Paweł Kulig has been named the laureate of 2020 POLIN Award Competition. For the past eight years, he has been looking after the New Jewish Cemetery in Łódź. He is also Chair of the Guardians of Remembrance Association whose goal is to preserve the Jewish cultural and historic heritage of the City of Łódź. The laureate receives a financial prize of 20,000 PLN. During the POLIN Award competition finale which was streamed through the POLIN Museum social media, two honourable mentions were presented to Justyna Biernat from Tomaszów Mazowiecki and the Krotochwile Association from the Wielkopolska Region.

The POLIN Award competition jury recognized Paweł Kulig’s courage which was required to take upon himself a challenge of looking after the largest Jewish necropolis in Poland – boasting the area of over 40 ha – as well as his talent to build a circle of allies and associates around his projects and activities.

Thanks to the laureate’s endeavours, in 2020 the action of tidying up the cemetery was granted an honorary patronage of Mayor of the City of Łódź Hanna Zdanowska. To formalize his activities and to extend their scope, Paweł Kulig established the Guardians of Memory Association which pursues its goals by organizing voluntary and charity actions, as well as meetings, workshops, lectures, exhibitions, concerts and educational walks.

Paweł Kulig has also been helping the descendants of Jews from Łódź in discovering their family stories and the fate of their near and dear ones. He helped many find the graves of their relatives among those he’s looking after. Paweł remains in close contact with the Landsmanschaft of Jews from Łódź in Israel. As the POLIN Award competition winner, he receives a financial prize of 20,000 PLN.