In 2006 Forum for Dialogue organized an art exhibit curated by Bogna Burska, Anka Grupińska and Alina Skibińska entitled Kozienickie portrety (“Kozienice Portraits”). The exhibition presented photographs made off of glass plate negatives discovered after the war originally created by Chaim Berman, a Jewish photographer from prewar Kozienice.

This unique collection presents Jews, Poles and Germans, who lived in the town before the war. It is also a testimony of the short-lived multicultural world that existed but was already marked by the impending end. In 1990s, this rare photograph collection found its way to Karta Center Foundation, who shared it for the exhibition.

The exhibition was shown at the Ethnographic Museum in Krakow during the Jewish Culture Festival, during the Four Cultures Festival in Lodz, and at the Regional Museum in Kozienice. The 47th issue of the Karta quarterly published two articles about the exhibition written by Alina Skibińska and Anka Grupińska.

When this exceptional collection of Kozienice Jews got to Karta Center Foundation in late 1990s, we were convinced that one day their story would be told. Now, thanks to a few years’ work of scholars affiliated with Forum for Dialogue foundation, we can present part of the collection described in as much detail as it was possible.

Alina Skibińska

Summer School of Dialogue is a week-long summer field seminar for a group of outstanding School of Dialogue graduates from all over Poland. After a week of intensive workshops, lectures and study visits, participants go back to their hometowns with a deeper knowledge and understanding of the complexities of Polish/Jewish relations. They become Young Leaders of Dialogue. By its nature, School of Dialogue is an egalitarian program, in which each young participant can find a place and a task best suited to his/her capacities.

However, there are always those who get especially involved in Polish/Jewish matters, who have more ideas and motivation for action than they are able to demonstrate in the School of Dialogue program. We believe that we should invest in these students, which is why in 2015 we launched the Summer School of Dialogue program. Summer School of Dialogue is a week-long summer field seminar, during which School of Dialogue participants from all over Poland continue what they had started with activities conducated in their school. They build on this knowledge to become Young Leaders of Dialogue.

After a week of intensive workshops, lectures and study visits, participants go back to their hometowns with a deeper knowledge and understanding of the complexities of Polish/Jewish relations. They learn more about the Jewish culture and learn how to effectively and wisely commemorate Jews that had once lived in their towns. During the Summer School of Dialogue, participants visit memorial sites, attend meetings with politicians, scholars and representatives of the Jewish community. They also participate in trainings in project management and social project leadership.

Thus, they can start introducing positive changes in their hometowns, now and in the years to come. One day, we hope to have them shape Polish reality by working in their respective professions, contributing to society through non-governmental activism or through civil service. Young leaders form a group of mutual inspiration and support. At Forum for Dialogue we believe that the Summer School of Dialogue shapes our country’s future elites and their sensitivity to Polish/Jewish issues. There is no school like this one!

Contributors

Summer School of Dialogue 2015

In appreciation to the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) for supporting this educator training program. Through recovering the assets of the victims of the Holocaust, the Claims Conference enables organizations around the world to provide education about the Shoah and to preserve the memory of those who perished.

Project co-financed from the funds granted by The Pratt Foundation.

Summer School of Dialogue 2016

In appreciation to the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) for supporting this educational program. Through recovering the assets of the victims of the Holocaust, the Claims Conference enables organizations around the world to provide education about the Shoah and to preserve the memory of those who perished.

The project is supported by the U.S. Embassy in Poland.

The Forum conducts dialogue in various spaces. In 2012, we organized a series of debates at Chłodna 25, one of Warsaw’s popular cafes. In 2013, we continued this project in the newly opened Państwo miasto café club.
In the course of these meetings, which aroused considerable interest among the general public, we tried to address current issues that are important for the future of Polish-Jewish relations and for supporting the dialogue between the two nations.

Very often we discussed the ongoing events – cultural, social, those important to Poland’s Jewish community. We did not avoid difficult nor controversial topics.

First and foremost, creators of Difficult Questions deserve our words of gratitude. It is my hope that the book will garner many readers, not only among young people.

