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FYI
-----Original Message-----
From: Polishheroes [mailto:Polishheroes@xlnet.com.ar]
Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 2004 10:21 AM
To: contact@pjhftoronto.ca
Subject: To the President of the Canadian Foundation
of Polish Jewish Heritage
To the President of the
Canadian Foundation of Polish Jewish Heritage
Toronto Chapter
I am pleased to write you in
order to inform you that a committee on Jewish Polish
dialogue has been recently set up in Argentina.
The "Centrum Pamięci Bohaterów
Polskich" (Center for Remembrance to the Polish
Heroes) is formed by men and women from all beliefs
identified with the goals we try to promote: to foster
a better understanding among nations - especially between
Jews and Poles- giving special attention to the history
of the Jewish-Polish relationship before WWII, cooperating
thus to the eradication of old prejudices and false
stereotypes.
Most of the people ignore that
since the Middle Ages the only safe place in Europe
for the Jews that were escaping from the persecutions
was Poland, to whom the Jews referred (in a play upon
words) as "The Paradise". It was in Poland
where the 80 % of the Jewish world population resided
and there they contributed to create and develop Polish
cities. During the Polish uprising, in 1794, the Jewish
Community formed up an equipped special regiment of
its own, under the command of Colonel Berek Joselevicz,
first Jewish military formation since Biblical time.
Later on, when the Prague district (at the suburbs of
Warsaw) fell into the hands of the Russians, most of
the Jewish Community was killed as retaliation.
One of our main goals of our
center is to combat all kind of discrimination and intolerance
whether political (as the Stalinism), religious (like
the fundamentalist Muslim terrorism that punishes the
world), or racial (like the Nazism). We consider that
every manifestation of discrimination, racism or intolerance
should be controlled and combated wherever it takes
place.
The "Centrum Pamięci Bohaterów
Polskich" in one of the few institutions in Latin
America devoted to the Polish-Jewish dialogue and it
would be a great honour for us to work in cooperation
with your institution in future activities, as well
as to exchange material and information.
This initiative came out after
my collaboration as a volunteer activist in an institution
dedicated only to honour the Holocaust rescuers. It
was there where I had the pleasure to organize, among
other activities, an homage to Mrs. Irena Sendler, saviour
of thousand of children during the Holocaust. The ceremony
took place at the Polish Embassy to Argentina where
Jews and Polish sang together Polish and Idisch songs.
Is our desire to aim the Jewish-Polish
dialogue from the point of view of the historical relationship
between Jews and Poles before the WW II, when Catholics,
Jews and Orthodox lived together in an environment of
respect and harmony, especially during the Commonwealth.
Furthermore we wish to emphasize
the exemplary behaviour of the Polish citizens of all
times, that in hard moments of history, such as Communism,
Nazism and the struggle for Poland Independency, had
demonstrated courage and heroism.
A web page dedicated to this
topic will be inaugurated soon. Your comments and opinions
will be welcome.
Looking forward to hearing from
you, I remain,
Sincerely,
Dr. Marcos Resnizky
"Centrum Pamięci Bohaterów Polskich"
Paraná 467 7 "28" (CP: 1017)
Buenos Aires- Argentina
Telephone/ Fax: 54 11 4371-6011
E-mail: Polishheroes@xlnet.com.ar
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