It seems like the year 2025 has flown by even faster than previous years! The present quickly becomes the past. What I feel most strongly is that we must continue to take time to commemorate the past in a meaningful way; how do we place Sobibor in the perspective of the here and now? The world is on fire, and adversarial thinking has become the norm for many in public debate. That is a bitter pill for us at the Sobibor Foundation. While we strive to engage in dialogue by connecting past and present, it sometimes seems as though the past no longer matters. Fortunately, this past year the government launched the National Plan for Strengthening Holocaust Education, enabling all institutions and organizations involved to join forces. Let’s hope this keeps the conversation alive. The high school students who traveled with us to Sobibor for the first time this year showed us that they are more than capable of having that conversation; the question “What if I had been one of them…?” was asked often—not only in the context of victims, but also perpetrators and bystanders. This inspired us so much that in the new year we will once again dedicate our full energy to spreading our message: “Remember through information and education.”
Not only our first student trip to Eastern Poland, but also the In-Depth and Commemorative Journeys were successful this year. The three trips differ greatly in character, but they are always meaningful for participants. We hear that time and again during the follow-up days. Teachers who joined the In-Depth Journey were assigned the role of guide at Majdanek. This was not only educationally significant but also inspiring for the teachers themselves as they learned from one another.
A lot happened in media and publications. Since the beginning of this year, we’ve also been active on Bluesky and have already gained several thousand followers. We hope you’ll continue to follow us there.
The biografy of Jules Schelvis (in Dutch), written by Cees Banning and published by Verbum Publishers, was presented this spring at the Holocaust Museum—on April 8, to be precise, the date Jules was liberated from the Vaihingen camp in 1945 and first committed his experiences to paper. During the book launch, the Rachel Borzykowski Medal was awarded to Gerton van Boom, owner of Verbum Publishers. He called his extensive Holocaust library “a hobby that got out of hand,” which was praised in the laudation by our board member Petra van den Boomgaard.
Almost simultaneously, another podcast about Selma Engel, the other Dutch survivor, was broadcast by National Camp Amersfoort in the series ‘De oorlog verklaard’ (The War Explained). The podcast was recorded at a special location—the Sobibor monument on the edge of Vondelpark.
On June 1, we once again held an impressive commemoration, introduced by Youth Theater Garage TDI with an adaptation of the play Behind the Façade. It tells the story of the pre-war lives of Holocaust victims up to their deaths. This year, Jaïr Stranders was our speaker. He did not shy away from mentioning the war between Israel and Gaza. He did so without passing judgment and reminded us that the topic should compel us to at least listen to one another. Thank you, Jaïr, for sharing that message. It helps us keep the mirror as a symbol of reflection and contemplation.
A week later, we again participated in the commemoration of the Children’s Transport at National Monument Camp Vught. For several years now, children from elementary school De Schalm have taken the lead in this event. It is always moving to see how seriously they take their role, and I am convinced they will carry this experience with them and continue to share it.
The Jules Schelvis Youth Award was presented to two recipients this year: Isabelle Schröter, a student at St. Maartenscollege in Voorburg, and students from Ravensberger Gymnasium in Herford, one of the schools participating in Germany’s School Without Racism program. Isabelle received the award for her piece Where Freedom Falters; Ravensberger Gymnasium received it for their brochure Sobibor and Us. Thanks to the jury, which always writes an exceptional laudation and was expanded this year with Oscar Visser, 2023 award winner, and Ellen Jansen from the province of Gelderland. Ellen succeeded Doede Sijtsma, whom we warmly thank here for his dedication over the past years.
Special Stolpersteine were also laid for Jules Schelvis and his first wife Rachel Borzykowski, for Max van Dam, who was forced to paint for the Nazis in Sobibor, and for Jozeph Jacobs, who, after a failed escape attempt, did not betray his Polish comrades, enabling their successful uprising on October 14, 1943.
Soon we will lay the final stones in the “Avenue of Remembrance” for Jewish victims from the Netherlands. Together with the museum, we are considering how we can continue to commemorate victims in a personal way at the place where they were murdered.
Looking back, I am proud of everything we were able to accomplish around Sobibor this year—sometimes on our own, often in collaboration with others. We achieved this with our board and additional volunteers—in short, with people who care. Thank you all!
Christine Gispen-de Wied
Chair, Sobibor Foundation