Paweł Smoleński, Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper, February 13, 2007

The book “Difficult Questions in Polish-Jewish Dialogue” is a collaborative work of Forum for Dialogue and the American Jewish Committee. The project was created after analyzing over one thousand questionnaires from Poland, US, Israel, Canada and Australia. In them, young Poles and Jews posed questions regarding the past, present and future of Polish/Jewish relations. Editors selected 50 most difficult and most frequently asked question for the book and had experts from Poland, Israel and the United States provide the answers.

Where did Jews in Poland come from? How could it be that Poles allowed Germans to build concentration camps in their neighborhoods? Why has the Israeli army shelled districts where Palestinian civilians live? Answers to these and other questions can be found in the book Difficult Questions in Polish-Jewish Dialogue.

”We set out to identify which themes present the greatest difficulty for dialogue among young Poles and Jews. But we realized the difficulty these young people had in even formulating many of the “difficult questions” they would have liked answered; they worried that even putting them into words might offend the “other side.” When such questions did arise in the course of a Polish/Jewish encounter, the result was open contention – some people became agitated, others burst into tears.”– explain book editors in the preface.

The book is the first endeavor in Polish publishing to build bridges of understanding between Poles and Jews. The history which is learned in school by young American and Israeli Jews is an entirely different version from that which young Poles are taught. “Difficut Questions” aims to present perspectives of both sides.

This book, built around actual questions raised in Polish/Jewish encounters, is our way of acknowledging two central points. First, the topic of Polish/Jewish relations is immensely important – not just for considering the past, but, every bit as much, for charting the future. And second, let’s be honest; there have been some tough issues. But rather than either bury them or simply talk past one another, we believe they should be thoughtfully and constructively considered, which is precisely what this book aims to do.

David A. Harris, AJC executive director (excerpt from the Preface)

To learn more about topics the book discusses, visit the following website 

30 000 young Jews from Israel, USA, Canada, Australia, France and other countries visit Poland each year. Forum of Dialogue organized meetings between Polish and Jewish young people for eight years, enabling their participants to challenge their own preconceptions. They come to a country which they often regard as the cemetery of the Jewish people and that visiting it must be a difficult experience. The aim of Forum of Dialogue was to show these young people contemporary Poland as well. Every meeting was carefully prepared by a group of Forum’s experts and educators, basing on field-tested scripts.

The educators suggested integrating activities aimed at broadening the participants’ knowledge about Polish-Jewish relations and facilitating mutual understanding. Young people talked about love, music and sport, but also about life in present-day Poland and Israel, about the Jewish diaspora and about the Holocaust. Their actions brought great results. When Forum sociologists conducted a survey among participants, it turned out that already after one such meeting, the Polish young people showed 20% more positive feelings towards Jewish youth – and vice versa. The program was being implemented between 2003 and 2011, and in the years 2008–2010 in cooperation with the Museum of the History of Polish Jews.

From the very beginning, Forum for Dialogue aimed to save from oblivion and reconstruct the continuum of Gliwice’s history in the minds of the people connected to this town; as well as to build a foundation for the benefit of future generations. Meanwhile, almost in the heart of the city stood an empty plot of land after the local synagogue; a token of what had happened to the local Jewish community. At the time when Forum for Dialogue operated out of Gliwice, the local memory and knowledge about Jewish residents, culture and religion, all of which had so significantly contributed to the town’s development, was still meager.

The foundation endeavored to change this state of affairs and to commemorate Gliwice’s Jewish community by inscribing it into the town’s collective biography.

We did not limit our interests to wartime history, but included the more distant past as well, where the different cultures merged to create the unique character of Gliwice.

In an attempt to commemorate Gliwice’s Jewish community and inscribe it into the town’s collective biography, Forum for Dialogue created a website that presented the local Jewish history. This project was implemented with the help of the State Archive and Gliwice Museum that not only made their collections accessible, but also helped to prepare the sources. With the help and support of Hilde and Max Kochman, whom we reached in the course of our work on the project, our idea to commemorate Gliwice Jews could become a reality.

