January 2006

23.01.2007 — the Minister of Culture and National Heritage — Kazimierz Michał Ujazdowski confirmed his patronage for “Memory and Tolerance” event.

15.01.2007 — Ambassador of Israel, David Peleg agreed to give the Embassy's Patronage to the “Memory and Tolerance” festiwal.

December 2006

19.12.2006 — The Press Conference.

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December 4^th, 2006 in Chełmno — the first public-civic organisation named “Partnership” was established. It objective is to integrate initiatives of the local self-go­vern­ment, business representatives and non-go­ver­nmen­tal organisations to take actions with the goal of dynamic cultural development and pro­mo­tion of the Chełmno-Świecie Region.

“Memory and Tolerance” is the first event to take place in Świecie and Chełmno. Initiated by “Part­ner­ship”:

• Chełmno Town Council, Świecie Town Council,
• Mayor of Chełmno, Mayor of Świecie,
• Roman-Catholic Parish under the invocation of the Saint Mary in Chełmno,
• Jewish Community in Gdańsk,
• Foundation of the Museum of Chełmno District in Chełmno,
• Mondi Packaging Paper Świecie S.A.,
• Publishing House QNST,
• ORTIS SEC.

September 2006
The second meeting took place after summer holidays. Other supporters who were willing to join us and the idea of tolerance: Joanna Bednarska, Magdalena Ludwikowska, Anna Ludwig and Gabriela Konkolewska strengthened our team.

The responsibilities were distributed, task-teams were established and responsible people for particular events were appointed. We prepared the initial budget and decided how to get financial resources and funds.

June 2006
It was on 12 June when the "historical" meeting of the entire group was held in the Municipal Office in Chełmno. We decided then where particular events would take place, we discussed the draft letter of intent and agreed that we would intensify our efforts from September.

February-May 2006
At the beginning of February the idea of organising the symphonic concert in one of Chełmno churches returned. How it happened? As it frequently happens, there were a few reasons. Firstly, we should begin with business relations. At one time they turned into private relationships. The company I represent has been doing business at the Israeli market for many years. Amos Talmon — a men of business with the artistic soul who has a liking for conducting is our agent in Israel. After taking lessons from great teachers (Etay Talgam, Gal Alterovich, Zeev Dorman) he began to perform with many orchestras, both in Israel and many other countries, including Poland. I attended his latest concert in Poland in September 2005. I am honored to be Amos' friend. That is why, I started to persuade him to give a concert in Chełmno.Thanks to my bosses, business-oriented people who also support interesting ideas (Florian Stockert and Maciej Kunda), it is possible that such a concert will be sponsored by Mondi Packaging Paper Świecie S.A.

With such a great contribution for the beginning, it would be a sin not to try to achieve something more. Together with friends (Barbara and Dariusz Jach, Ewa Gerka, Katarzyna Jakimowska, Grzegorz Dzikowski, Tomasz Harłoziński) — “open-minded” people, we decided to extend our plans of organising the concert and add new events to the scheduled programme.

Having become aware that there is no com­me­mo­ra­ting plate at the Jewish cemetery in Chełmno, we decided to change this.

After Świecie had engaged into our initial idea (we were very satisfied with this fact) we commenced to prepare the plan of events to take lace in both towns.

And this is how the idea of a 2-day events titled “Memory and Tolerance” to take place in two towns was born. A group of supporters became bigger and bigger. Świecie and Chełmno Mayers, Messers Tadeusz Pogoda and Mariusz Kedzierski, Priest Zbigniew Walkowiak, Michał Sanet and Michał Rucki from the Jewish Community in Gdańsk, Romuald Dworakowski from the Cultural, Sports and Recreation Centre Świecie joined us. The idea developed quickly and this June the first meeting of the group was held.

It is the second time I have listened to the "live" symphonic concert. Being charmed by music and church atmosphere I thought that it would be a great idea to organise such a concert in Chełmno.

Marek Motylewski