Poland and Israel agree deal on resuming Holocaust education trips

The Polish and Israeli governments have reached an agreement on resuming Holocaust education trips for Israeli youths to Poland, following months of talks aimed at ending a dispute that saw the visits suspended.

Before the pandemic, tens of thousands of Israeli youths visited Poland every year on organised tours. But in June last year, Israel announced that it was cancelling them because the Polish government was trying to “dictate what was and wasn’t allowed to be taught”.

They are now finally set to resume again, following an agreement announced in Warsaw today by the two countries’ foreign ministers, Zbigniew Rau of Poland and Israel’s Eli Cohen.

The deal will see Israeli trips expanded to “include not only visits to sites related to the history of the Holocaust” but also “teaching about the history of Poland, the almost-thousand-year heritage of Polish Jews, and equally long Polish-Jewish relations, which were most often of a harmonious nature”, said Rau.

“Poland is interested in ensuring that Israeli youths…receive reliable knowledge about German responsibility for the crimes of the Holocaust,” said Rau, announcing the deal.

Poland’s government has long argued that, by focusing on only the tragedy of the Second World War, the Israeli trips distort the far longer and often fruitful history of Jews in Polish lands. It has also expressed concern that they portray Poles, rather than Germans, as responsible for the Holocaust.

Last summer, Polish deputy foreign minister Paweł Jabłoński said that, in their previous form, the trips “strengthened false stereotypes”, resulting in “Israeli youths often returning with negative feelings towards Poland and Poles”.

Under today’s agreement, the trips will also incorporate meetings between young Poles and Israelis. This will help the two sides better understand each other and combat “harmful and false associations”, said Rau, quoted by the Polish Press Agency (PAP).

He also announced that the Polish education ministry will take steps to develop incentives for Polish schools to organise educational trips to Israel.

Finally, “we agreed that the responsibility of ensuring the safety of groups of young people would rest with the host country”, added Rau. The Polish government has previously expressed opposition to Israeli groups travelling around Poland with armed guards.

“The Polish side pointed out that Poland is a safe country for Israelis and other foreigners alike,” said Rau. “Therefore there is no need for enhanced coordination with the Israeli side on security during standard situations.”

Speaking separately today, Jabłoński claimed that “there will not be armed security agents without Poland’s permission”. Last year, he accused such guards of often behaving “aggressively”.

Speaking alongside Rau, Cohen described the agreement as a “historic moment”, reports PAP. “This is not just about youth delegations, but about dialogue over our history. Young people are our future, and knowledge of the past is the key to the future.”

“Jews and Poles have together have created great things for Jews, for Poles and for the world’s heritage: writers, scientists, Nobel Prize winners, great composers and musicians,” he added, noting that four former Israeli prime ministers were born in Polish lands.

“I am convinced that Poland and Israel can and should create excellent relations, and my goal is to strengthen these relations even more,” continued Cohen. “We can do this by working together with our many friends in Poland.”

Main image credit: Piotr Drabik/Flickr (under CC BY 2.0

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.