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ABOUT US
(updated 10 February 2005)
The Foundation was launched in
1988. It was modeled on the Polish-Jewish Heritage Foundation
which already existed at Oxford University in England.
At the same time, a sister organization of the same
name with similar goals was founded in Toronto. While
open to the broader public, our membership is comprised
mainly of Christians and Jews of Polish origin. Many
of the world's Jews have their roots in Poland and,
given centuries of common history, it is not surprising
that there is a rich legacy to draw on.
Our objective is to foster a better understanding of
Polish-Jewish history and culture, and to encourage
an honest, open-minded dialogue between Jews and Poles.
We believe this will contribute to mutual understanding
and help us shed old prejudices and stereotypes destructive
to both Poles and Jews
Over the years we have learned
that it is not easy to promote such goals. We believe,
however, that even minor progress is a contribution
to others worldwide who strive for a peaceful dialogue
and reconciliation among various antagonistic ethnic
and religious groups. This goal of utmost importance
is difficult to achieve among nations or groups which
are culturally alienated. In our case, however, the
history of Polish-Jewish relations and our shared cultural
heritage give us reason to believe that our activities,
despite inevitable difficulties, are not only worth
the effort but stand to be successful.
The Foundation collaborates with
our sister organization, The Polish-Jewish Heritage
Foundation of Canada in Toronto, with the National Polish
American - Jewish American Council in the USA and with
the American Association of Jewish Studies in Cambridge
(Mass). Our objectives are shared and supported by some
of the most prominent scholars, artists and writers
in Canada, Great Britain, the United States, Israel
and Poland. Since its creation, the Foundation has organized
a series of lectures, seminars, discussions, film screenings,
exhibits and concerts. Among our eminent guests were
Archbishop Henryk Muszynski and Rabbi Dow Marmur. We
also welcomed such distinguished personalities as Władysław
Bartoszewski, Marek Edelman, Konstanty Gebert, Agnieszka
Holland, Jan Karski, Krystyna Kersten, Jerzy Kłoczowski,
Stanisław Krajewski and Hanna Krall.
Over the first ten years of our
activities, we invited numerous speakers and organized
several events each year. During the last four years,
however, we had to radically reduce the number of sponsored
events, because of lack of sufficient funds. The number
of our members diminished, and so did the membership
dues. We no longer receive the grant that had been forthcoming
for several years from the Canadian Government.
During the last four years we
have organized seven special events:
- In October 2002 we invited three women, "Children
of the Holocaust", two of whom were saved by
Irena Sendler (see the report on this event published
in NEW PUBLICATIONS. November 2002).
- In June 2003, we invited Prof.Jerzy Kloczowski,
director of the Central-Eastern Europe Institute of
in Lublin, Poland, who gave a lecture on the important
research carried out by this Institute, which also
publishes books and textbooks on the history and culture
of the minorities in Poland and om the countries on
Opoland's Eastern border..
- In November 2003, we invited Prof. Norman Davies,
a noted historian, who spoke on "Jewish aspects
of the Warsaw Uprising 1944"
- In February 2004, we invited Krzysztof Zanussi,
a leading Polish film director of documentaries feature
films, theatre productions and operas, who spoke on
"Poles, Jews and the Cinema".
- In September 2004 Sara Arm gave a talk on Ringellblum
Archives
- In October 2004 we organized the promotion of the
book "And Yet I still Have Dreams" by Joanna
Wiszniewicz, who gave a talk about the anonymous co-author
of the book.
- In December 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004, we organized
our traditional Hanukkah-Christmas - New Year celebration
for members and friends of our Foundation.
As a result of a reduction in
funding, the Board in renewing our mandate in 2001 recommended
less costly projects, which would have a greater impact
world-wide.:
1, The publication of Holocaust
Memoirs.
2. The creation of a Web site
to publish English and Polish articles from the Polish
and international press, which will be of interest to
our members.
Publication of Memoirs
A number of people who survived
the German occupation of Poland during WWII are still
alive and are scattered around the world. Each of their
personal histories is woven into the fabric of the momentous
events of that time. Their recollections of tragic or
fortunate experiences, fateful life decisions and miraculous
deliverances form valuable historical records. They
tell us much about those perilous times. The more testimonies
we have from those times, the broader will be our knowledge
of the world around us and the deeper our understanding
of it. We must not allow the facts to fade away into
oblivion as the witnesses pass on. We must also ensure
that those who did not survive are never forgotten.
One of the aims of the Polish-Jewish
Heritage Foundation is to seek out and publish the testimonies
of survivors in order to distribute them to libraries
for the benefit of future generations. We are encouraging
those who already have written their memoirs to publish
them. Those who are inclined to write, but have not
yet recorded their experiences, are urged to do so.
Copies of these books have been offered gratis and sent
to a number of different university libraries in Poland,
the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw and many libraries
and Holocaust centers in the world.
For more details, click on the
BOOKS link. Any questions or proposals from people interested
in the publication of memoirs should be addressed to
Ilona Gruda (grudai@videotron.ca)
or Agata Kozanecka (Krzysztof.Dzieciolowski@sympatico.ca,
tel 514 481 7733).
The Web site
Our Web site www.Polish-Jewish-Heritage.org
was technically designed in 2001. Its aim has been to
extend our activity by reaching even the most remote
Poles and Jews who share our cultural heritage and our
interest in Polish-Jewish history and relations. During
the last four years it has indeed fostered and broadened
mutual understanding between Jews and Poles far beyond
the region around the city of Montreal, as shown by
the letters to the web editor from Christians and Jews
around the world that express appreciation of our online
activity.
