Collective Strength, Indestructible Unity: Assisting Ukraine’s Jews in Poland

At the start of the Ukraine crisis, a Jewish refugee crossing into Poland may well have been greeted by Piotr Kulisiewicz. When he served as operations coordinator for JDC in Warsaw, Kulisiewicz did a bit of everything for the Polish Jewish community. But after February 24, 2022, he went straight to the border with Ukraine, where he managed a host of JDC volunteers assisting those fleeing the conflict. 

Today, Kulisiewicz reflects fondly on his years with JDC and outlines the lessons all Jews can learn from the organization’s refugee response. 

As Jews, we must stick together as one. For millennia, group solidarity and mutual aid have enabled us to weather any crisis, no matter how catastrophic. This became evident at the start of the crisis in Ukraine, when those of us in Warsaw aided Jewish refugees fleeing the unfolding chaos. 

JDC was the connective tissue uniting these efforts, and when I served as their operations coordinator here in Poland, I was privileged to help direct our humanitarian response. 

I chose to work for JDC because of my mother. She had suffered at Auschwitz, and all her life, she’d kept silent about being Jewish. When she started telling me about her real identity, she said that she regretted living as someone else — she thought she’d die without doing anything Jewish. 

I decided that JDC was my chance to right this wrong. Though my mother couldn’t live her life over again, I could help the next generation declare their Jewishness with pride, joy, and defiance.

This rediscovery can happen at any age. Though I’m now 72, I recently celebrated my bar mitzvah. In my drash (sermon), I thanked people like Karina Sokolowska, JDC’s country director for Poland, for helping to lead me back into the Jewish community.  

When I worked at JDC, I was a jack-of-all-trades. My work consisted in fulfilling a wide range of tasks related to the organization’s activities in Warsaw. For instance, I helped organize camps for children and families, scouting out locations, assisting with logistics, and coordinating various events. 

The conflict and suffering in Ukraine raised the stakes of our collective mandate, to say the least. 

On that awful first morning, I felt fear. My first thought was, “It’s very close, right at our border. Are we safe? How long will it last? How will it end?” The next day, Karina Sokolowska — JDC’s country director for Poland — went to the border. From there, she called me to say JDC would be helping Ukraine’s Jews. I was needed fast. 

I knew we had no other choice: We had to be there for our Jewish brothers and sisters. 

My first visit to the border was in early March. The journey there was incredibly difficult, and when we finally arrived, I saw that the situation was absolute mayhem — a mass of people, endless lines of cars, the elderly and frail uprooted from their homes and looking toward Poland for safety. Many refugees had crossed the border on foot. There were entire families and single mothers with children. Unsurprisingly, they looked unhappy, disoriented, and desperate. 

Humanitarian organizations from around the world had set up tents, providing round-the-clock support. Prominent among them was JDC. 

I jumped into action, mobilizing a group of JDC volunteers who stationed themselves at border crossings night and day. They identified themselves to Jewish refugees by wearing JDC blue jackets and distributed leaflets printed with our emergency hotline number. Often, the volunteers helped direct refugees to Warsaw, where they would receive food, accommodation, medicine, trauma support from trained psychologists, and other aid.  

In turn, the refugees showed gratitude. “Dyakuyu,” they’d say — Ukrainian for “Thank you.” This small token of appreciation showed us that our efforts weren’t in vain, that they felt safe and cared for.

I felt sorrow for all they’d endured, but I also knew that the worst was over — across Europe, JDC would help them start life anew. 

As the conflict progressed, I left the border to assist with coordinating JDC’s activities here in Warsaw. On some days, 25 people or more would show up offering support. Though inspiring, this was sometimes its own kind of chaos, and I had to streamline everything so that aid and services were delivered in the most efficient way.

Today, the remaining Jewish refugees in Poland need help organizing their lives. Often, they have no place to return, no home. The help consists in teaching them how to live in a Polish reality. In many ways, their issues are similar to ours. They still have to think about where they’re going to send their kids to school, what they’re going to do for work, and ultimately, how they want to live their lives. 

As challenging as these questions are, I know that for the Jewish refugees we’ve assisted, their lives would be profoundly harder if not for JDC.

In reality, the effectiveness of our response proves the unique value of JDC. On our own, the Jews of Poland would have found it difficult to address this complicated and painful situation. But thanks to JDC, it was possible to provide aid to our fellow Jews quickly and methodically. From the very beginning, they sent us seasoned experts who guided us every step of the way. 

This conflict has been challenging. But throughout such a difficult time, with so many people stepping up for their Jewish family, we’ve also had the chance to ask, “How should we live together going forward? What can we take from this brutal experience and apply in times of peace?” 

We need to keep having this discussion because us Jews are only as strong as we are united. Standing on the border with JDC’s courageous volunteers, that sense of unity was indestructible.

It’s a feeling none of us will ever forget. 

Piotr Kulisiewicz, 72, served as operations coordinator for JDC in Warsaw, Poland.

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