1 Facing History Poland Study Tour Agenda Warsaw, Oswiecim, and

Facing History Poland Study Tour Agenda
Warsaw, Oswiecim, and Krakow, Poland
DAY 1
Tour of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in 4 groups
Museum of the History of the Polish Jews | Anielewicza 6, 00-157, Warsaw
The group will be welcomed by Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Program Director, Core Exhibition at the Museum of the
History of Polish Jews. Museum staff will guide participants through the museum.
3:00-4:45 PM Welcome and Panel Conversation
Welcoming Remarks:
• Marian Turski, Chairman of the Council for the Museum of the History of the Polish Jews
• Dariusz Stola, Director of the Museum of the History of the Polish Jews
Panelists for a Conversation with Q&A:
Marian Turski, Dariusz Stola, and Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett
During dinner, the group will be welcomed by Rabbi Michael Schudrich, Chief Rabbi of Poland.
Optional Shabbat Services
DAY 2
Remarks from Antony Polonsky – The Formation of Polish Identity and Ways in Which Poles Have Attempted to
Confront the Holocaust Since 1944
Antony Polonsky, Albert Abramson Professor of Holocaust Studies at Brandeis University and Chief
Historian of the Permanent Exhibit of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews
Seminars
1. The Social and Cultural History of Hasidism
Presenter: Marcin Wodzinski, Professor of History & Literature & Director of the Department of Jewish
Studies at the University of Wrocław
2. Antisemitism in Poland Today
Presenter: Michał Bilewicz, Vice President of Forum for Dialogue and Coordinator for the Center for Research
on Prejudice at Warsaw University
3. Continued Conversation About Polish Identity
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Presenter: Antony Polonsky, Albert Abramson Professor of Holocaust Studies at Brandeis University
4. Jewish Life in Warsaw Before the Holocaust
Presenter: Ewa Malkowska-Bieniek, Curator at the Museum of the History of the Polish Jews
5. The Museum as an Agent for Social Transformation
Presenter: Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Program Director, Core Exhibition at the Museum of the History of
the Polish Jews
6. Neo-Fascism and Right-Wing Extremism in Poland and Europe
Presenter: Rafal Pankowski, Polish Magazine Editor, Author, and Lecturer
Deputy Editor of ‘Nigdy Wiecej’ (Never Again) magazine, part of the NEVER AGAIN Association
Introduction to the Taube Center for the Renewal of Jewish Life in Poland Foundation by Helise Lieberman and an
introduction to their walking tours through Muranow, the heart of pre-war Jewish Warsaw and the former ghetto
Walking Tour of the Warsaw Ghetto in 4 Groups led by the Taube Center
Tour Guides: Kornelia Cecerska, Marta Jankowska, Jagna Kofta, and Magdalena Matuszewska
The walking tours, which will begin and end at the Museum of the History of the Polish Jews, will focus on Jewish
Warsaw as a palimpsest, integrating the past and present, highlighting the interplay between the Museum and its
environs, and exploring Jewish absence and presence in Warsaw.
Panel Discussion with Holocaust Survivors and Righteous Gentiles
Panelists:
• Monika Koszyńska (facilitator), Chief Specialist in the Department of Historical Education at The Institute for
National Remembrance, Office of Public Education
• Anna Bando, President of the Association of Polish Righteous Among Nations
• Joanna Sobolewska-Pyz, President of the Association of “Children of the Holocaust” in Poland
Panel on Poland’s Transformation from Communism to Democracy
Panelists:
• Andrzej Folwarczny (facilitator), Founder and President of Forum for Dialogue
• Stephen Mull, U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Poland
• Henryk Wujec, Advisor to the President of Poland, Legendary Leader of Solidarity Movement
• Michał Boni, Former Minister of Administration and Digitization and Former Minister of Labour and Social Policy
• Aleksander Smolar, Chairman of the Board of the Stefan Batory Foundation and Political Scientist
DAY 3
Tour Option 1: Half-Day Trip to Treblinka
Tour Guides: Jagna Kofta, Museum of the History of the Polish Jews Education Department
Piotr Kowalik, Museum of the History of the Polish Jews Education Department
Treblinka was an “extermination” camp built by Nazi Germany in occupied
Poland during World War II. The camp operated officially between July 23,
1942 and October 19, 1943 as part of Operation Reinhard, the most
deadly phase of the Final Solution. During this time, more than 850,000
people, many of them Jews from Warsaw, as well as unknown numbers of
Romani people, died in its gas chambers. The victims included men,
women, and children.