As the editor of our Web site,
in 2001 I invited six distinguished persons who support
our objectives and the idea of promoting Polish-Jewish
understanding worldwide on the Internet to join our
Advisory Council. They are: Wladyslaw Bartoszewski,
Zbigniew Brzezinski, Helena Datner, Marek Edelman, Eva
Hoffman and Czeslaw Milosz (he died in 2004). In 2003
we invited Dr Victor Goldbloom - former President of
the Christian-Jewish World Council. He has joined our
Advisory Council and assumed its chairmanship. We strongly
believe that the prestige of those distinguished persons
has very much helped our Web site to be perceived by
our readers as a credible and valuable source of information
on the history of Polish-Jewish relations and our heritage.
The Home Page of our Web site
opens with six links leading to different sections.
The INTERVIEW link opens pages with five original interviews
accorded to us in 1999 by Professor Wladyslaw Bartoszewski,
outstanding historian, author of numerous books and
articles on World War II and modern history; prisoner
of Auschwitz under the German occupation of Poland and
later co-founder of 'Zegota' (the Council for Aid to
Jews). In the interviews, he responds to several questions
selected by members of our Foundation as representative
of those most often asked. These questions reflect an
insufficient knowledge of the history of Jews in Poland,
which in turn often leads to mutual accusations. The
interviews help clarify the most common misunderstandings
and contribute to an honest dialogue.
The NEW PUBLICATIONS link gives
access to recently published articles. Other than some
controversial, often aggressive articles, there is not
much in North American publications on Jewish-Polish
relations, nor on our shared cultural heritage. This
being the case, we have decided to provide our readers
with information on these topics, drawn from the press
in Poland, a rich source for such material. We also
go through English online newspapers and periodicals,
from all over the world, in our effort to find articles
which would be of interest to our readers. We publish
on the average 12 to 16 recent articles monthly from
the Polish and international press.
In order to facilitate the selection
of texts appropriate to our goals, as a Web editor I
am collaborating with the editors of those newspapers,
periodicals, foundations and Web sites that often publish
articles on Polish-Jewish relations, dialogue and cultural
heritage, and are perceived as being serious and credible.
First and most important to us
is the collaboration with our sister organization, "Polish-Jewish
Heritage Foundation of Canada" (Toronto Chapter),
whose President, Peter Jassem, is very helpful - his
contribution to our Web site is of great value. Another
important ongoing collaboration is with the National
Polish American - Jewish American Council (NPAJAC).
Guy Billauer, NPAJAC Secretary, is of invaluable help
through the quality of his writing. The texts on the
NPAJAC Web site, express well the goals and views that
we share, and his letters to the editors of newspapers
that publish statements damaging to Poles, Jews or Polish-Jewish
relations can serve as examples of how to protest in
a gentle but convincing way.
We have divided our Web site into
Polish and English sections. In Poland we collaborate,
among others, with the editors of the Christian Culture
Foundation www.Forum-znak.com.pl, the editors of WIEZ,
who have given us permission to reprint the articles
from THOU SHALT NOT KILL: Poles on Jedwabne, a special
English edition of WIE¬, We also collaborate with the
Judaica CENTRE OF JEWISH CULTURE in Krakow, the OTWARTA
RZECZPOSPOLITA Association whose aim is to fight anti-Semitism
and all other forms of xenophobia, NIGDY WIECEJ (Never
Again), an organization established by Polish university
students to promote multicultural understanding and
education against racial and ethnic prejudices among
the young. We are open to further collaboration with
organizations that share our goals.
In addition to publishing important
English articles from all over the world, we have been
able to help readers interested in restoring Jewish
cemeteries in Poland by facilitating contacts with others
from around the world whose ancestors died in the same
town. (See, for instance, "The exchange of letters
on the restoration of the cemeteries in Losice",
New Publications, February 3, 2003)
We advise our readers that the
political and social views or interpretations of facts
reported by the authors of articles published on our
Web site are not necessarily shared or endorsed by the
Polish-Jewish Heritage Foundation. In wanting to bring
various points of view to our readers without resorting
to censorship, the editors cannot assume responsibility
for the authors' opinions. Canadian Laws prohibit us,
however, from publishing chauvinistic or extreme nationalistic
texts spreading hatred among ethnic or religious groups.
We do not have a team of editors
working for our Web site. I am a rather lonely Web editor.
Let me use this opportunity to invite our readers, to
send e-mails to the editor whenever they come across
an interesting article on a topic conforming with our
goals, giving its title, author, name of periodical
and date of issue or its internet address, which will
be much appreciated. Several new Polish and English
articles are published twice every month.(on the average
12 to 16). I am responsible for the choice of new articles
which I have to find in the internet, edit and transmit
to the Web master for publication, and thus I have to
accept the responsibility for any errors that do occur.
Errors are unavoidable, given our lack of professional
staff. Your comments, questions and suggestions are
welcome.
We wish to thank the Polish Socio-Cultural
Foundation of Montreal for the subsidy that we receive
every year towards the publication of our memoirs ($1,000),
and for expenses associated with our web site ($1,000).
I gratefully acknowledge the donation of US$500 received
in 2003 from Mrs. Judy Rosenvald in support of our web
site and I also thank Mr. Alex Soyka for his gift of
CAD$500 received in 2004.
I wish to extend my gratitude
to those who regularly contributed time and energy to
our Web site: Peter Jassem and Zbiniew Malecki for sending
interesting articles to the editor; Wanda Muszynska
and Maja Siemienska for verifying English language materials
and Hanavi Hirsh for proof-reading English texts. And
finally, a special thank-you to Dobrochna Drogowska,
our Web site developer and to Krzysztof Kascperek, our
Web Master.
Irena Bellert
Web editor
Mail to our Web site: editors@polish-jewish-heritage.org
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