Ewa Teleżyńska-Sawicka and Paweł Sawicki from the Memory of Treblinka foundation became the winners of the main POLIN Prize 2024. This distinction is awarded to people working to protect the memory of the history of Polish Jews. The POLIN Culture and Media Special Award was received by priest Adam Boniecki, and the POLIN 2024 Special Award was received by the Borussia Foundation from Olsztyn.
Winners of the POLIN Prize 2024 – Ewa Teleżyńska-Sawicka and Paweł Sawicki – are members of the board of the Treblinka Memory Foundation. For years, they have been commemorating people murdered in this extermination camp. They create a Book of Names – an online database of victims. There are already almost 109,000 people in it, and another 20,000 are waiting to be developed.
Every last Saturday of the month – in the former camp – they read the Names of the Jews along with the stories they found about them. They also create a refugee database, a transport database and a multilingual educational path taking into account new technologies.
The foundation collects not only basic information such as name, surname and dates, but also details about the victims' lives and photos. People are united into families.
– We are incredibly moved and moved. Thank you very much for this decision. We are absolutely convinced that it is related to how important Treblinka is. Treblinka is the largest war cemetery in Warsaw, Kielce, Radom… 100, 200, maybe 300 Polish cities. And many people in Poland don't even know where Treblinka is, said Paweł Sawicki during Monday's gala at the museum. – For several years we have been trying to recreate the individual fates of those who died there. Let it not be numbers but people who speak, he said.
Honorable Mentions
The competition jury also awarded two distinctions. They received them Karolina Panz from Nowy Targ and Dariusz Sobczyk from Opatów.
Karolina Panz has been combining the role of a researcher of the fate of Podhale Jews with activities aimed at restoring memory for almost 20 years. He searches for materials on their history in domestic and foreign archives and meets with survivors and descendants of Jewish Podhale inhabitants. It organizes meetings with survivors of Nowy Targ and commemorates the Jews of Podhale on the anniversaries of their Holocaust.
Dariusz Sobczyk is the guardian of the memory of the Jews of Opatów. He initiated anniversary celebrations to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust. For years, he has been trying to make the town's inhabitants not forget about the tradition of their city. On the 80th anniversary of the extermination of Opatów, he co-organized a congress of the compatriots' association of descendants of Opatów Jews. He was the originator and initiator of the first exhibition of Majer Kirszenblat's paintings in Opatów.
Special Awards
She received the POLIN Special Award Borussia Foundationwhich since 2006 has been restoring the memory of the multicultural history of Warmia and Mazury and supporting civic activities in the sphere of culture, education and social integration. For over a dozen years, it has also been developing cooperation, conducting dialogue with neighbors and sharing experiences related to the Polish road to democracy.
– The Borussia Foundation is not indifferent to the destruction of material Jewish heritage, the best proof of which is the rescue of a unique building, the Bet Tahara building, from oblivion and destruction. Today, it is a place of remembrance of the fate of Olsztyn Jews and activities for the common good, said Zygmunt Stępiński, director of the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews.
This year, for the first time in the history of the competition, director Stępiński awarded a Special Award in the Culture and Media category. He was its winner priest Adam Boniecki.
– Father Boniecki has been building understanding and for several decades has been spreading values that are often forgotten in today's world, but which are universal and timeless – said Director Stępiński. – He has an extraordinary gift for building respect for other people and their views. He has the ability to look deep, touch the thinnest strings, force us to reflect and verify our own judgments. He has been teaching us openness and empathy for years. He is an authority with a very capital “A”, he noted.
– For many years, “Tygodnik Powszechny” persistently worked to show the history and presence of Polish Jews from various sides. This persistent work bore fruit. Persistent work and persistent conscience changed a lot – said Fr. Adam Boniecki receiving the award.
The idea of the POLIN Prize
As the organizers explained earlier, the aim of the competition is to promote attitudes and activities consistent with the museum's mission. The winners of the award are social activists who preserve the memory of the history of Polish Jews and contribute to shaping a common future, mutual understanding and respect.
The POLIN Prize – awarded since 2015 – has so far been awarded to nine winners, and over 55 people made it to the finals of the competition. From among the submitted candidates, the competition jury nominates, rewards and distinguishes people or organizations that in recent years have demonstrated important, extraordinary actions, attitudes, works or speeches with a significant impact on social awareness of the history of Polish Jews and on building Polish-Jewish relations.
A broadcast of the ceremony is available live on TVN24 BiS:
tvnwarszawa.pl, TVN24, PAP
Main photo source: TVN24