Krakowska Fundacja Centrum Informacji, Spotkan, Dialogu, Wychowania i Modlitwy w Oswiecimiu

The Centre for Information, Meetings, Dialogue, Education and Prayer is a Catholic institution which began in 1992. It was founded by Archbishop Franciszek Cardinal Macharski in co-operation with the bishops of Europe as well as with representatives of Jewish organisations. The aim of the Centre which in 1998 took the name of the Centre for Dialogue and Prayer and is built in the neighbourhood of the Auschwitz concentration camp, is to create a place for reflection, education, sharing and prayer for all those who are moved by what happened here. The Centre commemorates the victims and contributes to creating mutual respect, reconciliation, and peace in the world. The Centre for Dialogue and Prayer in Oświęcim was founded for all those who were touched by what happened in the German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. Meetings with former prisoners and direct contact with the history of World War II are the basis of our educational activities. We create place of dialogue between people and nations of various cultures and religious beliefs. We provide a place of tranquility and rest, we offer meals and accommodation. International and interreligious meetings, retreats, seminars, conferences, meditations, prayers and reflections are an important dimensions in the life of the Centre. On request we help with the planning of programmes, we enable guests to get in touch with the memorial place, we are available for meetings, conversation and reflection. Meetings with former prisoners are very important. They show not only the human face of suffering but also how to take responsibility for the future. As far as possible we help our guests to establish these contacts. Auschwitz was a place where interpersonal relations were destroyed. This is the biggest wound and is bleeding until now. Healing can come only by meeting. Building trust "after Auschwitz" is an important task even if it is a difficult one. Trust is needed in order to encounter one another openly without fear and be able to listen and give testimony. To create such an atmosphere is our main task. Dialogue and identity belong to each other. We invite you to participate in our religious retreats. Interfaith prayer in the context of Auschwitz fills us with hope. Auschwitz raises questions about God, evil, vocation, responsibility, guilt and forgiveness, Christian-Jewish relations. We encounter here great testimonies of faith and the victory of human dignity. In recent years the figure of Edith Stein and the example of John Paul II have become especially important.