In November 2021, regional groups from the Lublin area and the Wielkopolska-Lubuskie region meetings took place face to face, while the Śląsk-Opole regional group met online. These meetings are an opportunity to create new initiatives, network, exchange the experiences, and support one another in their efforts to preserve the memory of local Jewish communities. It is also a chance to travel together to impotant sites of Jewish history in Poland.
Members of the Lublin group visited Bychawa, Poniatowa, Bełżyce, and Kazimierz Dolny, where they were hosted by a local Leader, Marcin Pisula. They visited two cemeteries and one synagogue in Kazimierz Dolny, a synagogue known for its unique frescos in Bychawa, a site associated with the labor camp in Poniatowa, and a Jewish cemetery in Bełżyce.
Activists from the Wielkopolska-Lubuskie group met in Poznań, where they shared a Shabbat dinner with the local Jewish community and visited the town to learn about its synagogues, Jewish schools and buildings, and other locations important for the city’s former Jewish life. The key locations on their tour was the Wroniecka Street synagogue and the Martyrology Museum in the nearby Żabikowo.
“We are lucky with the people. Our regional meeting, like always, was simply wonderful. We’re cool to hang out with at the dinner table, literally and metaphorically. Really. Starting Friday afternoon so much has been happening, and each thing resonated with us.”
The Śląsk-Opole group met with Marta Tomczak and Agnieszka Piśkiewicz-Bornstein, authors of Irit Amiel. Life and Final Stitches. Irit Amiel in Conversation with Agnieszka Piśkiewicz-Bornstein. The online conversation was focused on the life and art of Irit Amiel, an Israeli poet and author with roots in Poland, and about her connection to Poland and Israel. In an intimate conversation the two writers shared their personal accounts of meeting and learning from Irit Amiel.
