Taube Foundation Annouces This Year’s Irena Sendler Award Winners

KJ, 16 November 2016
The winners of this year’s Irena Sendler Award, presented by the Taube Foundation, are journalist Małgorzata Niezabitowska and Tomasz Pietrasiewicz, founder and director of the “Grodzka Gate – NN Theatre” Centre in Lublin. The awards were presented in Kraków on 4th July 2014.

The Irena Sendler Award is presented annually to Poles who, through their activities, contribute to the preservation of Jewish heritage and the revival of Jewish culture in Poland. The Awardwas established in 2008 by Tad Taube and the Taube Foundation with the aim of remembering Irena Sendler, a Righteous Among the Nations, who saved many children from the Warsaw Ghetto.

Małgorzata Niezabitowskais a co-author of one of the first books to examine the life of Jews in contemporary Poland (Ostatni współcześni Żydzi Polscy) which, in 1993, she wrote together with her husband, photographer Tomasz Tomaszewski. She is a member of the Council of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews.

Tomasz Pietrasiewicz, founder and director of the “Grodzka Gate – NN Theatre” Centre in Lublin, and a director, led the restoration of Grodzka Gate, the aim of which was to memorialise the 45,000 Jews of Lublin and their pre-War flourishing culture. Pietrasiewicz utilised the theatre and other artistic enterprises to remind the local community of the city’s past character.

The Taube Foundation for Jewish Life and Culture, established in 2001, primarily supports charitable activities in the San Francisco region and in Poland. It aims at strengthening Jewish society and preserving Jewish heritage.