Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation 🎗️

In the Town That Became the Face of Evil. The Auschwitz Jewish Center foundation pays tribute to the victims and is dedicated to teaching the lessons of the past so that it may never be forgotten or repeated. talesfromkrakowandbeyond.com/2025/03/14/osw…

Catholics are called to reject antisemitism and the lies and conspiracies that fuel it, and to stand clearly against hatred and violence directed toward our Jewish brothers and sisters. To defend religious freedom with integrity, we must also reject antisemitism. @ArchbishpSample @archdpdx Watch the full video at: ow.ly/sYF550Yw6cA

On this day in 1943, the police liquidated the Kraków Ghetto. During the operation, the SS killed approximately 2,000 Jews. Approximately 3,000 more Kraków Jews were transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau.

'Deep failure' in 'NYT' framing of Zionism, not Holocaust about attacked Michigan synagogue - JNS.org jns.org/deep-failure-i…

We are closely monitoring the disturbing reports from Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan. Any attack targeting a house of worship is abhorrent. The horrific rise in antisemitism across our country must stop. I am in touch with the NYPD, which is maintaining heightened security at synagogues across New York City. We will remain vigilant and stand firmly with our Jewish communities against blatant and dangerous antisemitism.

Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Michigan was built in 1941, as the Nazi murder machine began its systematic destruction of European Jewry. The Jews of Detroit raised its walls while Jews in Europe were being loaded onto trains. Today, someone tried to destroy it. A truck rammed the front doors. A gunman opened fire. Grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Holocaust survivors were evacuated from the preschool inside. Temple Israel’s own security stopped the attacker before he could do more. We honor them, and we are grateful everyone inside is safe. Thousands of Holocaust survivors rebuilt their lives in West Bloomfield after the war. In 1984, they opened the first free-standing Holocaust museum in the United States, steps from Temple Israel. They did not build a museum to the past. They built a warning about the future. Temple Israel is not just a synagogue. It is proof that Jewish life endures. At the Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation, we work in the place where the consequences of antisemitism are written in stone. We know how violence against Jews begins. It rarely begins with bullets. But when bullets come, the warning signs have already been ignored. Today’s attack is one of those warnings. It demands more than statements. The people who rebuilt Jewish life in West Bloomfield understood that the survival of a community is not an accident. It requires vigilance. Their grandchildren and great-grandchildren are still here. They are demanding accountability from every level of government, law enforcement, and civil society. So are we.

It was a day of cross-cultural integration and shared historical discovery! We were delighted to host a group of American students from the CET Prague Study Abroad program, joined by students from the Salesian School in Oświęcim under the care of Joanna Kosowska. The group explored the Jewish heritage of our town during a guided tour led by our volunteer, Juliane. Afterward, they participated in the "History Detectives" workshop. Under Kamil’s guidance, the students worked with archival documents and artifacts to uncover the personal stories of Oświęcim's former Jewish residents. We are thrilled to have witnessed such a meaningful dialogue between young people from different backgrounds, united by their interest in local heritage. Thank you all for this inspiring visit, and we hope to see you again soon! #Oshpitzin #AuschwitzJewishCenter #JewishMuseumOswiecim #Education #CETPrague #HistoryDetectives #StudyAbroad #InterculturalDialogue

Yesterday, we had the pleasure of hosting a wonderful group of students from NC State University! It was a day filled with exploration as we delved into the local history of Oświęcim together. The students participated in our detective workshops and joined a guided tour of the town and the Jewish cemetery. The sessions were led by our educators, Hila and Kamil, who shared insights into the multicultural heritage of the area. With the sun shining and the students' great energy, it was a truly successful visit. We are thrilled that our guests left inspired and satisfied with the experience. Thank you so much for visiting us, and we look forward to seeing you again soon! #Oshpitzin #AuschwitzJewishCenter #JewishMuseumOswiecim #Education #NCState #History #StudyAbroad #JewishHeritage

I was proud to join students at Forest Hills High School today for a Decode Hate workshop sponsored by the @AuschwitzJCF, where students learned about different forms of hate and how to be "upstanders" (stand up for themselves and others). Funding programs like this is an important tool to combat antisemitism and all forms of hate in and through our public school system.

What do we teach our children after Oct. 7? - JNS.org jns.org/what-do-we-tea…

We had the profound honor of welcoming a very special guest to our Museum – Ilana Geva from Israel. Her visit was more than just a historical encounter; it was a moving testament to human kindness during the darkest of times. As a child, Ilana was rescued from the Warsaw Ghetto by Wacław Bebak from nearby Bobrek. She found refuge and safety with Wacław and his wife, Felicja. For their heroic actions, the Bebaks were awarded the Righteous Among the Nations medal – Israel’s highest civil honor given to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. This story also carries a deeply personal meaning for us. Wacław Bebak was the brother of the great-grandfather of our educator, Kamil, who is pictured here with Ilana. It is truly extraordinary that after so many years, the paths of the survivor and the family of her rescuers have crossed once again within the walls of our Museum. We are grateful for these shared moments, which remind us that even in the depths of history, one can find the light of hope and solidarity. #Oshpitzin #AuschwitzJewishCenter #JewishMuseumOswiecim #SprawiedliwiWśródNarodówŚwiata #RighteousAmongTheNations