At the memorial site that stands on the grounds of Treblinka, sculptor
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Franciszek Duszenko and architect Adam Haupt created a memorial that resembles a huge graveyard. They set 1,700
granite shards in concrete and then inscribed several hundred of the stones with the names of Jewish villages destroyed
during the Holocaust. At the center of the shattered landscape is a 40-foot obelisk that is split from top to bottom, a
menorah (a candelabra with seven branches) is carved into the top of the structure. At the base is a stone tablet with
the words “Never Again” in Yiddish, Russian, English, German, French, and Polish.
During this tour museum educators, Jagna and Piotr, will give an historical overview of Treblinka and what role this and
other “death camps” played in the carrying out of the “final solution.” How this history is represented in this memorial
will also be explored as participants interact with this unique and haunting memorial.
Tour Option 2: Okopowa Street Jewish Cemetery & Jewish Historical Institute
Tour Guides: Kornelia Cecerska, Marta Jankowska, and Alicja Mroczkowska
• Taube Center guides will take the group to Warsaw's Jewish Cemetery, where they will experience a condensed
narration of 200 years of Warsaw’s Jewish history through today.
The Okopowa Street Jewish Cemetery is one of the largest Jewish
cemeteries in Europe. It was established in 1806, consists of 82 acres of
land, and contains over 200,000 marked graves, as well as mass graves
of victims of the Warsaw ghetto. As the cemetery was established to
replace many smaller cemeteries closer to the city center, it was
designed to serve all Jewish communities of Warsaw, regardless of their
affiliation.
When the Warsaw ghetto was sealed in November 1940, this cemetery
was enclosed inside the ghetto. At that time, mourners required special
passes to get past the guards posted at the entrance to the cemetery.
Although the cemetery was closed down during WWII, after the war it was reopened and a small portion of it remains
active. Currently, the cemetery has 20 to 30 burials each year.
•
Welcome by Pawel Spiewak, Director of the Jewish Historical Institute.
•
A special viewing of selected samples from the Ringelblum Archives and a presentation by Agnieszka Reszke,
Head of the Archive Department at the Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute.
The Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw was created in
1947 as a continuation of the Central Jewish Historical Commission, founded
in 1944. Today, the Jewish Historical Institute is a state cultural institution
serving as a research and document repository and a center for academic
research, study, and the dissemination of knowledge about the history and
culture of Polish Jewry, including the Ringelblum Archives.
From 1940 to 1943, the Warsaw ghetto was cut off from the outside world.
During this time, a group of men and women gave themselves the Yiddish
name of Oyneg Shabbes or “Joy of the Sabbath” and joined the historian
Emmanuel Ringelblum in the patient and perilous task of studying and collecting information on the fate of the Jewish
community within the ghetto and more generally in the Nazi-occupied territories. Carefully concealed and later partially
retrieved in the ruins of the ghetto after the war, this unique testimony has been passed down to posterity under the
name of “The Ringelblum Archives" which have been preserved by the Jewish Historical Institute. This archive is
considered one of the most precious collections of Jewish life in Poland.
•
Guided visit through the Institute's temporary exhibitions.
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Keynote Speaker, Konstanty Gerbert
Konstanty Gerbert, a Polish Journalist and Jewish Activist, will speak to Jewish Life in Poland today. He will also be
commenting on the current crisis in Ukraine.
Continued Conversations in Breakout Groups with Members of Warsaw’s Diverse Jewish Community
Screening of Aftermath and Panel Discussion
Franek and Jozek Kalina, sons of a poor farmer, are brothers from a small village in central
Poland. Franek immigrated to the United States in the 80’s, and cut all ties with his family.
Only when Jozek’s wife arrives in the US, without explanation, does Franek finally return to his
homeland. Franek discovers that Jozek has been ostracized from the community, and
constantly receives various threats. As Franek and Jozek struggle to rebuild their relationship,
they are drawn into a gothic tale of intrigue. The two brothers eventually uncover a dark
secret that forces them to confront the history of their family and their hometown. Upon its
release in Poland, Aftermath received acclaim and also generated intense controversy. Polish
nationals have accused the film of being anti-Polish propaganda, as well as a distortion of a
sensitive piece of Polish history, leading the film to be banned in some Polish cinemas. While
this is a fictional account, it is based on the horrific events that took place in the small-town
Jedwabne in 1941. Members of the community corralled members of the Jewish community
into a barn which was set ablaze.
