9th of June marked the official opening of the Humanity in Action Core Program in Warsaw. Fellows after completion of the opening program in Paris came to Warsaw and started their first program day, which mainly consisted of activities concerning Holocaust and collective historic memory issues.
Magda Szarota, the program coordinator, started the day with a foreword on the agenda of the program and outlined two integral phases of the program, which are the input and research period. She also mentioned fellows’ Action Plans to be implemented after the program.
The director of the Foundation Humanity in Action Poland, Monika Mazur-Rafał, introduced the HIA fellows to the Ambassador of US to Poland, Victor Ashe and Ambassador Janusz Reiter, the President of the Programming Board of Humanity in Action Poland Foundation.
Monika Mazur-Rafał spoke also on fundamental concept of HiA: "Woody Allen once said: „New York is not a place, it is a state of mind”. When thinking about HIA I can not resist the temptation to paraphrase this statement and say that HIA is not an organization, but a state of mind. Why? Because what it is trying to achieve in each and every participants of the programs is a change in attitude towards an active citizen, who is responsible for its local community, eager to take actions to protect rights of people in need and having necessary skills to do so. We believe that in a long term perspective with the time and accumulated experiences in this field at least some of you will become real leaders. And our activities such as this summer program, internships or senior fellows networks should serve as guidelines to you on this way."
Ambassador Ashe spoke on concept of Solidarity and that Poland is celebrating now different anniversaries connected to fall of communism. He praised also the importance of Poland in destroying the Iron Curtain. Ambassador Reiter shared with fellows his personal experience. He especially referred to communist times and how he identified himself as member of Kaszub ethnic minority in a society which became a homogenous society after the World War II and had limited tolerance towards minorities. Moreover, he touched upon the limitations of communist times as restrictions concerning traveling abroad and rare encounter with foreigners in Poland. Many travel and education opportunities which are available now were beyond the reach of ordinary people during that period. He said also that after the fall of communism the Polish society went through an immense transformation from a totalitarian system to democracy.
Chuck Ashley was the next speaker of the panel. As a cultural attaché of US Embassy in Warsaw, he was explaining how the embassy supports various projects in Poland, particularly those conducted by Polish NGOs.
Later on during the day, Konstanty Gebert, writer and journalist of Gazeta Wyborcza, appeared before the fellows. He talked on issues of comparative genocide studies in XX century. He pointed out that the genocide is restricted only to certain legal mindset. In most cases, this term cannot be applied to massacres and ethnic cleansing in history before XX century, though these kind of event were not rare. Many nations are still looking for recognition of their particular historic situation which involved harm or atrocities done o their nation as actual genocide. Another insightful remark Gebert made was that genocide is a very sophisticated process used for political aims of awkwardly perceived advancement of the state and society. Among others aspects raised during the discussion fellows talked with Gebert on the need of some nations to recognize their sufferings as genocide, different intellectual mechanism of embracing genocide as a political tool and understanding personal and nation guilt.
The last merit point of the day was a meeting with dr. Michał Bilewicz, psychologist working for Center against Prejudice and Forum For Dialogue Among Nations. Bilewicz elaborated on complex psychology of the crowd and perpetrators of the Holocaust. He distinguished two scientific approaches to that problem. These are the situationist and the intentional approach. At the end fellows were confronted with explanation and exoneration as processes of dealing with the past.
In the evening fellows met together again for the welcoming dinner in the restaurant which in some way referred to the place where previously prominent communist leaders used to dine.
-Przemek Iwanek (HIA intern, editor)
Magda Szarota, the program coordinator, started the day with a foreword on the agenda of the program and outlined two integral phases of the program, which are the input and research period. She also mentioned fellows’ Action Plans to be implemented after the program.
The director of the Foundation Humanity in Action Poland, Monika Mazur-Rafał, introduced the HIA fellows to the Ambassador of US to Poland, Victor Ashe and Ambassador Janusz Reiter, the President of the Programming Board of Humanity in Action Poland Foundation.Monika Mazur-Rafał spoke also on fundamental concept of HiA: "Woody Allen once said: „New York is not a place, it is a state of mind”. When thinking about HIA I can not resist the temptation to paraphrase this statement and say that HIA is not an organization, but a state of mind. Why? Because what it is trying to achieve in each and every participants of the programs is a change in attitude towards an active citizen, who is responsible for its local community, eager to take actions to protect rights of people in need and having necessary skills to do so. We believe that in a long term perspective with the time and accumulated experiences in this field at least some of you will become real leaders. And our activities such as this summer program, internships or senior fellows networks should serve as guidelines to you on this way."
Ambassador Ashe spoke on concept of Solidarity and that Poland is celebrating now different anniversaries connected to fall of communism. He praised also the importance of Poland in destroying the Iron Curtain. Ambassador Reiter shared with fellows his personal experience. He especially referred to communist times and how he identified himself as member of Kaszub ethnic minority in a society which became a homogenous society after the World War II and had limited tolerance towards minorities. Moreover, he touched upon the limitations of communist times as restrictions concerning traveling abroad and rare encounter with foreigners in Poland. Many travel and education opportunities which are available now were beyond the reach of ordinary people during that period. He said also that after the fall of communism the Polish society went through an immense transformation from a totalitarian system to democracy.
Chuck Ashley was the next speaker of the panel. As a cultural attaché of US Embassy in Warsaw, he was explaining how the embassy supports various projects in Poland, particularly those conducted by Polish NGOs.
Later on during the day, Konstanty Gebert, writer and journalist of Gazeta Wyborcza, appeared before the fellows. He talked on issues of comparative genocide studies in XX century. He pointed out that the genocide is restricted only to certain legal mindset. In most cases, this term cannot be applied to massacres and ethnic cleansing in history before XX century, though these kind of event were not rare. Many nations are still looking for recognition of their particular historic situation which involved harm or atrocities done o their nation as actual genocide. Another insightful remark Gebert made was that genocide is a very sophisticated process used for political aims of awkwardly perceived advancement of the state and society. Among others aspects raised during the discussion fellows talked with Gebert on the need of some nations to recognize their sufferings as genocide, different intellectual mechanism of embracing genocide as a political tool and understanding personal and nation guilt.
The last merit point of the day was a meeting with dr. Michał Bilewicz, psychologist working for Center against Prejudice and Forum For Dialogue Among Nations. Bilewicz elaborated on complex psychology of the crowd and perpetrators of the Holocaust. He distinguished two scientific approaches to that problem. These are the situationist and the intentional approach. At the end fellows were confronted with explanation and exoneration as processes of dealing with the past.In the evening fellows met together again for the welcoming dinner in the restaurant which in some way referred to the place where previously prominent communist leaders used to dine.
-Przemek Iwanek (HIA intern, editor)
