On April 26 students from Copernicus High School in Radom hosted a visit of a group of participants of the March of the Living from the U.S. Among the guests was Mr Irving Kempner who had already visited the school last spring an thoroughly enjoyed meeting the students and taking the walking tour of Jewish sites in Radom. This time the students and the guests had time to get to know each other and share their experience and interests during a workshop at school. Afterwards the students showed the guests around Radom, visiting the usual spots on the tour but also helping some of them find places related to their family histories.

Last Saturday, the Forum for Dialogue invited Polish alumni of its Polish-Jewish Exchange Program to visit a middle school in Błonie – the receiver of the first prize during the 2013 School of Dialogue Gala. After a workshop session giving the participants time to get to know each other, and after a short presentation of the commemoration project prepared by the students, the invited guests took part in an urban game based on the history of the local Jewish community. Despite unfavorable weather, the attendees were under great impression of students’ work and involvement.

The visit to the School of Dialogue was organized as a part of an annual meeting of the Polish alumni of the exchange program, which had been in operation since 1996 as a joint venture of the Forum for Dialogue and the American Jewish Committee. In the afternoon the participants of the meeting listened to the presentation on the Forum’s achievements and had a chance to talk to Chairman of the Friends of the Forum, Michael Rosenbaum.

This fall, Forum’s President Andrzej Folwarczny visited the United States twice. During his stay, he devoted three weeks to foster Polish-Jewish relations, promote the work of the Forum and recent achievements of the School of Dialogue program. Forum’s work was presented to representatives of the International Women Associates in Chicago and, thanks to Jewish Records Indexing – Poland, to a group of genealogists in New York. During individual meetings in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Washington, Forum’s future plans were discussed with representatives of local groups of Friends of the Forum. Forum’s President spoke also at the gatherings organized by Forum’s friends, Suzi and David Schuller in Boston. During his stay in New York, Andrzej was invited as well to participate in an event by the Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies honoring Forum friend Sigmund A. Rolat with the Jan Karski Award for Speaking Out.

This past Sunday the Forum concluded another visit of Jewish leaders from United States and Australia to Poland. During an intense weekly program participants of our trip met with representatives of academia, politics, culture and Polish Jewish community. They discussed topics of Polish-Jewish relations and today’s Poland during meetings with Prof. Edmund Wnuk-Lipinski, Honorary Rector of Collegium Civitas, Zbigniew Nosowski, Editor-in-chief of the “Więź” monthly, Nadav Eshcar, Deputy Chief of Mission of Israeli Embassy and other field specialists. The program included also sightseeing of Warsaw and Krakow as well as a study visit to the former concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz – Birkenau.

One of the most memorable experiences was the visit to a School of Dialogue in Sandomierz. During their meeting with local high school students our guests discussed their participation in School of Dialogue workshops and were guided by them around the town’s Jewish sites.

This year visit of Polish delegation to the States in frame of the Forum’s annual exchange program with American Jewish Committee concluded on Sunday. Invited leaders visited Washington, New York and Chicago. The program included meetings with representatives of most important Jewish organizations and institutions such as the American Jewish Committee, the American Jewish World Service, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Meetings with Executive Director of AJC David Harris and Holocaust survivor from Sokolow Podlaski Aaron Elster were considered trip highlights by the participants.

We are pleased to inform you that our 2012 Annual Report is available online.

We hope that you will enjoy reading about our last year’s achievements and developments. We are grateful for all the trust and support we have received from many individuals and institutions in the past year. We encourage you to read the report and share it with anybody interested in enhancing Polish-Jewish dialogue.

We are grateful to Joanne Zamore and Zamore Design for designing the report.

In November, we celebrated Forum for Dialogue’s 15th Anniversary with our friends, co-workers and partners. The anniversary gala was opened by speeches of Forum’s President Andrzej Folwarczny and Advisor to the President of Poland and Chairman of Forum’s Council Henryk Wujec. After a short presentation of our achievements, His Excellency Zvi Rav-Ner, the Ambassador of Israel to Poland proposed a toast in honor of the Forum and our activities. One of the event’s highlights was a special concert by Alte Zachen.

We would like to once again thank all our co-workers and friends who have contributed to the success and growth of our organization in the past years.

On the turn of September and October Forum For Dialogue Among Nations hosted a delegation of Jewish community leaders from the United States and Great Britain. During a week-long visit our quests participated in an intense weekly program devoted to Polish-Jewish relations. They met with representatives of academia and politics and Polish Jewish community. During the program they had an opportunity to sightsee Warsaw, Krakow and take part in a study visit to the former concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz – Birkenau. Trip participants also visited a School of Dialogue in Sienno. During their meeting with graduates of Forum’s educational program they were guided by them around Jewish sites in their town.

The project is co-financed by the Department of Public and Cultural Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland.

The Forum had the honor of hosting the new U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, Ira Forman, during his brief visit to Poland in September. Special Envoy Forman and other members of his State Department delegation spent an hour and a-half discussing the work of the Forum and recent achievements of the School of Dialogue program.

Yesterday, the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Poland Mr. Stephen Mull was taken on a tour of local Jewish sites by students from Salesian School Complex in Sokołów Podlaski. Graduates of our spring School of Dialogue program prepared a multimedia presentation about School of Dialogue workshops in their town, a unique tour for the Ambassador and concluded the meeting with a festive treat at school. The Ambassador and his staff were impressed by the students’ commitment to commemorate the Jewish community of Sokołów.