Ambassador of Israel Yacov Livne hosted a discussion on a forum of organizations combating anti-Semitism & other forms of xenophobia, an important challenge which mustn’t be neglected.

Participated in the meeting: Paula Sawicka and Marek Gumkowski (Open Republic Association), Anna Tatar (Never Again Association), Sebastian Rejak (American Jewish Congress) and Bogdan Białek (The Jan Karski Society).

17 May was chosen to commemorate the decision to remove homosexuality from the International Classification of Diseases of the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1990. The day aims to coordinate international events that raise awareness of LGBT rights violations and stimulate interest in LGBT rights work worldwide. LGBTQ+ rights are human rights that still need to be defended.

The Virtual Reconstruction of the Warsaw Great Synagogue is commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and was projected for the first time in Warsaw 2017.

May our love and memory overcome destruction and death.

Projected in Siegen (Germany) on the exterior wall of the Bunker on November 9, 2021. The Siegen synagogue stood on this property from 1904 until 1939/40.

Honourable Commissioners,

The war in Ukraine has triggered a humanitarian crisis. An estimated Two million Ukrainian refugees have already arrived in the EU amid the illegal Russian invasion, the vast majority of them in Poland. In response to that, in their official accounts, the representatives of the Polish government stress that aid is coordinated, financed and managed in Poland from the national level and that public national authorities are at the forefront of the health crisis management.

This is simply not true!

Many Polish NGOs, looking from the perspective of helping at Polish border crossings, railway stations and night shelters for the past two weeks; can say only one thing: it is the people of Poland and the Ukrainian community that live here, supported by NGOs, who all rushed to help those fleeing the illegal war in Ukraine. Polish NGOs mobilized all possible resources and are the ones providing direct humanitarian aid at the border, in the warzone and inside Polish cities and villages and NOT the Polish Government!

Letter in pdf

23rd February, 2022

Dear Friends,

In face of the deadly threat to the independence, territorial integrity and sovereign statehood of Ukraine – we stand with You.

We are well aware that the actions of the Russian Federation and its president aiming at Ukraine are directed at the fundamental rules of international law which form the grounds for a peaceful world order: an order established at the cost of millions who perished during the World War and millions who fell victim to totalitarianisms.

Through its actions and declarations on Ukraine, Russia is placing itself outside international law, it is distancing itself from the norms laid down in the United Nations Charter and Human Rights Treaties. In violation of its own obligations, whether of the Budapest Memorandum from December 1994 or the of Minsk Agreements – the Russian Federation has renounced any rules of diplomatic law. Judging from the statements made by its president, it is replacing the framework of law with a vision of permanent warring. Heroism has no place inside this vision, it is simply a cynical vision of a lawless world.

We are well aware of the perils this deadly threat to Ukraine poses also to Poland, Europe and the world. We are well aware that today Your fate and our fate is being decided on Ukrainian soil, as well as the future of the world.

We stand with You.

Tomorrow, when we set the table for Christmas Eve dinner, we will put a traditional plate for a lost wanderer.

Let us keep in mind that on the same Christmas Eve evening, in the forests at the Polish-Belarussian border, there wander people who need warmth, food and shelter, who need our help.

Do not be indifferent! Save people on the border! Let the good win!

Stanisław Barańczak’s poem “Never really” and Marek Edelman’s statements were read by Maria and Jan Peszek.

Outdoor Light and Sound Projection: The Virtual Reconstruction of the Siegen Synagogue

Projected in Siegen (Germany) on the exterior wall of the Bunker on November 9, 2021. The Siegen synagogue stood on this property from 1904 until 1939/40.

Presented by the Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation Siegerland e.V. within the framework of the anniversary year „1700 Years of Jewish Life in Germany“.

May our love and memory overcome destruction and death.

The Open Republic was among the signatories of an open letter against the Russian prosecutors’ decision to disband the international association “Memorial”. The letter, calling “Memorial” a global treasure, emphasizes its fundamental role in uncovering the truth about the mass murder of Polish officers in Katyn during the Second World War and other mass communist repressions. The letter also calls the “Memorial”, the conscience of contemporary Russia, and describes attempts to disband it as an act of political aggression.

The Open Republic has made two official reports concerning the events in the city of Kalisz on 11 November 2021. On that day, Wojciech Olszanski and Piotr Rybak exhorted the participants of an Independence Day rally in Market Square to commit a crime, espoused fascism and ethnic hatred. The Open Republic addressed one of the reports of a suspected crime to the local prosecutor’s office, and the other – considering the gravity of the matter – to the office of the Prosecutor General.