Statement on Reported Antisemitic Incident at Madrid’s Reina Sofía Museum The Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation is deeply concerned by reports that three elderly Israeli visitors, including a Holocaust survivor, were asked to leave Madrid’s Reina Sofía Museum after being subjected to verbal abuse for displaying Jewish symbols. If confirmed, removing those targeted for antisemitic harassment rather than those responsible reflects a serious failure of institutional responsibility. Public cultural institutions must protect visitors from discrimination, not yield to it. Jewish identity can never be grounds for exclusion from public space in Europe. Even subtle erosion of this principle demands immediate clarity and correction. The Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation has written to the museum’s leadership requesting a full explanation, a transparent review of the incident, and a clear reaffirmation of its commitment to confronting antisemitism. The lessons of history require vigilance and action.

Holocaust survivor saluting an American soldier who liberated him. Reunion after 70 years.

In the autumn of 1942, a slight, 32-year-old Polish social worker named Irena Sendler passed through the gates of the Warsaw Ghetto with a carpenter’s toolbox in her arms. Beneath the hammers and nails lay a drugged six-month-old infant, breathing softly, utterly silent. One cry would have meant instant death for both of them. Irena smiled at the guards; they waved her through. They never suspected that this quiet woman would repeat the journey 2,499 more times. The ghetto was a slow-motion extermination. Starvation, disease, and random murder stalked every street. Jewish parents faced a choice no human being should ever have to make: keep their child and watch them waste away, or hand them to a stranger who promised a chance—however thin—at life. Irena came officially to inspect for typhus. In reality, she came to steal children from death. Babies left in toolboxes or ambulances under false bottoms. Toddlers sedated and tucked into potato sacks. Older children led by the hand through the stinking, lightless sewers while German boots marched overhead. “Not a sound,” she whispered as rats scurried past their feet. She knew that the rescued children would be given new names, new religions, new families. Their pasts would vanish unless someone remembered. So, on fragile scraps of tissue paper, Irena wrote each child’s real name, their parents’ names, and their new hiding place. She rolled the papers tight, slipped them into glass jars, and buried them beneath an apple tree in a neighbor’s garden. If she were caught and killed, the truth might still survive. She was caught. On October 20, 1943, the Gestapo kicked in her door. They took her to Pawiak Prison and demanded the list. When she refused, they smashed both her legs with iron bars. Then her feet. Then her arms. For weeks the beatings continued. She never spoke. They scheduled her execution. On the appointed morning, guards dragged the broken woman from her cell. Instead of a firing squad, she found herself outside the prison walls—alive. The Polish underground council Żegota had bribed a guard to mark her file “shot while trying to escape.” Officially dead, Irena Sendler limped back into the shadows to keep working.When the war finally ended, the first thing she did was dig up the jars under the apple tree. She spent years trying to return the children—now scattered across convents, farms, and foster homes—to whatever family might remain. Almost no parents had survived. But the children had. Because of her, 2,500 Jewish boys and girls lived to grow up, to marry, to have children and grandchildren of their own—an entire secret branch of the human family tree that the Nazis never managed to cut down.For decades her story stayed buried deeper than the jars themselves. Then, in 1999, four high-school girls in rural Kansas stumbled across a brief mention of her name. They found the old woman still living quietly in Warsaw and brought her courage back into the light. Journalists called her the greatest rescuer of the Holocaust. Irena only shook her head.“I could have saved more,” she said. “That regret follows me to the grave.”Irena Sendler—armed with nothing but a ghetto work permit, a toolbox, and a refusal to look away—proved that even in the heart of the worst evil humanity has ever devised, one determined person can still keep the darkness from winning completely.

We are happy to share that in 2026 our Foundation will begin a cooperation with the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. The partnership will focus on educational activities for young people and educators in Poland. Together, the institutions will work on programs using traveling exhibitions, peer-to-peer learning, and the Stories that Move educational toolbox, encouraging reflection on history, exclusion, and civic responsibility. @annefrankhouse

In 1946 a Polish priest by the name of Karol Wojtyła was approached by a Catholic family who wanted him to baptize a child that was living with them. The name of the child was Shachne Hiller and his parents gave him to this Catholic family so that the child would not be murdered by the Nazis. They pretended he was a child of their own and raise them as a Catholic so that the Nazis do not kill him. After the war the child's parents did not come back because they were murdered by the Nazis and now the adopting parents wanted to baptize the child so that he can live with them as a Christian. Father Karol Wojtyła refused to baptize the child, saying this child must be raised as a Jew because that's what his parents would want for him. Despite him being the priest in the town and a representative of the Catholic church, Father Wojtyła insisted that this child be returned to the Jewish people and be raised as a Jew. Later on this priest would come to be known as Pope John Paul II, a righteous man whose moral compass would inspire millions. We will never forget his leadership.