Wieluń
Reconnecting Ties
Reconnecting Ties
November 2016
Participants of a Forum’s study visit to Poland for Jewish leaders from the U.S. travelled to Wieluń on November 17, 2016 to meet with the local School of Dialogue alumni. After getting to know each other, the students took our guests on a walking tour around Jewish sites of the town. Denise Reiss, one of the study visit participants, wrote a short testimony from the meeting:
“In November of 2016 I was fortunate to be among a select few that were invited to Poland by Forum for Dialogue for a week long full immersion study program. As I look back at what has truly been one of the most enlightening experiences of my life I can’t help but to focus on one particular day, visiting a High School in Wieluń.
On that extraordinary day we met a group of students that had completed a project for the School of Dialogue on Polish/Jewish relations. We were so taken by these young people as they shared their experiences and projects with our group. The students enthusiasm and passion was contagious and inspirational!
Their research uncovered details that would have been left unknown, but instead were revealed in such a way that became cathartic to both the person telling their stories and the students documenting them, resulting in an open dialogue between the two. We walked away with a heavy heart as they touched each of us so deeply and were so sorry to see this amazing day come to an end.
My accolades to the School of Dialogue for bringing awareness to the past and present day issues affecting Polish/Jewish relations; and in doing so making this topic relevant to these young people in exposing them to the world it was and the world we all hope it to be!
It is my hope that this experience has made an impact in their lives as it has with mine and will continue to promote dialogue between the two.The students that participated in this program have truly left a mark in uncovering the past in the hopes to better our future.”
