President's Message

Dear friends,

The annual meeting of the World Federation of Jewish Child Survivors is behind us. This year Warsaw, Poland was the host city.

We were welcomed in the beautiful and spacious Marriott hotel in the center of the city. The conference lasted 4 days from 19 till 22 August 2011. For many survivors who were present it was their first visit to Poland. And for many it was a difficult and emotional visit, giving the country's history. In general this conference was a great success.

There were seminars, lectures, workshops and panel discussions, in English language as well as in Polish language. At the opening dinner we could listen to welcoming speeches of the Polish President and the Mayor of Warsaw.

At the last day of the conference there was a free bus tour along several Jewish monuments and places of remembrance.

Of course many members of our European Association were also present in these days. We have had our annual EU-AS board meeting where we discussed the future of our organization.

It was decided to move forward and try to contact as many Survivor Groups as possible and welcome them into our family of European Survivors. In 2011 we welcomed 2 new groups Belgrade and Subotica in Serbia. We were able to renew to contact with the German group Child Survivors of Germany, A small but active group in Berlin. Of course we mourn about the death of our dear member Cilly Peiser, who was very active in the Frankfurt group.

Also the group in Bosnia Herzegovina is sending in their registration papers.

Our executive vice president Henri Obstfeld was re-elected, as well as our secretary Dr. Melita Svob.

Decisions were made to form a small committee to review our bylaws and where necessary propose changes at our next annual board meeting. Speaking of the next annual conference of the European Association in 2012 , our secretary Dr. Melita Svob offered graciously to host our 2012 meeting in Zagreb. Together with Dr. Sanja Tabacovic, she will prepare an interesting program for our members in May 2012. At this moment the exact dates are yet unknown.

During the conference of last August in Warsaw, we have met many new people, made new friends and had lengthy talks with old friends.

It was a remarkable and an emotional experience.

Max Arpels Lezer, president