By COLlive reporter
A delegation of the Casimir Pulaski Foundation, an independent foreign policy think-tank in Warsaw, recently visited Ukraine for meetings with government and military officials on the ongoing war by Russia.
The delegation was composed of former Foreign Minister of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius, former Foreign Minister of Poland Jacek Czaputowicz, former European Parliament member Paweł Kowal, and Katarzyna Pisarska, founder of the Warsaw Forum.
One important part of their trip, coordinated by Rabbi Levi Matusof, was the visit to Babyn Yar in Kyiv, where 33,771 Jews were killed by Nazis and collaborators during the Second World War.
They were greeted by Rabbi Raphael Rutman, Executive Vice-Chairman of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine and a community rabbi in Kyiv. He spoke about the site’s dark history and led a prayer in memory of the victims.
Those present were deeply moved by the visit and said it served as a wake-up call. “We are so close right now to situations like this if we don’t act in time,” Czaputowicz commented.
“They felt it was important to be there to remember a time when the world was complacent when other people were suffering,” Rabbi Rutman said. “We spoke about how we are currently in a battle of democracy over evil and they thanked us for the thousands of people we are helping on a daily basis.”