Q&A Panelists:
• Stanisław Krajewski (facilitator), Professor of Philosophy at the University of Warsaw and Co-Chairman of
The Polish Council of Christians and Jews
• Michał Bilewicz, Vice President of Forum for Dialogue and Coordinator for the Center for Research on Prejudice
at Warsaw University
• Krzysztof Persak, Director of the Office of the President of the Institute of National Remembrance – Commission
for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation and Research Fellow at the Institute of Political Studies
of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw
• Dariusz Jablonski, Producer of Aftermath
DAY 4
Orientation with Forum for Dialogue with a Focus on their “School of Dialogue” Program
Students participating in the “School of Dialogue” project get to know the history of their town, often discovering blank
spots on the map of knowledge of the no longer existing Jewish community. Through individual work supported by
Forum’s educators, they explore the history on their own and link their discoveries with the physical traces of Jewish
past in their surroundings.
School Visits with Forum for Dialogue in Groups
Conversation with Forum for Dialogue Staff
Forum staff will share their personal stories and how and why they became involved in their work.
DAY 5
Tour of the Town and Visit to the Auschwitz Jewish Center
The group’s tours will be led by Tomasz Kuncewicz, Director of the Auschwitz Jewish Center, and
Maciek Zabierowski, Education and New Media Manager of the Auschwitz Jewish Center.
In 1995, the Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation was established in order to rebuild a Jewish cultural, spiritual, and
educational center in Oswiecim. In September 2000, the Auschwitz Jewish Center opened its doors to visitors from all
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over the world. It is a non-governmental organization which exists to serve as a guardian of Jewish memory, as well as to
educate the public about the Holocaust.
Tour of Birkenau
“Birkenau is where the Nazis erected most of the machinery of mass extermination in which they murdered
approximately one million European Jews. At the same time, Birkenau was the largest concentration camp (with nearly
300 primitive barracks, most of them wooden). Over a hundred thousand prisoners were here in 1944: Jews, Poles,
Roma, and others. The nearly 200 hectares of grounds include the ruins of the gas chambers and crematoria and places
filled with human ashes. There are primitive prisoner barracks and kilometers of fences and roads.” -- AuschwitzBirkenau State Museum Website
DAY 6
Tour of Auschwitz I
“Auschwitz I is where the Nazis opened the first Auschwitz camps for men and women, where they carried out the first
experiments at using Zyklon B to put people to death, where they murdered the first mass transports of Jews, where
they conducted the first criminal experiments on prisoners, where they carried out most of the executions by shooting,
where the central jail for prisoners from all over the camp complex was located in Block No. 11, and where the camp
commandments office and most of the SS officers were located. From here, the camp administration directed the
further expansion of the camp complex.” As part of our tour, we will be viewing “national exhibitions” that are housed
in former barracks, which were first established in the 1960s. -- Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Website
Panel Discussion
Reflecting on the purpose of memorial sites now and into the future
Panelists:
• Piotr Setkiewicz, Head of the Research Department at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum
• Robert Kuwalek, Curator and Historian at the State Museum of Majdanek
• Father Manfred Deselaers, Director of the Education Department at the Center for Dialogue and Prayer in
Oswiecim
DAY 7
Walking Tour of Kazimierz, a historical Jewish district of Krakow, in 4 Groups
Tour Guides: Małgorzata (Gosia) Fus, Jakub Janeczko, Bartosz Wencel, and Alicja Zioło
Panel Discussion
Reflecting on the changing nature of Kazimierz through personal narrative
Panelists:
• Jakub Nowakowski, Director of the Galicia Jewish Museum
• Jonathan Webber, Professor of Anthropology at the Institute of European Studies at
Jagiellonian University
Introduction to the JCC
Jonathan Ornstein, Director of the Jewish Community Center (JCC) in Krakow, will give a quick introduction to the JCC to
prepare for a visit to the Center.
2:00-3:00 PM Seminars
1. Touring the Exhibition, “Traces of Memory,” on the Subject of Jewish Heritage in Polish Galicia
Presenter: Jakub Nowakowski, Director of the Galicia Jewish Museum
2. Jewish Poland, Real and Imagined: Memory, Memorialization, and Facing History
Presenter: Jonathan Webber, Professor of Anthropology at the Institute of European Studies at
Jagiellonian University
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3. Jewish Life in Krakow in the Present Day and Into the Future
Presenters: Jonathan Ornstein, Director of the JCC in Krakow and
Anna Gulinska, Director of Programming at the JCC in Krakow
4. Challenges, Obstacles, and New Developments in Coming to Terms with Collective Memory of the Holocaust
in Education and Beyond in Post-1989 Poland
Presenter: Jolanta Ambrosewicz-Jacobs, Director of the Center for Holocaust Studies at the
Jagiellonian University
5. Rethinking Poles and Jews
Presenter: Annamaria Orla-Bukowska, Social Anthropologist at the Institute of Sociology of the
Jagiellonian University
Visit to Institute of European Studies of the Jagiellonian University and the Center for Holocaust Research
Castle in Przegorzaly
Despite resembling an ancient royal residence, The Castle in Przegorzaly, a
picturesque estate, actually only dates back to the late-1920s when local architect
and conservator Adolf Szyszko-Bohusz built the building today known as the “Bastion”
as his family residence. Seized by the Nazis at the start of the war, the estate was
soon transformed into a grand residential castle for Otto Wachter, the Nazi Governor
of the Krakow district. Today, the Castle houses Jagiellonian University’s Institute of
European Studies and the Center for Holocaust Studies.
