A PROJECT OF A GARDEN OF THE RIGHTEOUS IN WARSAW HAS BEEN CREATED

KJ, 16 November 2016
The first meeting of the Honour Committee of the European Day for the Remembrance of the Righteous took place yesterday. The committee members, presided over by Tadeusz Mazowiecki, are planning to open a Garden of the Righteous in Warsaw. This way, they want to commemorate those who rescued the lives of others.

From this year on, the European Day for the Remembrance of the Righteous is celebrated in Europe on 6 March. The day was established by the European Parliament in May of last year, in response to the initiative of the GARIWO (Gardens of the Righteous Worldwide) Foundation from Italy.

The Polish committee will aim to diffuse the idea of Gardens of the Righteous and actively support the celebrations of the Remembrance Day in the country, as well as undertake activities leading up to the creation of a Garden of the Righteous in Warsaw. The garden will be based on the design of those already existing in, for instance, Milan and Sarajevo. The exact location is yet to be specified.

Apart from Mazowiecki, the meeting was also attended by: Anna Stupnicka-Bando from the Polish Association of the Righteous Among the Nations; Annalia Guglielmi, a representative of the GARIWO Foundation; and Piotr Jakubowski, the head of the History Meeting House in Warsaw. During the meeting of the Honour Committee, the Executive Committee was established; it will be responsible for the execution of the Committee's goals, for instance for sending a petition concerning the Garden of the Righteous to the municipal authorities of Warsaw.

Honouring the Righteous, that is those who in different times and places saved the lives and dignity of others, is an international initiative. A Righteous can be anyone who saves others in the reality of political regimes and genocides.