2017-03-28 01:27 update: 2018-09-26, 23:33
David Harris, AJC CRO pap_20170327
We want to strengthen transatlantic relations as well as relations between Israel and Central Europe, head of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) in Europe Simone Rodan-Benzaquen has told PAP.
On Monday AJC opened its office in the seat of Warsaw's POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews. The 5th AJC office in Europe, it will also service the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia and Hungary.
Our goal was to reach the region, said Rodan-Benzaquen. We have chosen Poland as for obvious reasons it is in the centre of the region. It was also a central place for Judaism in the world, but also for American Jews who may return in Poland to the roots of Judaism, Rodan-Benzaquen told PAP explaining why AJC decided to locate its bureau in Warsaw.
AJC CEO David Harris pointed out that often times it quizzed many observers to see Jewish people developing much closer relations with Germany than with Poland. Remembering Jan Karski he suggested it was a good time to improve those relations.
In a special letter marking the opening of the office President Andrzej Duda wrote that Poland was pleased to welcome the organisation on Polish soil.
"I am glad to see that you chose the Polish capital for the place from which your activity will embrace the whole region", Duda wrote. He added that AJC's settlement in Poland coincided with the stationing of NATO troops in the country, and called the fact "symbolic" in light of AJC's onetime support of Poland's NATO membership.
US Ambassador in Poland Paul W. Jones called the AJC office in Warsaw another important symbol of the rebirth of Jewish culture in Poland and a symbol of Polish-US relations.
Israeli Ambassador Anna Azari said the AJC Warsaw office was "a feast for Poland, the US, Israel, and me personally".
The American Jewish Committee was founded in 1906 to protect the rights of Jews outside the US. The organisation's main seat is New York. (PAP)
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