A dozen non-Jewish Polish activists will be recognised this summer for their work in preserving, promoting, and caring for Jewish culture and heritage in Poland and promoting Jewish-Polish dialogue. They are the recipients of the 26th annual Preserving Memory Awards. Mazel tov — and thanks — to all!
Presented annually during the Krakow Jewish Culture Festival, the awards were established in 1998 by the American lawyer Michael Traison, who spends part of the year in Poland, to thank and pay tribute to non-Jewish Poles engaged in such activities.
This year’s awards ceremony takes place at noon on July 2, at the Galicia Jewish Museum.
Over the years some 300 or so 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.
Here’s this list of this year’s honorees — several are activists involved with the broader projects ‘People Not Numbers” and “Leaders of Dialogue.”
Dominik Szulc (from Kraśnik)
Doctor of humanities in the field of history, employee of the Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Social Guardian of Monuments of Kraśnik County. Author of many scientific publications. He conducts lectures and meetings for young people and residents of the region on local history. Organizer of the cleaning action of the Jewish cemetery in Kraśnik. Winner of the nationwide award “Past / Future” in the category “Commemoration in the field”.
Izabela Sekulska (Mielec/Tarnów)
A leader of Dialogue from Mielec, a resident of Tarnów, a member of the Committee for the Protection of Monuments of Jewish Culture in Tarnów. Local government employee, graduate of the Jagiellonian University. She has been conducting activities related to Jewish issues since 2019, focused mainly on her hometown – Mielec, but also on Tarnów. Founder of the Facebook group Mayn Shtetele Mielec and author of the blog of the same name. Organizer of the action of tidying up cemeteries and memorial sites as well as celebrations commemorating the Jewish community of Mielec, initiator of the creation of permanent commemorations.
Marian Lackowski (Chełm)
President of the Association of Wojsławice Enthusiasts, social activist, member of the Social Citizens’ Committee for the Construction of the Monument Commemorating the Chełm People Murdered in the Holocaust that managed to bring the victims to remembrance on the 80th anniversary of the liquidation of the ghetto in Chełm. For several years he has been collecting documents concerning the history of Jews from the region. He helps in the preparation of the Chamber of Tradition of the Wojsławice Land.
Agnieszka Kostuch and Katarzyna Sudaj (Trzemeszno)
Agnieszka is the co-founder of the bilingual website www.zydzi-trzemeszno.pl, popularizing the history of Jews from Trzemeszno. For more than two years she has been researching the history of Jews from Trzemeszno and sharing her discoveries by publishing articles about them. She participated in the inventory of local matzevot.
She currently lives in Trzebinia, where she is involved in commemorating the Jewish community and fights to save the local Merchant Synagogue, the last building of this type in the Chrzanów district. She is the Social Caretaker of this building. She co-created the Kehila Trzebinia Association, of which she is the president, which perpetuates the memory of the history and culture of Polish Jews and protects their heritage.
Katarzyna has been actively working in the Team for the Tidying up and Commemoration of the Jewish Cemetery in Trzemeszno since 2021. In 2022, she took part in the inventory of the Trzemeszno matzevot and the process of creating a lapidarium in April 2023. She runs the “Jewish Cemetery in Trzemeszno” profile on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/
Gabriela Nowak-Dąbrowska and Piotr Dąbrowski (Fundacja Nobiscum) (Płock)
Educators, coordinators of many projects devoted to Jews from Płock. Social activists, cooperating with many cultural institutions. Authors of many publications, both books and articles devoted to the history of the Jewish community of Mazovia. Thanks to their activities, they restore the memory of individual biographies of Płock residents of Jewish origin.
Wojciech Głowacz (Czarny Dunajec)
As a volunteer of the “People, Not Numbers” action of the Popiela Family Center Foundation, he got involved in work at the Jewish cemetery in Czarny Dunajec and takes care of maintaining order there. He actively participates in commemorating the Jews of Podhale. He guides tours from Israel visiting the region. Together with a group of volunteers, he co-organized the events marking the 80th anniversary of the destruction of the local Jewish community as part of “Operation Reinhardt”. He actively works for the memory of the victims in the Town and Commune of Czarny Dunajec.
Narcyz Listkowski (Rabka Zdrój)
Leader of Dialogue in Rabka Zdrój. An inhabitant of the building of the former mikveh, he devotes his time to researching history, guides groups on a social basis, takes care of the site of the former synagogue, commemorates and, together with the authors of the “Historia Rabki” blog, regularly co-creates an event called Walk of Remembrance. Awarded by the PolCul Foundation in recognition of his efforts to find, protect and restore traces of the presence of the Jewish community in Rabka and the wartime fate of its representatives.
Karolina Panz (Nowy Targ)
Sociologist, member of the Center for Holocaust Research Association. She lives in Podhale region and for several years has been researching the fate of local Jews during the Holocaust and the post-war period. She is involved in activities to restore the memory of the Jews of Podhale: she is a Leader of Dialogue supported by the Forum for Dialogue Foundation and a volunteer of the “People not Numbers” project of the Popiela Family Center Foundation. Her work made it possible to commemorate several thousand Jews from Podhale by name.
Jerzy Tracz (Lubartów)
Local social worker, cultural animator and former councilor of Lubartów. For years, he has been taking care of the Lubartów Jewish cemetery on his own, which he systematically cleans and puts in order. He maintains the memory by telling local and foreign visitors about the pre- and post-war history of the cemetery.
Ewa Paul (Bełchatów)
An activist from Bełchatów, an English teacher by education. Co-organizer of the conference “Prewar Bełchatów – the city of three cultures”, co-author of the post-conference publication under the same title and the book “Jews from Belchatow and Neighboring Towns”. She runs a Polish-English Facebook group “The Jews of Belchatow. Bełchatowscy Żydzi”, which is dedicated to contemporary Bełchatów residents and descendants of Bełchatów Jews. Co-organizer of the annual Remembrance Day, held on August 18, to commemorate the liquidation of the Bełchatów Ghetto.
3 comments on “Poland: Mazel Tov! This year’s Preserving Memory Awards honoring non-Jewish Poles who preserve, protect, and promote Jewish cultural heritage and memory”
Ewa Paul has been a steady source of information and kindness in the years since I found the Facebook group and joined. Belchatow now has a much more meaningful and three dimensional nature. Before seeing the photographs and reading the reports and stories, my understanding of my Father’s home town, was very limited. I now appreciate and value all these bits and pieces as they have enriched my life and the memory of my dear Father, his parents, grandparents and many Aunts, Uncles and cousins, as well. Congratulations to Ewa Paul and all her efforts!
Mazal tov and thank you to all of you involved in this hard work!
Mazel Tov and Thank You to all involved in keeping the memory of the Jewish Culture and people alive in Poland.