From August 11-16, 2020 at the Centre for Dialogue and Prayer in Oświęcim for the eleventh time the European workshop “On Dealing with the Past of Auschwitz Burdened by Violence” organized by the Maximillian Kolbe Foundation from Germany was held. The Foundation was established 13 years ago by the Episcopates of Germany and Poland. In the preamble to the founding act, one of its objectives highlights reconciliation efforts based on the power of memory.

This year, due to the Pandemic, only 13 people took part in the workshop: Germans, Poles, French, Russian living in Germany, and a Croatian studying in Rome. Unfortunately, the invited guests from Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Russia and the Balkan countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia could not come.

For the eleventh time the Archbishop of Bamberg, Prof. Dr. Ludwig Schick, chairman of the Council of the Maximillian Kolbe Foundation was with us.

We are glad that despite some limitations and difficulties related to COVID 19, we managed to organize this workshop and implement a very intensive programme, in Oświęcim, in cooperation with the Centre for Dialogue and Prayer.