniczak from the Forum’s Network together with the TRES Foundation organized “Collected Stories | Memory Collection” conference for teachers, educators, and employees of cultural institutions on the memory of the “Polenaktion” and ways of educating about this part of Polish/Jewish history. Attended by experts, scholars, and activists, other members of Network among them, the conference was an ample opportunity to reflect on the diverse aspects and perspectives of practical work with history and memory.

Photos by TRES Foundation

“The 85th Anniversary of Polenaktion 1938” project by Anita Rucioch-Gołek, Wojciech Olejniczak, and the TRES Foundation was co-financed by Forum for Dialogue as a part of 2023 Grant Competition.

In 2023, the program for activists belonging to Forum for Dialogue Network, including grants and scholarships, is financed thanks to the generosity of Friends of the Forum, LEDOR WADOR Foundation, United States Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, and individual donors and institutions from Poland and abroad supporting Forum for Dialogue. Scholarships for personal development are possible thanks to The David and Anna Dlugie Kliger Scholarship Fund.

Check out the photos from the opening of exhibition presenting the 19th and 20th century history of Jews in Koźmin Wielkopolski, curated by a member of Forum’s Network Paweł Bajerlein and hosted by the local public library. The exhibition, a part of broader “Greetings from Koźmin!” project conducted by Paweł, tells the multi-faceted story of Koźmin’s Jewish families and their everyday life through archival photographs, postcards, documents, and press clippings. It also includes pieces of additional information provided by descendants of Koźmin’s Jews from all over the world, whom Paweł invited to cooperate in his project.

Photos by Mateusz Adamiak

“Greetings from Koźmin!” project by Paweł Bajerlein and the Krotochwile Association was co-financed by Forum for Dialogue as a part of 2023 Grant Competition.

In 2023, the program for activists belonging to Forum for Dialogue Network, including grants and scholarships, is financed thanks to the generosity of Friends of the Forum, LEDOR WADOR Foundation, United States Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, and individual donors and institutions from Poland and abroad supporting Forum for Dialogue. Scholarships for personal development are possible thanks to The David and Anna Dlugie Kliger Scholarship Fund.

“Though it can be said that we are meeting here because of a great evil that happened eighty years ago, our presence is evidence that this evil has not prevailed,” said Anna Włodek to people gathered at the Jewish cemetery in Tarnowskie Góry last Monday to commemorate the Jewish inhabitants of the city murdered during the Holocaust.

We were honored to participate in this moving event, which was the culmination of months of work of the Gliwicka 66 Association and specifically, Anna Włodek, a member of the Forum for Dialogue Network. The ceremony was attended by the descendants of Eliezer Nawarski, who was among those commemorated. Holocaust Survivor Anna Lewkowicz, his daughter, and Zvika Navarsky, his grandson took part in the ceremony. A unique commemoration: 78 plaques each bearing a name of one of the murdered people – was unveiled during the event. Students of the local high school, regular participants of Anna’s commemorative and educational efforts, read all these names out loud.

Photos by Barbara Zwalińska

“In Honor of our Neighbors” project by Anna Włodek and the Gliwicka 66 Association was co-financed by Forum for Dialogue as a part of 2023 Grant Competition.

In 2023, the program for activists belonging to Forum for Dialogue Network, including grants and scholarships, is financed thanks to the generosity of Friends of the Forum, LEDOR WADOR Foundation, United States Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, and individual donors and institutions from Poland and abroad supporting Forum for Dialogue. Scholarships for personal development are possible thanks to The David and Anna Dlugie Kliger Scholarship Fund.

Last weekend, the activist Anna Brzyska together with the “Memory and Dialogue. Shared History” Association organized a three-day event on the 81st anniversary of the deportations of Brzesko Jews to Majdanek, Bełżec, and Auschwitz. Over 40 descendants of Brzesko Jews joined the activists, authorities, and students of local schools for commemorative events and the common celebration of restored memory of Brzesko Jewish community. Due to Anna’s work a unique plaque dedicated to Mala Zimetbaum, Brzesko-born prisoner of Auschwitz, was unveiled in the town to commemorate her heroism. Moreover, joint effort of Anna and Brzesko high school board resulted in the updating of the commemorative plaque on the school building. 62 names of Jewish students have been added to the plaque that before had included only Christian Poles who perished during the Second World War. “Brzesko: United in Memory” events included a Shabbat dinner, an exhibition dedicated to Poles from Brzesko who saved Jews during the Holocaust, and a concert of klezmer music as well. We are glad to be able to support this incredible work of Anna!

Photos by Krzysztof Wasyłek

“Recovering Memory: Comemorative Plaque Honoring the Memory of Murdered Jewish Students” project by Anna Brzyska and the “Memory and Dialogue. Shared History” Association was co-financed by Forum for Dialogue as a part of 2023 Grant Competition.

