They are coming and then they are coming back. We have stories of Japanese people coming again and again, and not just them – others from the Far East are joining our activities. They have nothing to do with the Holocaust, but they are still coming. We believe we have to do a lot more to spread the messages we carry with us, we are trying to do more and we are expanding. We are now creating a legal society, not just to raise money. This is something we need - we need funds as we are not a business entity and depend on donations, but the most important part of our efforts is education! We need this to make people aware, to teach them, to guide them toward our goals!
This year the MOTL was organized during a year of quite unusual anniversary roots, you could say: on the one hand, you have 30 years of the MOTL, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the independence of Israel and the independence of Poland. On the other hand, the general political climate in the world right now makes things difficult. Did you feel these political reverberations during this MOTL? Did they make things more difficult?
We have to be aware of it, and we pay attention to this in all aspects. We need to keep things separate. Let us speak openly: there is a general view and climate around the world that is not related to Poland, not related to this law. We are teaching and talking about it, and we are trying to bring people to understand and be aware of the issues. We didn’t get too heavily involved in the current situation related to the law, but of course we believe we have to say that any accusations of us acting against the law are incorrect. We sent a statement to the President. We are very happy that the Polish President came for the MOTL and we met with him. I had a very good experience when I spoke to him when escorting him to his car at the end of the ceremony. What he told me was encouraging. He said to me, “I am so happy to be here; it’s so important to pay tribute to those that were murdered here. We have to work together in order to do, together, whatever we can to avoid such events.” I believe that the MOTL has become a bridge, at least between this area of Poland, Jews and Israel. It was very important, very promising and a great success.
Building bridges is, of course, the main goal of education, but it seems that sometimes the world of politics can trigger and also destroy those bridges.
I agree, but we need to continue, not give up. When you feel that someone is pushing you, you have to stand still, take it and then you need to get back to where you were. We believe this is what we’re doing. I will have a meeting with a president to discuss current tensions if necessary. We will do what is in our power to help bring the situation back to what it was before. Over the last 30 years, we have built such good relations with Poland and both sides must get that back.