About the authors
Piotr Dobrosz
I have been a member of the UNESCO Initiatives Centre since its beginning. Over this time I have had a chance to get trained in inter-cultural learning, civic education, human rights education and sustainable development education. I’m especially interested in the civic engagement of young people and co-operation with post-Soviet countries. Currently I’m leading trainings about civic education and active participation for high school pupils from the Lower Silesia region. My first meeting with the Righteous took place in 2007. I met a wonderful woman who showed me what it means to be responsible in the contemporary world. Since that time I have been trying to share her words with other people.
Julia Franz
As a social worker and educator I have been working for the Anne Frank Centre and Workshop for the Blind - Otto Weidt museum in Berlin. I have been developing and applying youth workshops about the Holocaust and World War II as well as educational materials. Being a member of the first project „Righteous among the Nations” in 2005, this issue became a focus of my work. I consider it fruitful for didactics of Holocaust Education because it addresses both personal responsibility and sociopolitical conditions. Currently I am also researching into youth with Muslim background as a PhD project.
Martin Gbur
After my political sciences and philosophy studies in Presov, at university in Slovakia, I have been working in the NGO field in Slovakia since 2003. In 2007 I moved to Poland where I spent one year doing voluntary service with the Edith Stein Society in Wrocław, this is where I first came into contact with the topic of Righteous among Nations. Now, in the whole of Europe we can see anger and hate rising against every (and mostly cultural) dissimilarity in our countries and, at the same time, indifference in our everyday life and in our societies is deeper. From the stories and history of WWII we can, and should, learn how to manage these problems. It is clear that without courage and humanity we cannot make a difference. This is what we can learn from these stories.
Sebastian Górski
I’m a young historian from Wrocław. I’m interested in Polish modern history, ethnic minorities and Polish -Jewish relations. I’m a researcher and working with Righteous’ stories was a real pleasure for me. It’s amazing how one single person can change history and the whole world. I’m doing my PhD studies about political refugees from Greece in Poland after the Second World War.
Katarzyna Kulińska
I studied History at the University of Warsaw with a specialisation in the history of Jews in the 20th century. I’ve been working in the Museum of the History of Polish Jews since September 2008 and I am part of the team of its Educational Centre. I co-ordinate the One Day Youth Encounters Program, which includes exchange meetings and workshops for Polish and Israeli high school students. I also work as a workshop leader and run workshops for Warsaw high school students about Jewish history in Warsaw. In my work I often see what a great impact meetings with the Righteous have on students - both Polish and Israelis. Learning about the stories of helping triggers empathy on both sides and therefore, after such meetings, the students are more open to Polish-Jewish dialogue. I also think that through stories of the Righteous we can more effectively teach students about the history of World War II, something that is sometimes too cruel to be shown with just the bare facts.
Dr Ondřej Lochman
Since 2002 I have been working with issues of youth participation in public life and active citizenship. I work either within the LOS NGO that I co-established in 2003, or as a freelance trainer for various organisations, including Eurodesk, the Czech National Agency of the Youth in Action Programme, as well as different NGO’s and institutions in Europe. I have finished my Ph.D. in educational science with a focus on the European dimension in education and the attitudes of youth in the Czech-German-Polish border area. From the topic of the Righteous, the main principle of citizenship has been highlighted to me – namely, responsibility. I have heard many facts and stories about WWII, however usually there was a lack of didactical interactivity. The connection between the principles of people acting within the environment around us now, is a concrete example. That is why I am happy to be part of the Indifference Hurts project that takes concrete, fascinating stories, gives them a modern educational form, and focuses on developing understanding of taking responsibility for our surroundings.
Lukas Meissel
Currently I am studying History and the Hebrew language at the University of Vienna. From 2006 to 2007 I was doing my civilian service (Zivildienst) in Yad Vashem, Israel. Since then I have been working at different projects which were connected to the Shoah, including works at Yad Vashem and the Leo Baeck Institut in New York. I am also working on the board of the Austrian NGO Gedenkdienst and as a guide for study trips to different historical sites. Since 2008 I have been working as a guide at the Mauthausen concentration camp memorial site. Personally, I think working with the stories of the Righteous among the Nations is particularly interesting because it gives a perspective as to the specific choices people could make and it shows how few had the will and courage to help.
Wiktoria Miller
The first international project I took part in was a German-Polish-Israeli seminar on the subject of Righteous Among the Nations, which took place in 2005. The experience from this meeting changed my life – since then I have been involved in many cultural and educational projects. I used to work at the Edith Stein Society in Wrocław, then I moved to Warsaw to work at the Educational Centre of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews. Today I am an educator and project coordinator and I am proof that stories of the Righteous can really change something in one’s life. I do believe that they make the world a better place.
Paulina Poznańska
After studying international relations I spent a few years abroad working mainly with war survivors in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Germany. During this time I had a lot of possibilities for doing biographical work. I believe that only with precise examples and teaching about precise stories can we share the knowledge about human history. This is why I was very happy to work as the coordinator of the Indifference Hurts project. I enjoy working with international groups, especially in the field of history and dealing with the past.
Julia Suchar
I am a freelance educator and youth worker engaged in educational projects in Germany and Poland, recently working mainly with socially disadvantaged youth. I am constantly on the move, sharing my life between university teaching/researching and educational projects. Since 2004 I have been involved in working in the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, coordinating the Anne Frank exhibition projects in Poland. I was very happy to join the international Righteous project because I find their stories very inspiring and would like them to be used in teaching not only about the past, but also linking them to the present day dilemmas and choices that we are facing.
Karolina Wesołowska Saro
I am working as a translator and historian. I graduated from the University of Wrocław and am currently writing my master thesis at the Free University of Berlin. I also completed my work-experience at Yad Vashem in Israel. In my studies I focus on East-European History, the relationship between Poland and Germany, and the history of Polish Jews. My research also examines the problems of nationalism, racism, anti-Semitism and human rights. I live in Berlin and Wrocław.
Editor
Katarzyna Szajda
I am trainer of intercultural competences and didactics of intercultural learning and active participation. Recently I have mainly been focused on both local and international trainings for teachers and educators. I am initiator and coordinator of the UNESCO Initiatives Centre. I cooperate with the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Environment, the European Commission and UNESCO itself in the role of trainer and facilitator. Last year I started my PhD studies with the main topic of research: intercultural learning and attitudes of pupils towards their neighbors from abroad. I am involved in projects dealing with Righteous Among the Nations oragnised by Edith Stein House since the first edition in 2005 in the role of trainer and educational advisor. Meeting Slava Wołosiańska, made me believe that the stories of the Righteous are an incredible inspiration for discussion about values, about responsibility, about the consequences of indifference and the importance of the decisions that we make every day.
Content consultant
Beate Kosmala, PhD
I am a historian, since 2005 senior researcher at the German Resistance Memorial Centre in Berlin, department of the Memorial Silent Heroes. Before that I was working at the Centre for Research on Anti-Semitism (Technical University Berlin). In 2000/2001 I was a Fellow at the International Institute for Holocaust Research, Yad Vashem Jerusalem. My main fields of research are: The persecution of the Jews in Germany 1933-1945, rescue of Jews, Polish-Jewish and German-Polish relationships in the 20th century.
