Polish President Lech Kaczynski met with Education Minister Yuli Tamir in Jerusalem on Tuesday. Kaczynski, who is visiting Israel for President Peres' conference, told Tamir he thinks Israeli students visiting Poland should study Poland's pre-Holocaust history and various aspects of Poland's diverse culture in addition to its role in the Holocaust.
"Their fear is that because the children only see the camps they will get the impression that the Polish were the driving force behind the annihilation," explained Tamir.
According to Tamir, the Polish are trying to improve their historical image and seek to remind the world that Poland was also a victim of Nazism and that although the Nazi death camps were in Poland, Germany was behind the genocide.
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Tamir said that the Education Ministry makes a conscious effort to paint a balanced picture and refrain from portraying the Polish as the cause of the Holocaust. "On the other hand," she added, "we cannot sidestep the fact that many of the camps were in Poland, and that a significant percentage of the Jewish people was massacred there."
Kaczynski also expressed his interest in creating meetings between Israeli students and their Polish counterparts.
Tamir alerted Kaczynski of her plan to reduce the cost of student trips to Poland by housing the students in Polish youth hostels with kosher kitchens.
"We are already collaborating with the Polish government, which allows us to rent youth hostels. These hostels will offer kosher food, Israeli security guards and the atmosphere of an educational institution."
Tamir hopes that the new housing arrangement will also reduce the disciplinary problems of Israeli students touring Poland. "It is inappropriate for students to be alone in a hotel with a bar and porno films," she concluded.
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