Musical Performance and Presentation
Performers and Presenters:
• Janusz Makuch, Director and Founder of the Krakow Jewish Festival
• Urszula Makosz, Professional Singer and Actress, performs traditional Yiddish music
• Przemyslaw Piekarski, Senior Lecturer in Yiddish at the Jagiellonian University
This concert features traditional Jewish songs in Yiddish, Hebrew, and Spanish. The music is intermixed with
commentary, which explains the origin of the songs, the background of their lyrics, and the circumstances in which the
songs have been created and performed. Topics covered include tradition, religion, and the history of Jews, both in
Europe, Israel, and in areas of the Iberian Peninsula.
DAY 8
Optional Half-Day Morning Tour: City of Krakow Historical Museum – Oscar Schindler’s Enamel Factory
“Krakow Under Nazi Occupation, 1939 to 1945”
This unique exhibition highlights prewar Krakow, the German invasion in 1939, Krakow as the capital of Poland under
the Nazi occupation, the sorrows of everyday living in the occupied city, family life, the devastating wartime history of
Krakow Jews, the resistance movement, the underground Polish state, and lastly the Soviet capture of the city. One
section of the exposition deals with Oskar Schindler himself and the fate of his Jewish workforce.
Optional Half-Day Afternoon Tour: Historic Krakow
During this tour, you will experience the rich history of Krakow which was added to UNESCO’s list of World Heritage in
1978. Formerly the seat of Kings of Poland, the city attached the most powerful families who made their impact on the
city with rich architecture, educational facilities and art collections. During the WWII, Krakow was not destroyed and
thus still represent its glorious days. Begin with a visit to the Wawel Hill which is the embodiment of Poland's former
monarchical glory. This is the place of the Royal castle and the 14th century cathedral which hosted nearly all the Polish
monarchy's coronations and funerals. From the Wawel hill, continue on foot along Kanonicza and Grodzka streets to
reach the Jagiellonian University including the Collegium Maius where the famous astronomer Copernicus was a
student. Later, enter one of Europe’s most beautiful and impressive market squares, where local craftsmen and artists
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still display their works. Complete the tour with a visit to the St. Mary's Church, to admire the biggest wooded Gothic
altar in the world.
Optional Full-Day Tour: Memory and Memorialization – Confronting the Past in Small Villages Outside of Krakow
Participants are given the special opportunity to travel into the countryside with scholar and activist Jonathan Webber
(see bio), to an area of small villages fifty miles south-east of Kraków, which before the Holocaust had a significant
Jewish population. The purpose of the tour is to show how both the Jewish past and the murder of the Jews is being
memorialized locally through cooperative efforts between Jews and Poles. Depending on timing and the weather,
featured sites include a former rural shtetl; an imaginatively restored Jewish village cemetery; a walk-through outdoor
model of a typical local village in a beautiful garden setting; a Holocaust monument at a mass grave in the depths of a
forest; a tombstone deep in another forest marking the place where a Jewish family was shot, together with a Pole who
had tried to save them; and a monument in a Roman Catholic cemetery to a Righteous Gentile who rescued two Jewish
women. The countryside setting of all these places is very powerful. This trip will provide an in-depth, focused image of
both the historical and present-day realities in one particular locality of Poland.
Vist to the Salt Mines
The Salt Mine in Wieliczka is one of the highlights of Poland and Europe. Since 1978 it is on UNESCO's World Heritage
List. Prior to the dinner in the Jan Haluszka Chamber I, you will visit part of the beautiful and oldest working salt mine in
the world, where the stalls have been wonderfully decorated with salt carvings over several centuries. During the
underground tour you will see some of the highlights of the Salt Mine. The center where we will have dinner is
considered the most striking of the event halls.
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