Aside from archival materials, biographies of famous Jewish residents and studies on Jewish-related issues and Jewish heritage sites, the website was enriched by private, intimate life stories of Holocaust survivors and their families, who often had lived in Gliwice for many generations. Through these personal recollections it was possible to re-construct the history of the town in its full scope and to commemorate its prewar residents. Thus, the project became a bridge linking contemporary residents of Gliwice with those from the past. We also became interested in the dilapidated pre-funeral home at Gliwice’s Jewish cemetery and took first steps toward restoring it to the memory of contemporary town residents.

Many years later, through joint efforts of Gliwice municipality and local activists, the building became home to a museum and an education center: House of Memory of the Jews of Upper Silesia.

The grand finale of local activism in Gliwice for Forum for Dialogue came in 2003, when the unveiling ceremony of the plaque commemorating the town’s Jewish residents and a meeting between descendants of local Jews with contemporary Gliwice residents were organized. We managed to locate and invite thirty Gliwice Holocaust survivors and their descendants to this event.

The “Difficult Questions in the Polish-Jewish Dialogue” workshops had the form of hours-long meetings, aimed at raising sensitivity towards the issue of Polish-Jewish relations, and presenting the different perspectives on historical events. They were based on the book of the same title, published by the Forum of Dialogue in 2006, in cooperation with the American Jewish Committee. Why are there anti-Semitic inscriptions on walls? Does criticizing Israel count as anti-Semitism? What were the Poles’ attitudes towards Jews during the Holocaust? Polish high-school students discussed those questions, actively participating in dedicated activities and tasks. The workshops were conducted by experienced Forum educators, who put special emphasis on students’ independent work. They asked questions but did not force any answers.

During the workshops, high-school students played out scenes of, for example, a Pole meeting a Jew who left Poland just after the war and only came back in the 1990s. By impersonating both characters, they were able to understand the feelings of an emigrant who had left behind only ruins. Upon coming back, s/he sees anti-Semitic inscriptions on the walls. How does this make him/her feel? How should Poles react to anti-Semitism, how should they fight it? During these sessions, students also read excerpts from Difficult Questions in the Polish-Jewish Dialogue, a book published by Forum of Dialogue and the American Jewish Committee. Forum’s offer for high schools included four kinds of such workshops:

“Anti-Semitic Captions”
The workshop drew the students’ attention to the “wall sickness” and other displays of anti-Semitism and racism, and encouraged them to actively stand up against acts of discrimination in their neighborhoods. Thanks to specially designed activities, the students had the opportunity to step into the shoes of the “Other” – this allowed them to look at the world through the eyes of the person against whom the anti-Semitic captions and drawings on the walls of cities and towns are addressed.

These sessions raised sensitivity and empathy among students, and made them become aware of their own biases.

“Is It Safe To Be a Jew In Poland?”
The workshop focused on the problem of anti-Semitism and lack of tolerance towards fellow citizens. Students read texts about the emotional state of Jews who live in Poland today, and discussed questions of safety, trying to empathize with members of ethnic and religious minorities. An important part of the workshop was the staging of a debate, where the students had the opportunity to become aware of different opinions regarding the question whether contemporary Poland is a safe place for Jews or not.

“What If…”
During this workshop students had the chance to expand their knowledge about the Holocaust and the social and political underlying of the genocide. Particular emphasis was put on text readings and the students’ individual reflection on the possibility that particular behaviors and attitudes adopted by groups and individuals can change history. The educational materials had an attractive form and encouraged students to actively participate in the workshops.

“Criticism of Israel and Anti-Semitism”
This workshop made students aware of the so-called new anti-Semitism, usually masquerading as criticism of Israeli politics. It also made them aware of the persistence of stereotypes and how unchanged they remain throughout the ages. The students were given an opportunity to acquire tools allowing them to distinguish between anti-Semitic statements from justified criticism of Israel and its politics. They also learned the basic facts connected to the Middle East conflict.

In 2014, we celebrated the 25th anniversary of political, economic and social transformations. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of first free elections and the opening of POLIN Museum of History of Polish Jews, Forum for Dialogue prepared an outdoor exhibition about the breakthrough transformations in Polish-Jewish dialogue. The exhibition was open for a month and located in front of the newly opened POLIN museum. The past 25 years have been a time of political, economic and social changes.

