LUBLIN. TEART NN LAUNCHES A WEBSITE ON HOLOCAUST

The “Righteous Among the Nations” title is awarded by the Israeli Yad Vashem Institute to those who rescued lives of Jews during WWII. The Brama Grodzka-Teatr NN Centre has been collecting testimonies from the rescued and the rescuers for years. To this day, their have collected about 80 accounts.

One of the testimonies comes from the Ostrowski family from Radawczyk near Lublin. The family gave shelter to ten of their Jewish friends. – Some time after we published the testimony of Mrs Marianna Ostrowska, we were contacted by Sylvain Fersztman from France, the son of Symek. Symek was only 6 when his family lived in hiding in the house of the Ostrowski family.  All ten of them survived – says Dominika Majuk from the Brama Grodzka-Teatr NN Centre in Lublin.

Moszek – Sylvain Fersztman's uncle – was the one who came up with the idea of hiding in the house of the Ostrowski family.  As it turns out, in the 1990s he wrote down his memories of the times of occupation. The memoir, which he wrote in Hebrew, has never been published. – It was the first time we have ever heard about this document. We hope that our new website will help us reach out even further – emphasises Dominika Majuk.

In his memoir, Moszek Fersztman writes: “We were subjected to a new, difficult test of sorts – we couldn't move, talk, cough or snore. One of us always took guard. Polish workers were in the courtyard. We could hear them talk. They often talked about murders on Jews, which seemed to make them happy. We lived under a heated up roof, in putrid odour and extremely high temperatures. We had very little water, barely enough to last a week, and a bit of stale bread. We were exhausted and hungry.” In other part of his diary, Fersztman calls Marianna Ostrowska his “saviour angel” and says that he kept in touch with her after the war.

The story of the Ostrowski family is the basis of one the workshop plans that will be made available for teachers to use during lessons devoted to the Righteous Among the Nations.

The Teatr NN websitefeatures excerpts from testimonies, including those recorded on video, and archive photos. The materials are divided into three categories: people, stories, and places. – This will make it easier for teachers and pupils to find the information they need. What is more, ready-made lesson plans will be available for download from our website. At any time we can organise a series of workshops for the teachers, which may help them think of how to approach the subject of the Righteous Among the Nations during school lessons – adds Dominika Majuk.

The promotional event for the new educational portal will take place on Friday in Teart NN (Grodzka Street). Among those invited to the meeting are the principals of school cooperating with Teatr NN and a group of the Righteous Among the Nations from around Lublin. The admission to the meeting is free.
 

Source:
Article "Portal Teatru NN. Podpowie jak uczyć o Holokauście"
Małgorzata Szlachetka
Gazeta Wyborcza – Lublin no. 294 online