Help us recall the forgotten history of the polish righteous!
Join our cause! Help us by making a contribution!
Dear Sir or Madam,
On behalf of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews we would like to ask you for financial support of the program The Polish Righteous – Recalling Forgotten History.
Of the more than six thousand Polish Righteous decorated with the Yad Vashem Medal only about 500 are alive today. It is therefore important that we do everything possible to present their deeds and profiles to the young generation so that they be remembered and honored in Poland while they are still among the living. With this in mind, the Museum of the History of Polish Jews launched The Polish Righteous – Recalling Forgotten History, a program to document and present those who saved Jews during the Holocaust alongside with those whose lives were saved.
One of the programs main outcomes is the bilingual web page – www.righteous. pllaunched in 2008 where one can meet these extraordinary people, look into their eyes, hear their voices and browse through their wartime stories as well as through an extensive library of materials, books and video materials related to the subject. An inspiration for teachers, journalists and educators www.righteous.pl is a treasure trove of material for those seeking innovative ways to teach about the Holocaust.
The program’s team – several dozen researchers, mostly university students – have interviewed so far 300 rescuers. For most of them, this was a first opportunity to tell their stories for the record. We estimate that we will be able to reach some 150 of the still surviving Polish Righteous, interview them and publish their testimonies along with supplementary material, like photos, maps of hiding places during the Nazi occupation etc.
Simultaneously, we are looking for the testimonies of those rescued by the Righteous we interview in order to show the rescue story from many perspectives.
We are fully aware of the fact that we are dealing with one of the most sensitive issues in the Polish-Jewish dialogue. The Polish Righteous have been on the one hand forgotten, and loathed by their neighbors, and on the other hand shamelessly used to whitewash the image of anti-Semitic Poles. We are doing our best to avoid this trap. We report the true accounts full of fear of neighbors, passersby and schmaltzovniks. We also actively oppose the ”whitewashing” practices by voicing our opinion in events, discussions and educational activities devoted to the Righteous.
The program is made possible by private grants from Poland.
Your generous support would help us continue our work.
We are racing against time, trying to save from oblivion the actions of people who are passing away every day, leaving us without testimonies of their courage and the greatest human values.
You can help us show their achievements to the world. As of now, we have conducted 220 interviews. We have reached people who live in small towns and villages, who had not previously told their stories to anyone. In 2010 we seek to interview on video 130 of the rescuers still among us; our insufficient funds to not allow us to conduct these interviews.
Join our cause! Help us by making a contribution!
Upon saving one life, they each saved an entire world – let them live on in our memory.
Bank account numbers:
Description: Righteous
The Jewish Historical Institute Association in Poland *
ul. Tłomackie 3/5
00-090 Warszawa
Bank Pekao S.A., Oddział Warszawa
87 1240 6247 1111 0000 4975 6324 (for transfers in PLN)
15 1240 6247 1787 0000 4980 0838 (for transfers in USD)
92 1240 6247 1978 0000 4976 9920 (for transfers in EUR)
SWIFT: PKOPPLPW
*The Jewish Historical Institute Association in Poland (Stowarzyszenie Żydowski Instytut Historyczny w Polsce)is among the three institutions (the two other being the Polish Ministry of Culture and the Warsaw City Hall) who have founded and financed the construction of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw. Any payments for the benefit of the JHI Association, a public benefit organization, are subject to tax deduction under the Polish law.