Polish-Jewish relations were undergoing transformations alongside those taking place in Poland. In 1989, almost half a century since the Holocaust and after decades of communism, free Poland inherited closed borders, lack of diplomatic relations with Israel and incapacity to hold a public discussion on any topic related to the history of Polish Jews. Poland today is a completely different country. There is still much to do, but many are willing to be the doers. Their hitherto accomplishments deserve to be acknowledged.

The exhibition presented the wealth of initiatives undertaken over the course of the past quarter of the century. These have been grassroots and top-down in character, local and nationwide, happening both in small towns and in large cities. The exhibition presented the achievements of youth involved in School of Dialogue program, which is meant to open young people’s eyes on what has been forgotten – i.e. the Jewish history of their hometowns.

The exhibition also presented selected personal stories of Leaders of Dialogue – individuals involved in Polish-Jewish dialogue who work to preserve the Jewish heritage in their towns. They change the world around them, often overcoming obstacles and indifference.
Finally, the exhibition touched upon the topic of Polish Jews who come to Poland and confront their perceptions of the country with today’s reality and discover a shared yet complicated past. Thanks to School of Dialogue, they meet young Poles who become their local guides.

See exhibition in the following website

Contributors

The project is co-financed by the Department of Public and Cultural Diplomacy of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs as part of the 2014 edition of the competition Cooperation in the Field of Public Diplomacy. The present publication presents the opinions of its author and cannot be equated with the official position of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Forum for Dialogue wanted to make young people aware of the sites related to Warsaw’s Jewish history. For this reason, our organization was the first to offer tours of Jewish Warsaw for high school students. There were four routes to choose from: tour of Jewish cemetery at ul.Okopowa, tour of the area around pl.Grzybowski, tour of the former ghetto area and tour of Jewish Praga. On what street did the synagogue stand in Praga district? How did the ghetto borders run? What was Próżna street like before the war? “I don’t know” would be the answer to these questions by most of Warsaw’s high school students. To gain knowledge in this subject matter, teenagers were invited to experiential history lessons that presented the forgotten Jewish side of Warsaw. The tours were meant to acquaint young people with sites connected to the city’s Jewish history. These outdoor activities were more than mere field trips or history lessons; a significant part of each tour focused on group work of the students with sources provided by the organizers. The tours have now become an integral part of School of Dialogue Warsaw program. Tour routes:

“Stories Behind the Stones” is a tour in the course of which students explore the area of Warsaw’s Jewish cemetery, working with visual aids in the form of photographs and material objects. The tour acquaints students with specifics of Jewish tombstone symbolism, introducing them not only to Jewish culture, but also biographies of famous people buried at the cemetery. Much is to be gained from a cemetery visit in Warsaw, a city that was almost completely destroyed, especially when it is a large preserved cemetery; this is the best testimony to the richness and diversity of Warsaw’s Jews.

“Próżna Now and Then” gave tour participants the opportunity to explore the only street that survived the Warsaw ghetto before its renovation.

Using source documents, students attempted to reconstruct the landscape of a typical prewar Warsaw street and learned about traditions and customs of Polish Jews.At the same time, they searched for traces of the past in the contemporary street layout. The tour included a visit to the synagogue and an activity on Jewish religious holidays, where participants would use auxiliary materials to learn about the origins of the different holidays, customs and rituals connected to each of them as well as the traditional foods that are prepared for the given festivity.

“Jewish Praga” presented the unknown history of this district of Warsaw. The tour allowed participants to get acquainted not only with important events for Praga’s Jewish community, but also to visit sites testifying to Jewish presence in the district. The tour itinerary included a visit to Praga’s Jewish cemetery. Forgotten and often overlooked in the social memory of Praga residents, it is the oldest Jewish necropolis in Warsaw. Thanks to this walking tour, participants discovered sites buried in oblivion, but still testifying to Praga’s Jewish past.

“A Walk Through a Perished City” was based on an original concept of an urban game on the grounds of what used to be the Warsaw ghetto, which was delineated on maps that made students realize that the closed Jewish district existed in places many of them pass through on a daily basis. Subsequent stops within the “ghetto borders” were connected to various source texts about living conditions in the closed district and the fate of Warsaw’s Jewish community during World War II.

The program was implemented between September 2006 and Fall of 2007.