Jewish pogrom in Kielce took place 76 years ago. The persecutors of their Jewish neighbours were Poles, and the tragic events took place in Poland just liberated from Nazi occupation.
The events known today as the “Kielce pogrom” took place primarily in the building at Planty 7/9 street, where about 200 people lived and where offices of Jewish institutions (Jewish committee, congregation, Kibbutz Zionist party Ichud, etc) were located. Pogroms of the Jewish population were also reported in other locations in Kielce, as well as on trains passing through the city on that.
40 people were murdered during the Kielce pogrom (including three Polish nationals). Two people were murdered on Leonard Street. 35 people were injured.
World Refugee Day is an international day designated by the United Nations to honour refugees around the globe. It falls each year on June 20 and celebrates the strength and courage of people who have been forced to flee their home country to escape conflict or persecution. World Refugee Day is an occasion to build empathy and understanding for their plight and to recognize their resilience in rebuilding their lives.
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.
24 March marks one month since the barbaric invasion of Russia on Ukraine had begun. Ukraine is resisting Russia’s militarily aggression with determination, showing extraordinary military skills. In Ukraine, hundreds of children, women, elderly and people with disabilities are dying under the bombs and shelling of Russian barbarians. Ukrainian soldiers are dying, as well as men and women who joined the Territorial Defence units, fighting with devotion and belief in their right to own country. Putin, overcome with the desire to annihilate Ukraine as a state, after a failed attempt to conquer Ukraine within 48 hours, ordered the bombing of residential areas, schools, kindergartens, hospitals, including maternity hospitals.
The symbol of Russian obstinacy is the siege of Mariupol, now referred to as the ‘new Aleppo’. The civilian population of the town is treated like hostages. 400 thousand inhabitants – for already four weeks – are deprived of water, heating, gas, medicines and medical supplies. The ‘corridors of life’ – that have been negotiated by the parties at war – from Mariupol, and other cities, are being shelled by the Russian military.
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!
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 presidentaimingatUkrainearedirectedatthefundamentalrulesof 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 ofpermanent 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.
ASSOCIATION AGAINST
ANTISEMITISM AND XENOPHOBIA
Office hours:
Tuesday, Thursday: 12.00 – 14.00
Monday, Wednesday, Friday: closed