🇺🇸 English 🇵🇱 Polski 🇷🇺 Русский 🇮🇱 עִברִית
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The purpose of the visit was to present the “Book of Life” project, the very first permanent exhibition hosted in the Vatican, featuring testimonials of the heroic actions of Christians who saved Jewish lives during the Holocaust.
The exhibition will demonstrate evidence of Catholic support of the Jews during the Holocaust with a digital archive, including 100,000 or more life stories. This project includes a global campaign to find the testimonies, research, identify, collect and verify the facts. They will be digitized and published online.
During the Papal Audience, members of the delegation gave as gifts to H.H Pope Francis the “Book of Life” project presentation — covering the first three stories of Irena Sendler, Izak Goldfinger, and Gita Koifman — and the first four exhibits from this exhibition: including a special limited edition of the book, “Every Single One was Someone,” by Phil Chernofsky and Andre Gasiorowski; the installation, “Helping Hand,” by artist Nikita Ben Ami; the sculpture “Fountain of Tears,” by Canadian sculptor Rick Wienecke; and, the exact replica of the rarest 19th-Century Jewish prayer bowl which was on display at the Crossroads Museum in Dubai/UAE, donated by its owner, Ahmed Obaid Al Mansoori.
Helping Hand Global Forum delegations received official greetings from the Pope, witnessed by thousands of participants gathered in St Peter’s Square and broadcasted worldwide to a Papal general audience.
Helping Hand Global Forum delegation members:
Israel
- Dr. Andre Gasiorowski: Head of HHGF delegation, President of Helping Hand Coalition – Global Forum
- Boaz Harpaz: Executive Coordinator of the HHGF delegation, Board Member of Helping Hand Coalition – Global Forum
- Bozena Gasiorowski: Coordinator of Holocaust Memory project for the Vatican, Board Member of Helping Hand Coalition – Global Forum
- Luke Gasiorowski: Coordinator of “Book of Life” project for the Vatican, President of Helping Hand Coalition – Global Forum
- Ben Zion Harpaz: Holocaust survivor
- Gita Koifman: Holocaust survivor, Board Member of Helping Hand Coalition – Global Forum, Chairman of Israeli Association of Concentration Camps and Ghetto Survivors
- Daniel Rozen: Board Member of Helping Hand Coalition – Global Forum
- Amnon Shiboleth: Founder of one of the most prestigious Israeli international law firms
Germany
- Harald Eckert: Board Member of Helping Hand Coalition – Global Forum, Chairman of the Board of Christen an der Seite Israels E.V. Germany (Christians for Israel – Germany)
- Klaus Dewald, Board Member of Helping Hand Coalition – Global Forum, Founder and President of the Global Relief Network (GAiN)
United Arab Emirates:
- Ahmed Obaid Al Mansoori: Founder of the First Holocaust Memorial Gallery in the Arabic and the Islamic world, Fr. Member of Federal National Council in UAE and Fr. Director of the Department of Economic Development in Dubai
- Rabbi Dr. Elie Abadie: Senior Rabbi of Jewish Council of the Emirates, Chief Rabbi of Association of Gulf Jewish Communities
Poland:
- Serafina Ogończyk Mąkowska: Presidium member of Helping Hand Coalition – Global Forum
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