Righteous Medal Award Ceremonies and Irena Sendler Award Presentation in Kraków

Mateusz Szczepaniak, 16 November 2016
Righteous Medal and Irena Sendler Award presentation ceremonies took place during the 26th Festival of Jewish Culture held recently in Kraków. Those posthumously honoured as Righteous were the Lublin, Ślęzak, Łysik and Kamiński families. The following day, the Taube Foundation presented the Irena Sendler Award to those who have preserved and restored Poland's Jewish heritage.

The ceremony honouring the Righteous took place on 30th June 2016 at the Galicia Jewish Museum in Kraków's Kazimierz district. Those who took part included the Israeli Ambassador Anna Azari, the USA Consul General in Kraków Walter Braunohler, as well as the families of the Righteous. Holocaust survivors Ephraim Peleg and Łucja Sęktas also spoke during the event.

"Several years ago, the first people who helped me to survive during World War II were honoured as Righteous", said Ephraim Peleg. "Today, the others are being honoured - those who I have remembered. More people certainly deserve this medal."

Born as Ferdynand Verderber in Kraków in 1936, he, his parents and brother found themselves in the Kraków ghetto. He survived thanks to help received from Franciszka and Benedykt Lublin, Michalina and Jan Ślęzak and Weronika and Wiktor Łysik. His parents perished in a death camp. After the War, he and his brother left for Israel.

Anna and Maksymilian Kamiński's medal and certificate were accepted by Łucja Sęktas (Monika Goldwasser), whom the Kamiński couple rescued during the Holocaust and whom they later adopted. Moved emotionally during the ceremony, she expressed thanks for honouring her adoptive parents and called for help for those currently in need.

The Irena Sendler Award ceremony took place the next day at the Tempel Synagogue. The Honorary Award Committee comprises members of the Taube Foundation Advisory Council as well as leaders of Poland's Jewish community. Since 2008, they have presented the award in recognition of those who have preserved Poland's Jewish heritage.

This year, the Award went to Monica Adamczyk-Garbowska, Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Lublin's Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, in recognition of her immense contribution, in Poland and around the world, to the teaching and publication of Jewish literature and the Yiddish language. The Award was also presented to Maria Piechotka, renowned architect and author of a range of publications. who has contributed to the preservation of the memory of buildings destroyed during the War, in particular timber synagogues.

Following the ceremony, the first annual concert took place dedicated to the memory of Jan Kulczyk, who passed away last year. He was presented with the Irena Sendler Award in 2015 and is remembered as a major benefactor of the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews.

A gathering of the Righteous Among the Nations also took place during the Festival of Jewish Culture. They laid flowers at the memorial plaque located in the courtyard of the Remu Synagogue.