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.