mission statement
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OUR MISSION

PURPOSE:
The purpose of Poznań Synagogue Project is to draw together from across the world representatives of the various historic cultural constituencies of Central Europe, as well as like-minded people of all backgrounds, for the purpose of exploring, facilitating, financing and implementing appropriate, respectful and creative responses to the problems raised by Jewish patrimony (and other minority cultural patrimony) in Central Europe. In so doing, PSP hopes to encourage those who participate to break through cultural and ideological barriers and to dissolve prejudices, allowing a spirit of pluralism, positivism, and pride to develop where for so long the feelings have been those of disinterest, suspicion and antipathy.

PSP actively looks to develop alliances among forward-looking organizations, both religious and non-religious, both Jewish and non-Jewish, who wish to do something practical to encourage broad-based understanding, respect and reconciliation among the various religious and ethnic communities of Central Europe.
PROGRAM:
PSP seeks to fulfill its purpose by focusing initial and particular attention on the former Neue Synagoge Posen, now situated in Poznań, Poland, which was converted to an indoor swimming pool by the German army and is currently the Central Municipal Swimming Pool of Poznań. PSP sees the Neue Synagoge as an archetype of the problems confronting Jewish patrimony and the communities around it.

These problems are ethical, moral and practical. They have to do with memory and responsibility for the preservation of memory. In the Nazi era the buildings were almost all deliberately desecrated, damaged or destroyed. Those that survived suffered decades of neglect during the Communist era. The communities who built them were mostly destroyed in the Holocaust. Those that were not destroyed were nearly all compelled to leave. If the buildings are to be saved it must be done soon. The buildings constitute the physical evidence of a time and a situation that must not be forgotten.

The Neue Synagoge in its present state embodies the violation and loss suffered throughout Central Europe, particularly but not exclusively by Jews, during more than a century of war, violent upheavals and fierce repressions and reprisals. PSP hopes to see in and through a revitalization of the Neue Synagoge of Poznań a strong new commitment to human rights, to personal and community freedoms, and to mutual understanding and respect, along with an appropriate commemoration of the historic contributions and achievements of the Jewish community of Poznań.

PSP does not own the Neue Synagoge of Poznań. Since 6 May 2002, the synagogue has been owned by the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations in Poland. PSP sees itself simply as independent consultants -- a sort of think-tank -- for fostering, gathering and evaluating imaginative yet practical proposals for the Neue Synagoge, and particularly as a forum for the development of international, cross-cultural, and interfaith alliances that will further the goals of anti-racism, multiculturalism, and the reconciliation of long-standing animosities. PSP hopes that it will be possible to restore to Jewish religious use at least part of the former synagogue's historical architecture, or otherwise to provide a religious building for the use of the Jewish community in Poznań, while also developing for the building and site a use for the 21st century and beyond. PSP seeks, therefore, to discover, with the help of others, a role for the building in which both the Jewish and non-Jewish communities of Poznań can participate with pride and mutual respect.
PRINCIPLES
In fulfilling its purpose and accomplishing its program, PSP will be guided by the following core principles:
  • To focus on the welfare of the Jewish and greater Central European communities going forward, without prejudice, bias, or favoritism.
  • To seek and encourage the broadest possible participation by the widest possible number of constituencies.
  • To set and adhere to high standards of professionalism, honesty, integrity, transparency and accountability for those within PSP, and to require similarly high standards of all those with whom we are involved.
  • To attract the greatest expertise and to develop the best ideas that we are capable of attracting and developing.
  • To put the demands of the future ahead of the obligations of the past, without neglecting history or responsibility or distorting them.
  • To deliver excellence.