Nine non-Jewish individuals and a Foundation have been honored for their work in preserving, promoting, and caring for Jewish culture and heritage in Poland and promoting Jewish-Polish dialogue.
The recognitions marked the 24th edition of the annual Preserving Memory awards, which were established in 1998 by the American lawyer Michael Traison, who (COVID restrictions permitting) spends part of the year in Poland, to thank and pay tribute to non-Jewish Poles engaged in such activities.
Because of COVID restrictions, the awards were presented at a virtual ceremony hosted by the Galicia Jewish Museum in Krakow as part of the Museum’s events during the Krakow Jewish Culture festival. The ceremony was broadcast live on Zoom and Facebook.
Over the years more than 270 people and organizations, mostly volunteers and mostly from small, far-flung towns, have been honored for activities ranging from cleaning up Jewish cemeteries to running Jewish museums to carrying out school projects on Jewish history and memory.
The awards are organized by: the Michael H. Traison Fund for Poland, the Galicia Jewish Museum, the Embassy of Israel in Warsaw, Emile Karafiol Z”L, the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland, the Jewish Federation of the Quad Cities, the World Jewish Congress
Watch a video from last year, in which Michael Traison explains why he established the awards:
This year’s awardees are:
Przemek Panasiuk, Warsaw
Przemek Panasiuk has been involved with The Matzevah Foundation since 2010. Initially, he acted as a volunteer, being very involved in the foundation’s activities. After four years, he became a member of the Foundation’s Board as the Director of Operations in Poland. His vast knowledge of halacha, culture and tradition is widely appreciated. Every year, during the summer holidays, he spends a few weeks dedicating his time to volunteers from Poland and the USA cleaning cemeteries in various parts of Poland, including Oswięcim, Zambr6w, and Krzepice.
Inga Marczyńska, Jaslo
Inga Marczynska is an educator who cooperates with the Committee for the Preservation of Jewish Cultural Monuments in Tarn6w. As part of her work, she organises workshops on culture and tradition, combining educational and artistic elements. She takes care of the mass grave of Jewish inhabitants of Kolaczyce, Jaslo, Pilzno and Brzostek murdered during the Second World War.
This year, she managed to exhume the bodies of two Jewish girls brutally murdered during the liquidation of the ghetto in Kolaczyce: Salomea Korzennik and Rachela Pacher. Currently, their resting place is in the Jewish cemetery in Tarn6w. Together with her children, she engages in work helping and cleaning up at Jewish cemeteries in Dukla, Krosno, Gryb6w and Czarny Dunajec. She also organizes local events commemorating Jewish inhabitants of the Subcarpathian region
Fundacja Pasaże Pamięci, Tomaszów Mazowiecki
The Arcades of Memory was established in 2016 in Tomaszów Mazowiecki on the initiative of Dr. Justyna Biernat. The foundation organises and leads many cultural events and scientific activities on the subject of the local history of Tomasz6w Mazowiecki. Among its activities, the foundation prepares bilingual Polish-English texts about the Jewish history of the city and organizes walks around the former Tomasz6w ghetto. As part of their activities, they have published three books, including a Guide to the Tomasz6w Ghetto.
Marek Chmielewski, Orla
Marek Chmielewski is the head of the Orla municipality. He is involved in Jewish heritage activities at the local government and private levels. He is the caretaker of the Jewish cemetery and the synagogue, where cultural events take place: concerts, exhibitions, and film screenings. He is also involved in the recovery of tombstones taken from the cemetery. With his help, a monument was erected, dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust of Krynki. Together with two teachers, he archives and digitizes wartime and early post-war documents and organises workshops involving local youth. Together with Dariusz Horodecki, they created an album of photographs “Oria – historia pisana obrazem” (“Orla – A Story Written by Images”) , and the accompanying exhibition was the largest display of old photographs of Orla and its inhabitants.
Waldemar Polański
Waldemar Polanski is the CEO of the Polański Foundation, which was established in 2019. He is the initiator of a number of activities dedicated to commemorating Dawid Kurzmann. He is working vigorously to have a mural and a commemorative plaque created in Rzesz6w. Currently, he is focusing on creating a memorial site in Sobolewo, where a mass murder of the inhabitants of the local ghetto took place. He is also involved in recovering matzevot for the Jewish cemetery in Maciejowice.
Elżbieta Ferenc, Częstochowa
Elzbieta Ferenc is the CEO of the Adullam Christian Foundation, which serves the residents of Częstochowa. She also takes care of education in the context of coexistence and multicultural integration. Part of her activities include working for the preservation of the memory of former Jewish residents of Częstochowa and contacting descendants of Częstochowa Jews who lived in the city before the Second World War. Thanks to her, the ohel of the Rabbi of Pilce, which is located in the Jewish cemetery in Częstochowa, has been successfully adapted and welcomes Hasidic groups who now come to the city to pray at the Rabbi’s grave. In cooperation with the Association of Częstochowa Jews in Israel and The Matzevah Foundation of the USA she organizes assistance and instruction for high school students from Israel during the cemetery’s cleaning works.
Teresa Klimowicz
Teresa Klimowicz is a philosopher and historian. She is the CEO of the Stowarzyszenia Studnia Pamięci, as well as an education trainer about the Holocaust and Jewish heritage. She works and teaches at the Maria Sklodowska-Curie University in Lublin at the Studio of Jewish Culture and History. She takes care of Jewish cemeteries and organises cleanup campaigns. She also cooperates with the Grodzka Gate – NN Theatre. She works to preserve the memory of Jewish heritage in Lublin and its surroundings
Elwira Jeglińska, Slesin
Elwira Jeglinska is the guardian of the memory of the Jews of Slesin. She is the author of the translation of Hella Kaufmann’s diary, a book with memories of her childhood and youth. She also analyzed the diary of Hilda Dembolecka, in order to deepen her research on the pre-war history of the town’s Jewish inhabitants. In addition to this, she has written many articles about the local pre-war Jewish community, searched archives, found, and analyzed documents. She is the author of a virtual exhibition of photographs of the Jews of Slesin. She also wrote a book showing the influence of Jewish cuisine on Polish culinary customs in the Slesin area.
Urszula Antosz- Rekucka, Mszana Dolna
Joanna Czaban, Krynki
Joanna Czaban is a cultural animator and social activist. After studying abroad, she returned to Krynki, where she cares for the preservation of multiculturalism in the Eastern Borderlands. She devotes much of her attention to the history and relations of Polish-Jewish-Belarusian people. She is also involved in artistic activities – she performs songs in minority languages of the border land, adding commentary on their traditions and history. She takes care of the Jewish cemetery, which is one of the best preserved necropolises in this area. A few times a year, she also organizes clean-ups of the area there.