The establishment of the Council for Education About the Holocaust is part of efforts to provide teaching on the Holocaust at every level of education and the development of good practices in this area that are linked to Poland’s commitments accepted in international fora.

Created by the Minister of National Education, the Council for Education About the Holocaust was convened for the first time on Wednesday, January 31 2018. The creation of this body is an opportunity to meet the need for closer cooperation in the area of education about the Holocaust with representatives of academia, museums and non-governmental organizations. It also constitutes the implementation of Poland’s international obligations.

The tasks of the Council will include presenting new proposals for activities in the field of education about the Holocaust, consulting research proposals and materials in the field of education about the Holocaust, and substantive cooperation regarding projects promoting Polish proposals linked to education about the Holocaust in mass culture in the country and abroad.

The Council’s work will be directed by the Plenipotentiary of the Minister of National Education for Polish-Jewish Relations, Undersecretary of State Maciej Kopec, and its members will include individuals with special knowledge, track-records and experience in the area of Holocaust education.

It will also include Mateusz Szpytma, Deputy Chairman of the Institute of National Remembrance, Dr Anna Stróz, Director of the Ulma Family Museum of Poles Saving Jews during World War II in Markowa, Prof. Grzegorz Berendt, Deputy Director of Research at the Museum of the Second World War, Prof. Dariusz Stola, Director of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Bishop Rafal Markowski, Chairman of the Committee for Dialogue with Judaism in the Polish Episcopate, Michael Schudrich, Chief Rabbi of Poland, Marek Zajac, Secretary of the International Auschwitz Council, as well as Prof. Krzysztof Strzalka, Deputy Director of the Department of Public and Cultural Diplomacy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Poland is one of the few countries in the world where teaching about the Holocaust is obligatory – at all levels of education. The objectives of education and teaching content on the Holocaust are incorporated in: the current core curriculum – at all levels of education (primary school, middle school, high schools) and in the core curriculum of secondary schools.