Post Trip Letter to Participants from Marc

Dear Participants of FH's Poland Study Tour,

I expect most of you have returned to your home communities and have transitioned to your regular routines of life. A little over a week ago, I landed in Boston after spending five days in Turkey with Sara. It was a great way for us to step away from Poland and to begin to absorb all that we experienced on the trip. Every day since then, I have been in contact with our Polish partners (who loved being with all of you), and have been meeting with Margot and other staff to unpack what we learned during our eight days together. We are working to synthesize what those of us on the trip heard and saw to determine how it will impact the revision of Facing History and Ourselves: Holocaust and Human Behavior.  In each office, staff have been debriefing with their colleagues, and Advisory Board meetings have highlighted aspects of our journey. As you witnessed, we have had a major impact in many leading institutions in Poland and this work will continue and deepen. The training we have done with museum staff has helped shape how they deliver programs; our resources have been translated and are being used in schools; and our pedagogy has been infused into a variety of professional development programs. Maciek from the Auschwitz Jewish Cultural Center has promised to write an article about the impact FH has had on his program training police officers. It's a powerful story.
    
What a privilege to be part of a learning community where 90 FH staff, board members and friends could delve into the core content of our work and together try to make meaning of such an emotionally difficult and intellectually complicated history. The dynamism of any FH classroom (which describes our time together... but on steroids and wheels) is that it is full of diverse people interpreting information, weighing competing narratives, managing ambiguity, showing moral outrage, negotiating conflict and ultimately forming some type of judgment. While all of us have our own personal takeaways, our experiences were enriched by collectively wrestling with "imaging the unimaginable”, it's implications about the human condition and what we need to do to secure a safe and humane world.

I am attaching a few documents. One is the talk given on the first day by Professor Antony Polonsky. It should be interesting to read it now that the trip is over. He framed much of what we would be discovering during our time together. The other is the story written by Józef Walaszczyk, the 95-year-old rescuer, who was on the panel on day two. I read the memoir on the plane and was deeply moved and simultaneously stymied at what motivates people to be so courageous (and this is after studying the subject for three decades...maybe I am a slow learner). The third document is from the Forum for Dialogue. If you know of people who might be interested in participating in one of their study tours, they can contact Andrzej at andrzej.folwarczny@dialog.org.pl; please note, they expect people who participate in the tours to become more involved in supporting their work. Lastly, I am also attaching Ron Hoffman's reflection, which I thought you would find to be an interesting and thoughtful commentary on his personal journey. It would be wonderful to receive other reflections that we can share with the group. Finally, I am including the link to the blog: http://facinghistorypoland.blogspot.com/. All the summaries about each part of the trip are now complete. I can't thank the staff enough for all their efforts in providing this extraordinary gift for all of us.

I hope you were able to gain a deeper insight into the importance of our work during our time in Poland. While most of our students won't have the opportunity to travel to Poland, South Africa, Northern Ireland, or on a civil rights tour in the US, they are able to have a profound experience in the confines of a Facing History classroom where they explore some of the most important issues facing our world and think about how they can make a difference in their communities.

During the trip, I spoke with many of you and my colleagues about the question with which we all struggled: what can we do? For the staff and for me, the work with these painful histories and the moments of courage we saw inspire us to continue our efforts with teachers, educators, and students. We want to meet young people where they are, and help shape a moral compass and perspective on the world defined by empathy, respect, and understanding. For you as board members and donors, I ask that you continue to share your experiences with your family and friends, and that Facing History remains an important philanthropic priority to each of you. I feel as strongly as you do that we must continue to teach and understand the steps that led to the Holocaust, to understand how neighbors turned on each other – and helped each other, so that democracy is nourished and thrives in the many communities where we work, and where we hope to work. We are depending on you for your leadership and support.

Thanks again for your attentiveness and commitment to our work. I am eager to hear from you.

Best,
Marc
Facing History                  
Vice President & Chief Program Officer