Auschwitz Jewish Center has been placed on a list of over 200 "highly detrimental" institutions, according to Parents Protect Children Association (Stowarzyszenie Rodzice Chronią Dzieci). Lesser Poland board of education head Barbara Nowak has passed this list to the members of parliament as an answer to a question about which organisation are violating parents' rights. "The said list is an attempt at defamation, slander, and intimidation," said the director of the Auschwitz Jewish Center, Tomasz Kuncewicz.
The whole story began on Jan. 7, with Barbara Nowak's interview for Radio Zet. That day she became notorious for her comment on COVID vaccinations which she called "an experiment". She then met with severe criticism from Education Minister Przemysław Czarnek and Health Minister Adam Niedzielski. Even some PiS politicians, including MEP Beata Mazurek, demanded Nowak's dismissal. As we see today - to no effect.
But superintendent Nowak said more controversial things that day. She spoke about "800 reported cases and over 400 cases, when parents weren't asked" for consent to allow non-governmental organisations enter schools.
Data not from the board of education
What are these figures? We tried to find out. It turned out that the Ministry of Education and Science (MEiN) does not gather information regarding activity of non-governmental organisations in each voivodeship.
A parliamentary intervention carried out by Civic Coalition MPs showed that the data mentioned by Nowak did not come from the board of education.
The board spokesperson Joanna Drużyńska told tvn24.pl that the data mentioned by superintendent Nowak in the interview for Radio Zet had come from a "Let's Protect Children!" campaign launched in 2017-2018 by Ordo Iuris Institute for Legal Culture, as well as other materials made available by Parents Protect Children Association, "She and He" Foundation Institute of Sex and Sexuality Analysis, or Mom and Dad Foundation.
Drużyńska was not able to provide answers to our other questions, regarding names of organisations and local governments under which the alleged situations had taken place. She was only able to say that she could not answers our query because the "aforementioned data was not compiled by the Education Board in Kraków, but only shared with the superintendent as part of a broader cooperation".
According to the data Nowak sent to answer questions asked by the Civic Coalition MPs, since 2017 until today the Lesser Poland board of education has received only six complaints on school classes and four emails with requests for opinion regarding classes. The superintendent also attached a list compiled by Ordo Iuris and an over 200-entry catalogue of institutions prepared by Parents Protect Children Association.
The director of Auschwitz Jewish Center Tomasz Kuncewicz published an official statement on Sunday in social media. He mentioned the work the foundation has done in over 20 years of its existence, including renovation of completely ruined unique landmarks of the pre-war Oświęcim, maintaining of the Jewish cemetery, and the creation of the award-winning Great Synagogue Memorial Park, which has just been shortlisted for the 2022 Edition of the EU Mies van der Rohe Award.
"List potentially dangerous to our institution"
"Putting aside the absurdity of the accusation, being placed on the said list along with many other organisations strongly involved in ambitious educational activities, is a complement. Because it means that our efforts to preserve the memory of Oświęcim Jews and the multicultural heritage of Poland, as well as anti-discriminatory education, for which the history of Auschwitz is a starting point, are being noticed," Kuncewicz said.
He also reminded that before the WWII Jews and Christians in Oświęcim lived together as neighbours. "Nearly all Jewish residents of Oświęcim were murdered because the Third Reich had launched a campaign of hate, exclusion, and mass murder against them. That is why we will never cease to react to hatred, fanatism, racism, anti-Semitism, and homophobia. Because Auschwitz learned us a lesson. In this place one cannot stay silent when prejudice against refugees, Polish LGBT+ community, Muslims, or any other group is being used for political gains," Kuncewicz underscored.
Finally, he commented on the list itself. "It's an attempt at defamation, slander, and intimidation, and can therefore pose a threat to the safety of institution and our employees. That is why I hope that our state institutions will take adequate legal steps. An adequate notice will be also sent on Monday to the Lesser Poland Voivode, which is a body supervising the Lesser Poland Board of Education. Because we are a Polish-American foundation, I have also notified the U.S. General Consulate in Kraków about the situation, as well our American partner - the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York".
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, tvn24.pl