Poland in the Council of Europe

The exhibition presents the stories of rescue operations in thirteen European countries: Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine and Estonia. The accounts of both rescuers and survivors, set in a broader historical background, show the true stories of people who fought for the highest value – human life. One of the elements of the exhibition presented the activities of diplomats using their facilities to help people threatened with deportation to concentration camps.

The exhibition was opened by Chargé d'affaires a.i. Mr. Aleksander Pociej, who in his speech emphasized the fact that Jews were an integral part of our communities (not only European). He stressed that the Holocaust is a lesson for future generations, and the Palace of Europe is the right place to remind about it.
The presentation of the exhibition was also attended by Mr. Rafał Rogulski, director of the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity based in Warsaw, and Mr. Piotr Trojański, professor of UKEN, who introduced the participants to the subject of the exhibition. The special guest at the opening was the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Theodoros Roussopulous.

The participants of the opening of the exhibition also had the opportunity to watch a film produced by the Institute of National Remembrance – "Passports of Paraguay". The film tells the story of the activities in Switzerland of the Aleksander Ładoś group, an illegal Polish-Jewish structure dealing with the mass falsification of documents to save Jews during World War II.

The event that was the culmination of the celebration of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day was the speech during the session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on 29.01 by the Chief Rabbi of Israel, Chairman of the Yad Vashem Memorial, born in Piotrków Trybunalski – Mr. Meir Lau. Rabbi Lau recalled vivid memories of his childhood deportation, the loss of his family, and the conditions of liberation. As one of the few survivors of the Buchenwald camp, he denounced in his speech the anti-Semitism that is still present in Europe in the 21st century.

In accordance with the custom, the participants of the PACE session laid wreaths in front of the Palace of Europe in memory of people who lost their lives in the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp.

The European Network Remembrance and Solidarity was established on the basis of the declaration of the Ministers of Culture of Germany, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland of 2 February 2005. The aim of this initiative is to foster dialogue on the history of Europe in the 20th century. The ENRS Secretariat is based in Warsaw.