“A Bridge to Yesterday’s World – Remembering the Jewish Residents in Today’s Częstochowa”

December 17, 2024
Sources: Małgorzata Kaim, Alon Goldman. Photographs: Juliusz Słowacki No. 1 High School in Częstochowa

The Juliusz Słowacki High School auditorium was the venue for the conclusion of the fourth year of the “Bridge to Yesterday’s World – Remembering the Jewish Residents in Today’s Częstochowa” educational project.

The competition is held at the beginning of each school year in September, the month in which the liquidation of the Częstochowa Jewish ghetto began in 1942.

The project was born four years ago during a conversation between our World Society Vice-President, Alon Goldman and Małgorzata Kaim, principal of the Juliusz Słowacki High School in Częstochowa. They discussed ways in which it would be possible to enable local youth to get to know the multicultural history of the city, to restore the memory and promote knowledge about the Jewish community that once existed in Częstochowa and to strengthen and encourage the city’s youth to live in a spirit of tolerance and dialogue with the local cultural heritage.

Together with her team of teachers, Małgorzata Kaim put the idea into practice and, in co-operation with Rafał Piorowski, head of the Częstochowa Municipal Education Department, launched the educational project as a competition amongst local high schools and elementary schools in several areas – poetry, design and multimedia.

This year’s competition attracted twenty-seven elementary schools and high schools!

Winners of the Irit Amiel Poetry and Prose Recitation Competition “One Life’s Distance and One Street”
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS:
1st place – Jagoda Trybuła, Primary School No. 7 in Częstochowa – tutor Beata Jarzębowska
2nd place – Julia Śledź, Primary School No. 50 in Częstochowa – tutor Joanna Gancarek
Honourable mention – Yulia Pasichnyk, School and Kindergarten Complex No. 1,
Primary School No. 40 in Częstochowa – tutor Renata Krogulec

HIGH SCHOOLS:
1st place – Bartosz Bas, Mechanical and Electrical School Complex in Częstochowa – tutor Anna Szydłowska
2nd place – Sylwia Psiuk, Juliusz Słowacki No. 1 High School in Częstochowa – supervisor Agnieszka Łuczak-Wielgórka
3rd place – Jagna Lasoń, Gen. Józef Sowiński VIII General Secondary School in Częstochowa – supervisor Iwona Baranowska
Winners of the “Different People, One City” Poster Competition
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS:
1st place – Marta Sapis, Primary School No. 53 in Częstochowa – supervisor Anna Langier
2nd place – Oliwia Wojciechowska, Primary School No. 53 in Częstochowa – supervisor Anna Langier
3rd place – Filip Ślęzak – Primary School No. 38 in Częstochowa – supervisor Joanna Jamska

HIGH SCHOOLS:
1st place – Daryna Martyniuk, Gen. Władysław Anders Schools Complex in Częstochowa – supervisor Izabela Rychlewska
2nd place – Kamil Starostecki, Gen. Józef Sowiński VIII General Secondary School in Częstochowa – supervisor Iwona Skrzypczyk-Gałkowska
3rd place – Inna Huzjejeva, Gen. Władysław Anders Schools Complex in Częstochowa – supervisor Izabela Rychlewska
Winners of the “World Lost, World Saved” multimedia competition
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS:
1st place – Lena Karwowska, Primary School No. 21 in Częstochowa – supervisor Agata Miśkiewicz
2nd place – Zuzanna Burzyńska, Primary School No. 31 in Częstochowa – supervisor Joanna Nicer-Woźniak
3rd place – Wiktoria Karoń, Primary School No. 38 in Częstochowa – supervisor Dariusz Lechowicz.

HIGH SCHOOLS:
1st place – Emilia Szmal, Gen. Józef Sowiński VIII General Secondary School in Częstochowa – supervisor Iwona Skrzypczyk-Gałkowska
2nd place – Natalia Kołodziej, Gen. Józef Sowiński VIII General Secondary School in Częstochowa – supervisor Iwona Skrzypczyk-Gałkowska
3rd place – Filip Gładysz, Gen. Władysław Anders School Complex in Częstochowa) – supervisor Katarzyna Micińska

The closing ceremony was held with the participation of the head of the Częstochowa Municipal Education Department of the Municipality of Częstochowa, Rafał Piotrowski, the director of the Juliusz Słowacki High School, Margolzata Kaim, the chairwoman of the TSKŻ Częstochowa Branch, Izabela Sobańska-Klekowska, Ilona Kowalska, co-writer of the script “Map of Childhood”, a cinematic poetry salon dedicated to Irit Amiel, representing the Władysław  Częstochowa Biegański  Public Library  and Ewa Oles, Literary Secretary of the Adam Mickiewicz Theater in Częstochowa.

Organisers of the project are:

Częstochowa Municipal Education Department ,

the Juliusz Słowacki High School in Częstochowa,

the Częstochowa branch of the TSKŻ (Social and Cultural Association of Jews in Poland

the Częstochowa Regional Cultural Centre.

The project is held under the auspices of Mr. Alon Goldman (Chairman of Association of Częstochowa Jews in Israel)

and the Memorial and Renewal Foundation in Częstochowa