In 2023, the program for activists belonging to Forum for Dialogue Network, including grants and scholarships, is financed thanks to the generosity of Friends of the Forum, LEDOR WADOR Foundation, United States Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, and individual donors and institutions from Poland and abroad supporting Forum for Dialogue. Scholarships for personal development are possible thanks to The David and Anna Dlugie Kliger Scholarship Fund.

What an evening! Yesterday, we celebrated Forum’s 25th Anniversary together with the participants of the first study visit to Poland since the pandemic hiatus, who are our longtime friends and donors. More than 150 people gathered at the Polish Theatre in Warsaw to join us for this event, including our international supporters and allies, as well as Polish friends and donors, current and former staff members, activists, and members of the Forum for Dialogue Network.

Although they couldn’t join us in person in Warsaw, Warsaw-born Holocaust Survivor and our mentor George Elbaum and his wife Mimi Jensen prepared a video message to share with the audience gathered at the Polish Theater.

Reflecting on the story of his involvement with the Forum and its programs, George emphasized the importance of dissolving barriers of ignorance and introducing common interest and communality between today’s audiences and the past.

Thank you to all who came and made this night as well as the past 25 years possible! This community has made Forum what it is today and what it will be in the future.

Photos by Alicja Szulc

“We have brought back the names of a thousand of victims. We have commemorated those murdered and those buried at the cemetery. We have met with the families of descendants at the town hall and listened to their stories. We have felt a sense of community and togetherness”: Urszula Antosz-Rekucka and Marek Rekucki, activists from our Network, marked the 81^st anniversary of the Holocaust of Mszana Dolna’s Jews with the unveiling of a plaque listing the names and ages of Mszana Dolna Jews murdered on August 19, 1942.

The events surrounding the unveiling and commemorative ceremonies started the day before and included an urban game about Mszana’s Jewish heritage prepared by scouts, Hebrew calligraphy workshops, lectures about Jewish culture, and klezmer concert.

Photos by Wiktor Król

“Plaque Honoring the Memory of the Victims of August 19, 1942” project by Marek Rekucki and the Mszana Dolna Shtetl Foundation was co-financed by Forum for Dialogue as a part of 2023 Grant Competition.

In 2023, the program for activists belonging to Forum for Dialogue Network, including grants and scholarships, is financed thanks to the generosity of Friends of the Forum, LEDOR WADOR Foundation, United States Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, and individual donors and institutions from Poland and abroad supporting Forum for Dialogue. Scholarships for personal development are possible thanks to The David and Anna Dlugie Kliger Scholarship Fund.

On August 16, Białystok marked the 80th anniversary of its ghetto uprising with the unveiling of city’s first Stolpersteine thanks to the efforts of Mariusz Sokołowski from our Network cooperating with City of Białystok. The memory of Holocaust Survivor Samuel Pisar’s family was honored by laying memorial cobble stones laid on the sidewalk by the apartment they occupied before the war. Apart from this permanent commemoration, Mariusz invited Białystok’s youth to participate in his “Białystok Remembers!” educational program, focused on the story of a ten-year-old Holocaust victim Frieda Pisar, whose biography inspired participants to create an art installation of stories, letters, and drawings.

Photos by Hanna Gospodarczyk i Bartosz Duszyński

“Białystok Remembers!” project by Mariusz Sokołowski and the Open Education Foundation was co-financed by Forum for Dialogue as a part of 2023 Grant Competition.

In 2023, the program for activists belonging to Forum for Dialogue Network, including grants and scholarships, is financed thanks to the generosity of Friends of the Forum, LEDOR WADOR Foundation, United States Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, and individual donors and institutions from Poland and abroad supporting Forum for Dialogue. Scholarships for personal development are possible thanks to The David and Anna Dlugie Kliger Scholarship Fund.

Ireneusz Socha, an activist from our network working in Dębica, has been organizing Jewish Community Remembrance Days since 2016. This year, the ceremony honoring the memory of the victims of Dębica ghetto was followed by a concert by Yaron Klein Trio. Yaron Klein, Israeli violinist living in the U.S., is a grandson of Miriam Grünspan from Dębica. His trio’s amazing performance prompted a standing ovation from nearly 200 guests from Dębica, Poland, and abroad gathered at the local culture center.

Photos by Przemysław Sroka

Life/Live concert was co-financed by Forum for Dialogue as a part of our 2023 Scholarship for Local Activism Competition.

In 2023, the program for activists belonging to Forum for Dialogue Network, including grants and scholarships, is financed thanks to the generosity of Friends of the Forum, LEDOR WADOR Foundation, United States Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, and individual donors and institutions from Poland and abroad supporting Forum for Dialogue. Scholarships for personal development are possible thanks to The David and Anna Dlugie Kliger Scholarship Fund.