Międzynarodowy Instytut Dialogu i Tolerancji im. Jana Karskiego w Rudzie Śląskiej » POSTS

International Holocaust Remembrance Day

kris — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:03:48 +0000

"My faith forces me to say the mankind committed a second original sin with allowing a holocaust because of an order or negligence, self-imposed ignorance or insensitivity, egoism or hypocrisy, or cold calculation (...) This sin will haunt all mankind to the end of the world. It haunts me. I want it to stay that way…“ Jan Karski

67 years ago, on th 27th of January 1945 the Auschwitz Birkenau death camp was liberated. On 1 November 2005 during the 42nd plenary session it was designated by the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 60/7 as the International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The US Jan Karski Centennial Campaign to honour Jan Karski with the Presidential Medal of Honour

kris — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:01:53 +0000

Members of the Congress, Polish and Jewish activists in the United States have launched a campaign to honour the couragous courier of the Polish underground, who tried to stop the Holocaust - Jan Karski with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The campaign is co-ordinated by Wanda Urbańska from The Jan Karski US Centennial Campaign in co-peration with the director of the Jan Karski centennial programme of the Polish History Museum.

The Presidential Medal of Freedom is next to the Congressional Golden Medal the highest civil honor of the American state. The medal was before awarded to Zbigniew Brzeziński (1981), Jan Nowak-Jeziorański (1996) and recently to the famous baseball player of polish origin Stan Musial (2011).

The Jan Karski US Centennial Campaign has sent a lettter to President Barrack Obama recommending the nomination of Jan Karski for the Medal, signed by the former advisor of President Carter - Zbigniew Brzeziński, the executive director of the American Jewish Committee David Harris, the president of the Kosciuszko Foundation Alex Storożyński and Robert L. Billingsley from Georgetown University in Washington. In reply to reply to a plea of the committee, a separate letter to the White House was sent by 66 members of the House of Representatives from both parties. "Jan Karski risked his life, to personally testify about the conditions in the Warsaw Getto and pleaded to the Leaders of the Allies to take action. If his plea was listened to a countless number of people could have been saved. His actions were an example to others, showing moral clearness and courage, which was demanded by that time. Without doubt he deserves the Presidential Medal of Freedom" - we read in the letter. 11 prominent Members of the Senate have sent their own letters supporting the cause or signed group letters. Amongst them we can find Richard Lugar from the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs former vicepresident candidate Senator Joe Lieberman and the chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services - Senator Carl Levin. Nominations for the Medal are considered by a special committee in the White House. A decision can be expected in the first months of this year. [ source: dzieje.pl ]

The new „Youth in Action” Programme Guide for 2012 is here!

kris — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:32:47 +0000

The European Commission has announced the new Programme Guide for the "Youth in Action" Programme 2012, in which the rules for project aplications for the year have been presented. Some of the changes are quite significant...

The financing rules of Action 1.1., 4.3. and 3.1. will undergo a revolution, where the current categories such as the "preparation costs", "activitiy costs" or "costs of dissemination of results" will be all brought to a single "Project costs" category calculated by the scale of unit costs. In action Training& Networking project the costs of "Training measures" will also be included in this category. As well as the sending, hosting and coordination costs for Action 2.
This change will on one hand make it much easier to calculate the financing, but on the other it will make the good co-operation between partners much more important and sometimes difficult, as the partners will need to agree on how much money they will receive.
Travels costs and exceptional costs remain a separate category and did not change.

Another important change is the rise of the role of the Eastern Partnership in the Programme. From 2012 Eastern Partnership countries will be able to apply for funding similar to the South-East European countries. Their applications can be sent to the The Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency in Brussels. Also in Actions 2. and 3.1. additional money will be given from projects operating within the "Eastern Partnership Youth Window".

These are just some of the most significant changes in the Programme. If you are planning to apply to the Programme, or get to know more of the changes you can download the guide here: http://ec.europa.eu/youth/documents/programme-guide-2012_en.pdf

The Interactive Office of Professor Jan Karski has been openned for the public.

kris — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 10:52:28 +0000

Accompanied by diplomats from France and USA, Parliament Members, Senators, historians and youth from Ruda Śląska, the day before the Polish Independence Day the "Interactive Office of Professor Jan Karski" was opened in Ruda Śląska. The ribbon was cut by the President of the Karski Institute and the President of the city of Ruda Śląska together with the closest friend of Jan Karski in the last years of his life - Ms Kaya Mirecka-Ploss, who came from the United States specially for this occasion. "I remember every object from this office. The desk that I held in my house for eleven years. This is why I am so happy, that such wondergful people are running this institute" - said Mirecka-Ploss during the openning ceremony of the Office of Jan Karski. She remember the Professor as "a great gentleman", "a humanitarian", "tolerant", "honest" and "elegant". The Interactive Office of Professor Jan Karski is a modern educational facility, which combines modern technologies with a traditional historical exhibition, presenting the life story of one of the most remarkable characters of the XX Century: Jan Karski - "The man who tried to stop the Holocaust" and after the war a respected professor of the Georgetown University in Washington. The Office and the exhibits have been shaped in the form of a professor's office, to give the viewers the atmosphere of the actual office that Karski used to have in Washington. In the office you can find a unique collection of over 70 personal items of Professor Karski - starting from simple objects he used during the day, like his tea cup, his chessboard, coming to his rosary, a photo album of his tragically deceased wife, the photo of his favourite cat. The office presents also many of the awards and diplomas Karski received for his heroic mission in World War II. This includes the diploma awarding Karski the Silver Virtuti Militari Cross, received from General Sikorski - the leader of Poland during the war, the diploma of the "Righteous Amongst the Nations" awarded by the Yad Vashem Institute. The main exposition is completed by an advanced touchscreen presenting detailed information about the exhibits and additional multimedia materials including interviews with Jan Karski from press, radio and television, scanned publications of Jan Karski and articles about him, photographs and many more. The touchscreen is based on a system that will also allow access to the materials via the website of the Interactive Office, which will allow to become familiar with the exposition through the Internet. During the openning ceremony the visitors were guided through the exposition by a very special person - it was Kaya Mirecka-Ploss, who remembered the story of almost every displayed item. The founding of the Jan Karski International Institute for Dialogue and Tolerance in Ruda Śląska, would not have been possible without her efforts. At first Kaya Mirecka-Ploss tried to initiate the institute in Warsaw or Lodz (the birthplace of Karski), but the idea didn't receive enough support. Meanwhile in Upper Silesia, where Ms Kaya comes from, the idea of the Institute immediately was picked up by local social acitvists and politicians, including Andrzej Stania - the President of Ruda Śląska, who promised to organize the proper space for the exposition in one of the buildings in the city. The Institute was founded in 2008 and now after three years of preparations the personal items of Jan Karski could finally be showed to the public. - A dream has come true for me today - said Ms Kaya Mirecka-Ploss after openning the exposition. CLICK TO VIEW THE PHOTOS FROM THE OPENING CEREMONY. Currently the exposition is available from 11:00 until 16:00 from Monday to Friday. Entrance is free. . The project was financed by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and was co-financed by the Silesian Voivodship Patron of the project: GPW Dystrybucja Sp. z o. o.

The Karski Institute website now available in English

kris — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:35:27 +0000

Welcome to the English version of the website of the Karski Institute. We invite you to become familiar with our organization's activities!