Before the new School of Dialogue educators start to lead their workshops, first they have to go through an intensive training process. In February and March 2015 three sets of training workshops, including a seven days long one, took place. During the meetings participants mastered their facilitating skills, learned the methods of Forum’s work, deepened their knowledge about the history and culture of the Polish Jews and Israel as well as ways of fighting prejudice.

The program included educational walking tours in former Warsaw Ghetto area, the Jewish Cemetery in Okopowa Street and following Jewish traces in Warsaw Praga district. Lectures and workshops were led by: Jolanta Żyndul (historian working in the Museum of the History of Polish Jews), Barbara Engelking (director of the Polish Center for Holocaust Research), Helena Datner (historian and sociologist from the Jewish Historical Institute), Mikołaj Grynberg (photographer and author focusing on issues connected to Holocaust), Rabbi Stas Wojciechowicz, and Konstanty Gebert (journalist, Jewish activist, founder of journal “Midrasz”), as well as the experienced Forum for Dialogue educators.

We finished this year’s AJC study trip to Poland, part of Forum’s, AJC’s and Polish Embassy’s in Washington partnership within the Polish-Jewish Exchange Program. During their week in Poland AJC representatives visited Warsaw, Lublin, Bełżec, Rzeszów, Kraków and Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and Memorial. Among the most memorable elements of the program were the meetings with distinguished speakers: Secretary of State for European Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Rafał Trzaskowski, U.S. Ambassador to Poland, Stephen Mull, and Deputy Ambassador of Israel to Poland, Ruth Cohen-Dar.

This spring, Forum for Dialogue implements School of Dialogue workshops in 23 schools from all over Poland, including four schools from Warsaw. In the frame of the program Forum for Dialogue educators meet with students from villages and towns which have a significant history of Jewish communities living there before the war. All students taking part in the spring semester of the School of Dialogue program are required to prepare their own community projects by June 30th. They will take part in the Forum for Dialogue national contest for the best project commemorating local Jewish community.

The School of Dialogue Program in 2015 is supported by Citizens for Democracy program, financed through the EEA grants, City of Warsaw, the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, Friends of the Forum.

In appreciation to the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) for supporting this 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.

We are certain that the great team of our educators stands behind the success of the School of Dialogue. We have recruited new members of the team and we were overwhelmed with the number of applications – more than 9 people competing for each spot!

The finalists of this process proved great knowledge, passion and commitment. The group includes university students, graduates of Jewish studies, members of the Jewish community, and others who are already experienced in the field of informal education. We are proud to have some of the alumni of the School of Dialogue program in this group as well!

Week-long intensive course for the trainers was the first stage of the thorough training process. During the training participants mastered their facilitating skills, learned the methods of Forum’s work but most importantly, deepened their knowledge about the history and culture of the Polish Jews and of Israel and ways of fighting prejudice. They had a chance to learn about the rich, pre-war Jewish life from Jolanta Żyndul, historian and author of many books on the subject. They deepened their knowledge on the Holocaust, with the guidance of Barbara Engelking, head of the Polish Center for Holocaust Research and Mikołaj Grynberg, photographer and author focusing on issues connected to Holocaust. Last but not least, they had a chance to get to know each other and integrate.

In March next two trainings for the group will take place.

This project is part of the Citizens for Democracy program, financed through the EEA grants.

We recommend an interview with Zuzanna Radzik, who appears in the PIWO magazine on the biggest Polish news radio. She speaks about the School of Dialogue and how it is being perceived.

During this study trip our guests participated in meetings with representatives of the diplomatic world, scholars, politicians and leaders of the Polish-Jewish community. They also visited places connected with the history of Polish Jews.

“The trip has totally changed and challenged my perspective on Poland.(…) I leave with an appreciation for the country and its people. Poland has endured a turbulent past but is recovering beautifully and trying to change. The Forum is a huge part of this positive change. (…) The hope is in the future of the children via education. Forum for Dialogue is a huge contribution in this endeavor.”, said one of the participants David Kurtz, TV/film composer and screenwriter from New York City.

Highlights of the visit included taking part in the Jan Karski Centennial Conference “Memory and Responsibility”, organised by Fundacja Edukacyjna Jana Karskiego. However meeting with the students from Radom, participants of the School of Dialogue educational program had a great impact on participants. High schoolers toured them through Radom and showed them places connected with Jewish heritage and history of their city.

“I felt heartened by the work of the Forum and what it seeks to achieve in bringing back to Polish memory an almost forgotten history via schoolchildren. This work is very valuable in both achieving a practical aim of ensuring that history is properly remembered and tolerance developed.”, said Henry Pinskier, businessman and activist from Melbourne, for many years one of the leaders of the Labour Party in Australia.

The project is co-financed from the funds granted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the competition for the public task “Cooperation with Polish Diaspora and Poles Abroad in 2014.”

During their study visit to Poland guests from Tel Aviv, including the city authorities of Tel Aviv, journalists, film makers and activists participated in meetings with representatives of the academic world, thinkers and leaders of the Polish-Jewish community. They also visited places and institutions associated with Polish-Jewish history. Highlights of the trip included meeting with Konstanty Gebert, journalist, activist, and founder of “Midrasz”, lunch with Maciej Kozłowski, former Polish Ambassador to Israel, dinner with Prof. Zdzislaw Mach, Head of the Center for European Studies, Jagiellonian University and a meeting with Narcyz Listkowski, a local activist working for the preservation of Jewish heritage in Rabka. Participants were very touched by the way they were treated by Narcyz Listkowski, who invited them to his home and showed them stairs to a former synagogue, he and his friends had uncovered and cleared on their own. Our guests were most pleased as well to interact with local high school students, participants of Forum’s School of Dialogue educational program in Nowy Targ. Inspite of rain and fog on the day and the fact that they were still having their summer holidays, the students showed the city’s Jewish sites to the Israeli group.

The project is co-financed from the funds granted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the competition for the public task “Cooperation with Polish Diaspora and Poles Abroad in 2014.”