Conference „Jewish cultural heritage in contemporary Poland” in Bielsko-Biała

During the conference, the following sessions took place: “Common Heritage of the Multicultural Society”, “Jewish Cultural Heritage. Memory, Interpretation and the Chances for Development”, “How to Understand Heritage and Teach Respect for It”, and “Preservation of Heritage: Does it Live to Our Expectations?”. Among the participants were guests from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, University of Birmingham, Yad Vashem, Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, American Jewish University, Concordia University in Quebec, Jagiellonian University and the University of Rzeszów.

During the conference, workshops for teachers were organized, devoted to the figure of Jan Karski. In this section participated Ewa Wierzyńska from the Museum of the History of Polish Jews and Bogdan Białek, chairman of the Jan Karski Association. Afterwards, an evening of Jewish culture took place, the concert of the klezmer band “Chmielnikers” and the award ceremony in the competition “Jewish cultural heritage in my town. Diversity, Memory and Future”. The second day of the conference (July 2nd) was devoted to the popularization of Jewish culture.

The central figure of the workshops for teachers was Jan Karski, Righteous Among the Nations, legendary courier of the Polish underground during the Second World War, witness of the Holocaust. Jan Karski (born 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.

The exact program of the conference can be found on the website of the School of Public Administration in Bielsko-Biała.