New website of the Jan Karski Association

The organization, which was founded in March 2005 as a continuation of the Citizen Association “Memory – Dialogue – Reconciliation”, works for the development of the Polish-Jewish dialogue, preservation of the Polish national heritage and propagates openness and tolerance. The Association, with the seat in Kielce, tries to prevent all forms of racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia. Its president is Bogdan Białek, member of the Polish Council of Christians and Jews.

Among the initiatives of the Association should be mentioned: the organization of the commemoration of the anniversaries of the Kielce pogrom, funding of the Jan Karski monument and the Menora – a monument commemorating the extermination of 20 thousands Kielce Jews. The Association is also conducting educational activity. In 2005 it published the book of Henryk and Zbigniew Pawalec “Na rozkaz serca” (“At the heart’s command”) and in 2007 – the collection “Listy z getta” (“Letters from the ghetto”). Currently the Association is preparing the 64th anniversary of the Kielce pogrom, which will take place on July 5th, 2010. As part of the ceremony, the unveiling of a new monument commemorating the victims of the pogrom will take place.

The patron of the Association is Jan Karski, Righteous Among the Nations, legendary courier of the Polish underground during the Second World War, witness of the Holocaust. Jan Karski (born Jan Kozielewski) was born in Łódź in 1914. He graduated from the Faculty of Law and Diplomacy at the Jan Kazimierz University in Lwów. In November 1939 he reached Warsaw and started his underground activity. From January 1940 he had been participating in courier missions of the underground authorities. In 1943 Karski, who visited the president of the United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt, appealed to the representatives of the Allied authorities and asked them to save the Jews. He undertook two missions to the Polish Government-in-exile, handing over documents and a report concerning the situation in occupied Poland. With a lot of determination, he tried to reach with his account as many politicians and representatives of the public opinion as possible. In 1982 Karski was awarded with the title of the Righteous Among the Nations, and in 1995 he was honored with the Order of the White Eagle. He died in 2000 in Washington.