The Australian Institute of Polish Affairs (AIPA) warmly invites you to a seminar with Dr Jakub Niewinski from the Adam Mickiewicz University and the POLCUL Award winner in 2020 titled:

Constructive dialogue with Polish-Jewish memory. Activities of Polish youth

Friday 10 July, 17.30pm

University of Melbourne Parkville Campus
Building: Arts West, level 2, room 213.

Remembrance pedagogy utilizes various forms of activity, ranging from visits to museums—memorial sites—expanded with cognitive and emotional aspects, searching for and documenting historical traces (“oral history”), to seminars and historical workshops. However, the greatest educational and pedagogical benefits come from project-based education—an organized program based on an action plan and task division. This type of education is focused on practical activities and simultaneously teaches conceptual and teamwork. 

The activities of the Dialogue Leaders of the Dialogue Forum Network – the oldest Polish non-governmental organization dedicated to improving Polish-Jewish relations – fit perfectly into this concept of remembrance pedagogy. For many years I have been cooperating with the Forum for Dialogue. We identify and connect people from Poland and abroad for whom Jewish history and heritage matter.  During the meeting, I would like to talk my various activities “Living Memory Bridge from Past to Present” project. I focused on the fate of two Jewish families from Murowana Goślina: Markowicz family (now Gil from Haifa) and Magnus family (now Wimborne from Canberra). The members of these families currently live in Israel and Australia. Research into the history of the Markowicz and Magnus families mainly aimed at joint activities in the town space. The focal point of the meeting was a ceremony of unveiling commemoration plaques in four languages (English, Polish, Hebrew and German) will be held. 

About Jakub: Academically, Jakub Niewiński devoted four years writing his PhD thesis about intercultural sensitivity young Poles and Ukrainians. He is a classroom tutor, and teacher of ethics. He works at Adam Mickiewicz University as an assistant professor. He teaches in the spirit of tolerance and respect for every human being, irrespective of origin, religion, or sexual orientation. He cooperates with the international ecumenical group named BIEN – Baltic Intercultural and Ecumenical Network and Forum for Dialogue Network. In 2020, the POLCUL Jerzy Boniecki Foundation awarded him for his multifaceted social activities, educational work with young people and initiatives improving the level of education and intercultural, and multigenerational dialogue. In 2015, his work was recognized and he received The Irena Sendler Award “For Repairing the World”. Within the framework of  a Forum for Dialog, Jakub cooperates with the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews and together with his students invented and developed educational projects relating to the concept of tolerance as well as other elements of intercultural education and keeping the memories of a small country alive.