Warsaw Opens 1st Center for Survivors of Holocaust

The first center for Holocaust survivors has opened in Poland. The center, known as “Our Home,” opened here with a ceremony Monday that included the traditional affixing of a mezuzah on the entrance.

The center “was created in order to meet the special needs of Jewish survivors who still reside in Poland,” said Rabbi Michael Schudrich, who represents the New York-based Ronald S. Lauder Foundation in Poland.

“For 45 years, there was no significant opportunity for the children of survivors to learn about their Jewish heritage and to have special emotional and psychological needs met.

“Our Home was established in order – belatedly – to meet these needs,” Schudrich added.

He estimated that there are 15,000 to 20,000 survivors and children of survivors in Poland who are interested in their Jewishness.

“That number could be doubled” if one also counted those who avoided dealing with their Jewishness during the years Poland was under Communist rule, he added.

The Israeli and American ambassadors to Poland joined officials from the Polish Foreign Ministry of and Ministry of Culture at the opening ceremony, which also drew leaders and members of the local Polish Jewish community.

Also attending the opening was Sherly Mariner, executive director of the London based Central British Fund, which created the center in association with the Launder Foundation and the Association of Children of the Holocaust in Poland.

The center, one of the few such facilities outside of Israel, will also provide survivors with a range of programming that will include social, educational and self-help activities.