Melbourne Jewish Holocaust Museum & Research Centre

The subject of Polish-Jewish relations and dialogue in contemporary Poland drew over 150 people from Melbourne’s Polish and Jewish communities to hear Andrzej Folwarczny, founder and CEO of Poland’s Forum For Dialogue.

Andrzej’s address, the videos which he showed and the discussion which followed, featuring well-known Melbourne journalist Michael Gawenda, told the story of his organisation’s amazing work, particularly with Polish young people.

As well as combatting antisemitism and racial vilification, Andrzej spoke of how his organsation is encouraging young Poles, whether in cities, towns or villages, to uncover and discover their location’s Jewish history and heritage.

During his address, Andrzej stated how pleased he was to see many familiar faces in the audience, people who had visited his offices in Warsaw and who supported the vital work he and his organisation are doing in today’s Poland.

Beth Weizmann Jewish Community Centre

Around 250 people from Melbourne’s Polish and Jewish communities filled the auditorium of the Beth Weizmann Jewish Community Centre in Melbourne for the Australian premiere screening of the POLIN Museum’s film “Ocaleni” (The Rescued) and for the Official Opening of the Australian showing of the POLIN Museum’s exhibition “They Risked Their Lives – Poles Who Saved Jews During the Holocaust”.

The screening and display were part of the Australian Society of Polish Jews & Their Descendants’ major event which paid tribute to the Polish Righteous Among the Nations.

Master of Ceremonies was ASPJ Vice-President and long-time POLIN Museum volunteer translator, Andrew Rajcher, who told the audience that this event honoured not only those Polish Righteous as recognised by the Yad Vashem Institute, but also those Poles who were killed by the Nazis, along with the Jews they were aiding, and about whom we may never know.

Prior to the Official Opening of the Exhibition, a short memorial service was held with the lighting of seven candles – one each for the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust, and one more for the Polish Righteous who survived the War and have since died, and for those Poles who were murdered during the War while trying to help Jews. Memorial prayers were recited by Rabbi Phillip Heillbrun and Ks.Wiesław Słowik.

The formal part of the event concluded with Ambassador Ben-Shmuel and Consul-General Łuk-Kozika jointly cutting the ribbon to officially open the Exhibition.

Pauline was presented with the Award by actress Magda Szubanska, whose yearning to meet Polish Jewish descendants, and compare their stories with those of her own Polish grandparents, had led to long conversations with Pauline.

Having visited Poland the first time 11 years ago, Pauline realised that the country was not just a place of death and suffering, but also a place where Poles and Jews had lived together for centuries. This led to Pauline advocating for the betterment of Polish-Jewish relations and for mutual respect and understanding.

Guest speaker at the presentation event was writer Arnold Zable who spoke on the theme of “Towards a Better Society”.

The 2014 Award was presented in the presence of the Honorary Polish Consul-General in Melbourne, Dr.George Łuk-Kozika who, himself, was the recipient of the inaugural Award in 2011.

The ASPJ was pivileged to host Rabbi Maciej Pawlak’s visit to Melbourne, intended to highlight the fact that there is an emerging Jewish community in Poland and that, like him, every day in Poland, someone else discovers their own Jewish identity.

The highlight of his visit was the public function in which Rabbi Pawlak was “in conversation” with Zeddy Lawrence, National Editor of the “Australian Jewish News”.