The conference, hosted by Jakub KUMOCH, will be devoted to the activity of what is known as the Berne Group, whose members saved thousands of European Jews during the Second World War by providing them with Latin American passports. The group was made up of four Polish diplomats in Switzerland, the ambassador Aleksander ŁADOŚ, who headed up the group, his deputy Stefan RYNIEWICZ, consul Konstanty ROKICKI and diplomat Juliusz KÜHL, as well as representatives of Jewish organisations: Abraham SILBERSCHEIN and Chaim EISS.
It is estimated that 1056 fake passports were produced, and, given that each document could be established for one or several people, 2100 people were able to benefit from them. Several thousand names can also be found on the lists which confirmed Paraguayan nationality without the need to issue a passport. In addition, the Berne Group provided Jewish organisations with Polish figures, thanks to which they were able to inform Jewish people living in America about the situation in Poland and the Holocaust.
Meer informatie over de Groep van Bern bevindt zich op de Wikipediapagina, die door een groep onderzoekers geschreven werd: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernese_Group
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
>>> Rooms of the Polish Embassy in Brussels (Avenue des Gaulois 29, 1040 Brussels) – see map
>>> Tuesday 23 October 2018 – 19h
>>> free entrance
>>> Mandatory registration on the following address: bruxelles@instytutpolski.org
Number of places is limited. Please be prepared to show identification papers upon arrival.
The conference will take place exclusively in French.
Dr Jakub KUMOCH, the current ambassador of the Republic of Poland to the Swiss Confederation, holds a degree in European Studies, Orientalism and Political Science, is an expert in international relations in the European Union and holds a doctorate in Social Science from the Jagiellonian University. Since 2015, he has been part of the Foreign Affairs section within the Polish National Council of Development. He has worked, inter alia, at the Centre for Oriental Studies, the Polish Institute of International Affairs and the think tank the Sobieski Institute. He speaks fluent French, English, Croatian, Spanish and Russian. He also knows Ukrainian and Arabic.
