| 2019 |
Kałuszyn
Bolesław Prus Primary School
Bolesław Prus Primary School
| 2019 |
Before World War II, Kałuszyn had been a predominantly Jewish town. A monument commemorates the life of local Jews and their death in the ghetto. Right after the first School of Dialogue workshop, project participants assumed care over the monument, lighting candles and conducting maintenance works. They searched local archives and libraries for information on their town’s history. They established ties with one descendant of local Jews, Mr. Joseph Gellman, who visited them and told them about his family. Students also asked local seniors about their memories from the prewar period. The itinerary of their tour included mostly „once have been” sites: what once had been a synagogue is now home to a gas station; the site of the old Jewish cemetery is now occupied by the Municipal office; what had once been the new Jewish cemetery is an unkempt meadow lacking any tombstones right next to the Catholic cemetery.
Even the market square with its stalls selling famous Kałuszyn prayer shawls had not survived to the present. The site is now paved over and serves as a parking lot. The former ghetto area is occupied by a shopping mall and a popular pizzeria. However, the prewar building of the fire department is used by firefighters to this very day; students stopped at the site to name Jewish firefighters who had once worked there. After the tour, participants were invited to a local culture center to see archival photographs and films depicting prewar Kałuszyn.
School: Bolesław Prus Primary School
Honorable mention: Winner at 2019 School of Dialogue in the “Diversity” category
Students: students from 7th and 8th year
Teachers: Monika Marciniak, Katarzyna Mroczek
Educators: Kasia Czubińska, Antoni Wołowski
Project cofinanced thanks to the generosity of Friends of the Forum, Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany and individual donors and institutions from Poland and abroad supporting Forum for Dialogue.
In appreciation to the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) for supporting the School of Dialogue educational program. Through recovering the assets of the victims of the Holocaust, the Claims Conference enables organizations around the world to provide education about the Shoah and to preserve the memory of those who perished.
