Karol Winiarski

There wasn’t one  particular event that aroused my interest in the subject of Polish Jews. However, if you are really into Polish history and politics, it is impossible not to come across the Jewish subject. And this is how I gradually started discovering Polish-Jewish relations and my interest in this area grew stronger, especially after my two visits to Israel and my participation in the Summer School for Holocaust Studies. I am a teacher – I teach history, social studies and legal studies, I am also a member of the city council in Sosnowiec.  All these activities are very absorbing. In my job, I try to raise young people’s awareness of the problem of Polish-Jewish relations.

Last year,  I supervised  a team of high school students who were working on a project entitled “History of Jews in Sosnowiec”.  This year, we invited Alex Danzyg to our school. I think that Alex’s visit and his meeting with the young people is much more efficient than 10 lessons devoted to this subject. What is the outcome of my job? Unfortunately, I am becoming more and more convinced that the role of teachers and schools is losing in importance with each year. I observe the nationalistic-populist wave growing strong and I don’t really feel that I will be able to weaken it in any way.

Activism

Conference ”Multiculturalism of Zagłębie – a cemetery of four religions”

Conference “History of Jews in Zagłębie Dąbrowskie and Upper Silesia. History – Culture – Restoration Issues”

High-school classes and projects

Organizing visits of Jewish students from a high school in Haifa