New York: Meeting devoted to Jan Karski

As part of the meeting took place the American premiere of the animated short film “Messenger from Hell”. The legendary authors of “Batman” (Neal Adams) and “Spiderman” (Stan Lee), and Raphael Medoff, expert in the history of the Holocaust created together with ABC News and the educational section of the Walt Disney studio a work popularizing the history of Jan Karski through the new medium of “animated cartoon”, a unique combination of cartoon, newsreel and photography. Apart from this screening, a panel discussion took place in New York. Among its participants were: Sigmund Rolat, philanthropist who rendered great service to the Polish-Jewish dialogue and the Jewish life in Poland, one of the main benefactors of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews; Prof. Laurel Leff, author of the book “Buried in The Times”, expert on US media coverage of the Holocaust; Dr. Rafael Medoff, Holocaust historian and author; Ewa Wierzyńska, representative of the Museum of History of Polish Jews, director of the “Jan Karski – Unfinished Mission” project. Among other guests were the members of the trust council of the Kosciuszko Foundation, representatives of the Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, representatives of the Polish community in the US, Holocaust survivors, journalists of Jewish media and media of the Polish community in New York, and teachers and students of the elite Seton Hall Catholic School in New Jersey.

The Polish premiere of the film “Messenger from Hell” took place in the Kultura Cinema in Warsaw on July 13th, 2010 during the show of films devoted to Jan Karski, organized during the celebrations of the 10th anniversary of the death of the Polish courier and Righteous Among the Nations. During the meeting Sławomir Grünberg’s film devoted to the unveiling of the monument to Jan Karski in Manhattan was also presented.

The project “Jan Karski – Unfinished Mission” is devoted to the memory of Jan Karski on the 10th anniversary of his death. The events that are part of the celebrations, inaugurating a four-year program for the preservation of the memory of Jan Karski both in Poland and around the world, are organized by the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute in collaboration with the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, the Polish History Museum and other partners. The director of the project is Ewa Wierzyńska from the Museum of the History of Polish Jews. More about the celebrations of the 10th anniversary of the death of Jan Karski can be found on the website of the project “Jan Karski – Unfinished Mission”.

More about Jan Karski, Righteous Among the Nations: ”Polish Righteous”.