| 2018 |
Zgorzelec
Janusz Korczak Sociotherapeutic Youth Center
Janusz Korczak Sociotherapeutic Youth Center
| 2018 |
Zgorzelec and Görlitz, once a single city, are now separated by the border on Lusatian Neisse river, with the former town located in Poland and the latter in Germany. Most of the Jewish heritage sites are located on the German side, which since 2005 has again become home to a small Jewish community. For this reason, School of Dialogue participants from Janusz Korczak Sociotherapeutic Youth Center in Zgorzelec organized a two-day event spanning both parts of the city. On Monday, December 3, 2018, culinary and dance workshops were organized for students from Śniadecki Brothers High School, followed by a joint effort to paint over an anti-Semitic graffiti on one of the residential units in Zgorzelec (with prior approval of the local authorities and the housing association).
On the following day, a walking tour through both parts of the city took place, with participants visiting the synagogue, preburial house (beit hatahara) and a well-preserved Jewish cemetery. Students organizing the tour rendered the history of medieval Jewish congregation in Görlitz from 13th and 14th century, gave an overview of local Jewish community in the 19th and 20th centuries, with a focus on the period of World War II and the Holocaust. Additionally, individual stories of actual residents were presented. Tour participants also faced various challenges, such as searching for Stolperstein (memory stone – a monument built into sidewalk pavement). Finally, students created a film documenting the two-day event as well as interviewed a local amateur historian.
School: Janusz Korczak Sociotherapeutic Youth Center
Honorable mention: Honorable mention at 2018 School of Dialogue Gala in the “Impact on local community” category
Students: Center’s students
Teachers: Aneta Hajduczek, Katarzyna Kosowicka
Educators: Aneta Ceglarek, Antonina Stasiuk
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.
