The Heschel Center of the Catholic University of Lublin commemorated the victims of Operation "Reinhardt"

In Operation "Reinhardt" almost two million Jews were murdered for the one and only reason: they were born Jews. We must work together so that the memory of these events is not lost. I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to the establishment of the Heschel Center. This is a very important project, a very important sign of trust, dialogue, and understanding, and this is exactly what we need today," said Israeli Ambassador to Poland Yacov Livne at the commemoration of the victims of the German Operation Reinhardt on the 80th anniversary of its beginning. The events in Lublin were organized by the Heschel Center of the Catholic University of Lublin.

Rev. Prof. Miroslaw Kalinowski, the rector of the Catholic University of Lublin, also spoke about the value of our shared history and the mission involved in passing it on. He recalled that among the first victims of the German terror in Lublin were also Catholic University of Lublin lecturers, including the university's rector, Rev. Prof. Antoni Szymański. "The memory of these events must be kept alive, especially among young people, also by means of new media and communication technologies. This is as well the task of the Heschel Center of the Catholic University of Lublin," Rev. Prof. Kalinowski emphasized.

The commemoration ceremony began on the grounds of the Majdanek concentration camp, with the participants praying for the murdered people. "We cannot bring back to life those who were so cruelly murdered. However, we can remember them," Rev. Prof. Miroslaw Wróbel, director of the Center, said during the ceremony.

The ceremony was followed by the opening of the seat of the Heschel Center at the Collegium Iuridicum of the Catholic University of Lublin. This very building served as the headquarters of Operation Reinhardt beginning in the fall of 1941. A plaque of the Center was unveiled there today and blessed by Archbishop Stanislaw Budzik, Metropolitan of Lublin.

The participants of the meeting listened to two lectures, which presented Operation "Reinhardt" from two perspectives: the perpetrators and the victims. The background and course of the "Reinhardt" action were presented by Stephan Lehnstaedt, professor of Jewish studies at Touro College in Berlin. The second speaker, Dr. Witold Mędykowski, a historian from the Catholic University of Lublin, spoke in turn about the German occupation of Lublin.

The Germans carried out the "Reinhardt" operation in 1942-1943, as part of which liquidation of all the ghettos in the General Government was carried out. Nearly two million people, mostly of Jewish origin from eastern Poland, were killed then. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the start of this atrocity.

The Center for Catholic-Jewish Relations - the Heschel Center of the Catholic University of Lublin is a new scientific, educational and cultural unit designed to deepen Catholic-Jewish relations. The facility was established in October. Its patron is Abraham Heschel, a Jewish theologian, philosopher, and poet, born in Warsaw.