Forum for Dialogue has launched another long-awaited new program in response to the challenges faced in Polish/Jewish dialogue. “Common Heritage,” which we organized this year in partnership with Yad Vashem, is an initiative addressed to representatives of lay and ordained Christian leadership in Poland who have the power to impact the way in which Polish/Jewish relations are discussed and understood in Polish churches and religious communities.

The program challenges participants to examine the complex issue of the common Judeo-Christian heritage as well as the troubled coexistence of Jews and non-Jewish Poles that has impacted Polish/Jewish relations in the past and continues to affect them now.

Given the impact of Christian leadership in Polish public life, it is important that those who participate in shaping attitudes understand and are sensitive to the history and experiences of Polish Jews and their descendants living all over the world.

This year the “Common Heritage” program involves 3 intense seminars, two in Poland and one in Israel. We opened in with a seminar in Warsaw in March, during which the participants learned about Polish and Israeli memory of the Holocaust, Polish research on the Holocaust, and how objective history transforms into personal story.

photo: M.Sokołowska