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“Tkuma” Ukrainian Institute for Holocaust Studies resumes international scientific and pedagogical seminars live! On June 16-17, Warsaw (Poland) hosted a scientific and pedagogical seminar on the Holocaust history for Ukrainian educators and scientists, during which they had guided tours of thematic museums, discussions, and an exchange of views with Polish colleagues.

Seminar participants visited POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews – one of the most modern museums in the world, which impresses with its interactivity. The excursion to the Museum of the Warsaw Uprising made a special impression on Ukrainian teachers.

The key event was the meeting with the legendary man Maryan Tursky. Former prisoner of the Nazi concentration camps Auschwitz-Birkenau and Buchenwald, public figure, journalist and historian, who is invited to the Polish Sejm and the German Bundestag; who gives keynote speeches at the most prominent forums in Poland and Europe, found time and opportunity to talk with the participants of our seminar. He talked about what helped him, a “young man with glasses”, to survive in the inhumane conditions of Nazi persecution, the Auschwitz death camp, the “death march” to Buchenwald; how he was able to survive this incredibly traumatic experience – which, unfortunately, is relevant for Ukrainians who became victims of torture by the Rashists in the temporarily occupied territories, lost loved ones or stared death in the eye; that a Polish veteran can advise Ukrainians who are fighting against the racist empire; what moral lessons of humanity under inhumane conditions Mr. Maryan learned.

“I will repeat the words that Mr. Maryan reminded us too, – told Dr. Igor Shchupak. – “…One of the commanders of the uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto, Marek Edelman, often repeated: The most important thing is life. And when there is life, the most important thing is freedom. And often one has to give one's life for this freedom.” – This is especially important for modern Ukraine, which is fighting for its freedom”.