Begun in December 2019, the series of seminars dedicated to teachers was designed on the basis of Roberta Grossman’s Who Will Write our History [LINK] documentary about the Ringelblum Archive – the Underground Archive of the Warsaw Ghetto. The story of the Oneg Shabbat group and their methods served as inspiration for concrete educational tools. Our methodology prioritized the experience of individuals to show the diversity of prewar Jewish life in Poland.

The series included 7 workshops focused in the following provinces:

• Lublin Province
• Swiętokrzystkie Province
• Podlasie Province
• Łódź Province
• Greater Poland Province
• Kujawsko-Pomorskie and Pomeranian Provinces
• Podkarpacie and Lessser Poland Provinces

We focused each seminar on the Jewish history of a region and sought support from local activists and educators of the Leaders of Dialogue network: Marek Kołcon, Mirosław Skrzypczyk, Mariusz Sokołowski, Anita Rucioch-Gołek, Jakub Niewiński and Edyta Danielska. These seminars are an opportunity to network local teachers and educators, explore archival material pertinent to local Jewish history, and introduce methods of working with the archives for  teachers interested in working on the Jewish heritage with their students.

The first two seminars were organized in Lublin and Kielce with the support of Grodzka Gate and Jan Karski Association respectively. Due to the pandemic, the remaining seminars were organized online. Though unable to meet face-to-face, the participants of the online seminars had more time to explore the materials in the digital Ringelblum Archive at the Central Jewish Library run by the Jewish Historical Institute and other online archives. Despite the pressure put on schools by the Covid-19 pandemic, we had 171 teachers from all over Poland participate in the program. This showed us how many teachers search for new ways of expanding their knowledge and competences in educating about Polish/Jewish history. We wish the participants and their students all the best in their journey of discovery of local Jewish history.

The dedicated lesson plans (in Polish) are available for download at the School of Dialogue website.

Educational initiatives related to Who Will Write Our History have been made possible thanks to the generosity of Al and Gayle Berg Family Found