News
Building Bridges of Friendship
Twenty-five educators from Israel took part in a twelve-day seminar entitled “Auschwitz in the collective memory of Poland and the world. The role and meaning of remembering Auschwitz-Birkenau for Jews and Poles” organized by the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust.
Among them were staff of Yad Vashem Memorial Institute in Jerusalem, guides who work in the museum’s history section, leader-guides who bring Israeli youth to Poland, as well as educators from other centers in Israel - Beit Lohamei Hagetaot (The Ghetto Fighters Kibbutz) and Massuah Institute.
The seminar program included, among other things, a specialized tour of the sites of former concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, lectures and workshops on the history of the German occupation of Poland, the history of Auschwitz, as well as issues of conflict and the memory of Polish Jews, Polish-Jewish relations and the history of the political and socio-political situation in Poland after 1989.
Participants met former Auschwitz prisoner Zofia Łyś, took part in workshops in the Archive, Collections Department, Preservation Department, and the national exhibits. They also had the opportunity to visit places that are usually not open to visitors, such as, a watchtower, the preserved block 28 where a part of the camp hospital was located.
— For several years I had intended on coming here to improve my qualifications in what I have been doing during the last years. This may sound strange, but this has been my dream. I simply wanted to know more. For me, this is very important – said seminar participant Adina Shtoyer.
The guests from Israel also visited other memorial sites in Poland, among them, the site of the former concentration camp Majdanek and death camp in Belzec, as well as Brzeszcze, where one of the Auschwitz sub-camps was located at the Jawiszowice coal mine where the prisoners worked.
During the working meeting, the guests from Israel and the ICEAH staff and guides had the opportunity to exchange views and share experience. They discussed the problems of teaching about Auschwitz and the Holocaust, methods of guiding at memorial sites, and of the further cooperation of Polish and Israeli institutions.
— I think it is very important, as many of these exchanges as possible will enable the construction of a bridge of friendship. When groups come from Oswiecim, I have the opportunity to guide them around our museum and it is a great honor for me. Polish-Israeli relations have changed in some ways for the better. I can see it all the time - Rachel Volkenfeld from Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem believes - First, it is dialogue. Once it didn’t exist, today it takes place all the time. We try as much as possible to meet with Polish youth. It’s not always possible for us, because we come for quite a short time. We need to organize so that we have time for meetings and visits. I think it is very important. We cannot change the past, we can only learn, but what is most important, is to build a better future together – she added.
In addition to lectures and visits to places associated with the history of the Holocaust, the seminar also included visiting sites connected with Polish history and culture, such as the Royal Wawel Castle, Wieliczka Salt Mine, and Museum of the Warsaw Uprising.
The seminars organized by the State Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau since 1993 have had the participation of more than 250 educators from Israel.
