'Discuss the undiscussable' Polish American Jewish Alliance works to open minds
by Paula Amann

News Editor
NPAJAC (www.npajac.org)

Stereotypes were shattering in a circle of folding chairs set around a high-ceilinged room at the Embassy of Poland.
"Sometimes I think we're forced to use these stereotypes," said Kasia Bulatewicz, 20, a Polish American with long blond hair that half hides her face. "When I see you, I just see you, not just the Jewish you."
She heads up Club Polonia, a Polish social group, at George Washington University.
Another young woman summed up a day full of such conversations, putting similar sentiments in a different frame.
"It's about Jewish Americans putting a face on Polish Americans and Polish Americans putting a face on Jewish Americans," said Isadora "Izzy" Bodian, 18, a Jewish student at American University.
The two were among 16 high school and college students taking part in "Developing Connections," a workshop organized by the Polish American Jewish Alliance for Youth Action, Inc. The Silver Spring nonprofit aims to root out prejudice and intolerance through education, formal and informal, of young people aged 16 to 20 years in the United States and Poland.
Launched two years ago, PAJA grew out of a friendship between Silver Spring's Dennis Misler, a Jewish organizational development specialist, and Zofia Zager, a Polish-born civil engineer who lives in Fairfax County.
After frequent trips to Poland, the duo would compare notes on anti-Semitism and Polish-Jewish relations.
"We said we have to stop chatting and commiserating about this and do something, if it's a concern to us," said Misler, now PAJA president.
The group's co-founders believed they could best transform deeply held attitudes by working with youth, he explained.
PAJA held its first workshop on Nov. 21 at the Embassy of the Republic of Poland. The high school and college age participants held spirited discussions and brainstormed action ideas.
On an easel hung a list of ground rules for the workshop, including "Listen for understanding" and "Discuss the undiscussable."
Polish filmmaker Daniel Strehlau lamented that many Jewish young people touring his country today see just the artifacts of the Nazi occupation and miss the 700-some years of Jewish history that went before it.
"They are visiting only the death camps and cemeteries, so they have stereotypes about Poland, too, because the history of Jews in Poland is much older than the Holocaust," said the Jewish Strehlau.
The independent filmmaker got a chance to remedy this ignorance. PAJA's inaugural workshop ended with the showing of Strehlau's documentary about the renewal of Jewish life in Warsaw, Hannukah: A Double Time.
The film offers a kaleidoscope of the city's Jews today. They range from the woman president of the community, to a twentysomething convert returning to his family's roots, to the teen-age editor of a Jewish magazine, Yiddele.
The young journalist wears his identity with confidence. "I feel 100 percent Polish and 100 percent Jewish," he tells the camera.
In the meeting room of the Polish embassy, the audience was stirred.
"I never saw this side of Jewish life presented," said Bulatewicz. "I'm speechless."
Misler hopes to regather the group early next year for a follow-up meeting to lay out specific action steps. Meanwhile, a delegation from PAJA is planning to attend a Dec. 10 event at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum honoring Zegota, a group of Polish Christians who rescued Jews during the Holocaust.

This story was published on Thu, Dec 5, 2002.