Association Activites

Scholarly exchanges

An important role of the Association, which is closely linked with the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, Brandeis University, is training a new generation of scholars and bringing together academics from Poland, Israel, Western Europe and North America. We helped establish the “Brandeis in Krakow” program which brings American students to Kazimierz to study Polish-Jewish history in conjunction with the Center for the Study of the History and Culture of Polish Jewry at the Jagiellonian University. We also work closely with the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw and with the Mordechai Anieliewicz Center for Jewish History at Warsaw University, founded by one of our members.

Poland: Jewish Monument and Documents Restoration

The Association takes an active part in the preservation of Jewish Cemeteries and documents in Poland. It has participated in the establishment of the Jerzy Kosinski Prize to be awarded annually to an individual who has made a significant contribution to the preservation of the Polish-Jewish heritage. Four such awards have been presented.

Popularization of Association Activities

Lectures such as those by Stanislaw Baranczak, Saul Bellow, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Wilhelm Dichter, the former Polish Ambassador to Israel Jan Dowgiallo, Alina Margolis-Edelman, Ben-Zion Gold, Jan Gross, Ewa Hoffman, Jan Karski, Ezra Mendelsohn, Richard Pipes, Rafael Scharf, Ruth Wisse and Elizabeth Wittlin have aimed to bring the issues at hand to a wider audience. The new situation in Eastern Europe, with the establishment of pluralistic and market-oriented governments in Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine, opens up exciting new prospects for the Association. It is vital that the old demons of chauvinism and anti-semitism are finally laid to rest. In helping to achieve these goals, the Association has a vital role to play.