January 31, 2008

Dear Friends,

At the end of the twelfth annual Auschwitz Retreat in November of last year we conducted a Beyond Auschwitz process to begin to envision what our future work at Auschwitz might encompass. Various committees self-organized and the energy and enthusiasm of the retreat participants gave birth to several new and wonderful projects.
One of the committees was the Auschwitz Retreat Committee – meeting to discuss what might happen with this retreat in the future. It was our conclusion that the retreat should take a hiatus of one year in 2008 so that it could reconvene transformed in 2009 as a vehicle to address not only the practice of bearing witness, but also the healing and reconciliation of concrete situations of war, strife and disharmony around the world.
We are planning to meet as a working group for four days at the beginning of November 2008 at Auschwitz. We will use the Dialogue Center as a home base for our reconciliation, re-visioning work and trainings, and we will also have time for silence, bearing witness and ceremony at the site.
We would like to extend a warm and sincere personal invitation especially to you, the former retreat staff, as someone with important past history and experience with the retreat and much to offer to this process. But also to you, who participated in the retreat and now would like to be trained as its staff.
We plan to fundraise to cover travel and lodging for the participants, but of course, we will greatly appreciate any and all contributions or ideas for funding sources.
The organizational hosts for this event will be the Peacemaker Institute of Colorado and Peacemaker Polska.
We sincerely hope that you will be a part of this new offering. As we need to solidify the plans and funding initiatives for this retreat, please RSVP no later than March 1, 2008.
If you have questions, comments, concerns of any sort regarding this planned event, please contact any one of us below.

Warm personal regards,

Grover Genro Gauntt: grovergauntt@att.net
Fleet Shinryu Maull; fleetmaull@comcast.net
Andrzej Getsugen Krajewski: andrzej@zenpeacemakers.org
Ginni Stern: ginnistern@hotmail.com

Peacemaker Institute Colorado P.O . Box 4623 Boulder, Colorado 80306 Phone: 303-544-5923 Email Kate: Peacemaker@indra.net
Web: http://www.peacemakerinstitute.org

AUSCHWITZ- BIRKENAU BEARING WITNESS RETREAT

OSWIECIMSKIE MEDYTACJE DAWANIA SWIADECTWA   
w Auschwitz-Birkenau  6-10 listopada  2006.

Medytacje Oswiecimskie sa miedzynarodowym i miedzywyznaniowym spotkaniem, nalezacym do programu Zen Peacemakers,
w Polsce istniejacej jako Polska Wspolnota Pokoju. Jej zalozycielem jest znany amerykanski mistrz zen i aktywista spoleczny Roshi Bernie Glassman.
 
Medytacje, w ktorych zwykle bierze udzial okolo 100 - 150  osob z calego swiata, trwaja od poniedzialku 6 listopada do piatku 10 listopada (wlacznie)
 
Wiekszosc dnia spedzamy w Brzezince na rampie smierci lub w barakach, medytujac lub milczac, modlac sie i uczestniczac w ceremoniach religijnych prowadzonych przez duchownych chrzescijanskich, zydowskich, buddyjskich i muzulmanskich. Przywolujmy rowniez pamiec zmarlych poprzez czytanie ich imion.z obozowej Ksiegi Zmarlych.
Codziennie rano spotykamy sie w malych, kilkuosobowych grupach, aby dzielic sie naszymi przezyciami, zas wieczorem robimy to wszyscy w wielkim Kregu.
 
To bardzo intensywne doswiadczenie, trudne, ale oczyszczajace jak catharsis,  ktore na  zawsze moze zmienic Twoje zycie. Tegoroczne Medytacje, juz jedenaste z kolei prowadzi  Roshi Bernie Glassman, wraz z  grupa doswiadczonych nauczycieli duchowych roznych tradycji religijnych  i kulturowych.

Wszystkich zainteresowanych prosimy o zgloszenia emailowe do 6 pazdziernika br, koniecznie z krótka informacja o sobie oraz o motywach swej decyzji! Poniewaz spodziewamy sie bardzo wielu chetnych, wiec im szybciej sie zglosisz, tym wieksza masz szanse na miejsce!
 
Cena dla polskich uczestnikow /sponsorowana/: 600 zlotych.

Z pozdrowieniami    
Andrzej Bogdan Krajewski
Polska Wspólnota Pokoju  

Informacje oraz zapisy:
andrzej@zenpeacemakers.org   oraz  kandzeon@hot.pl
Husarii 32  02 951  Warszawa  (22) 842 78 87   /  0 501 603 291



www.auschwitzretreat.org    
http://www.houseofonepeople.org/events.htm?z=174

Polska Wspolnota Pokoju means Peacemaker Community Poland and is an independent affiliate of the Peacemaker Community International with headquarters in Montague, Massachusetts, USA.

We are a network of individuals, circles and organizations sharing the same vision of social justice, equality and welfare and connected in order to support each other's work, to inspire, stimulate and empower social activity based upon moral and spiritual values.

Our roots come from the I Bearing Witness Retreat in Auschwitz- Birkenau in November 1996 led by the American zen teacher and social activist Bernie Glassman Tetsugen Roshi, well known for bringing zen out in the streets /Street Retreats/ , establishing hospices and shelters for homeless. He created several non-for profit and for profit institutions(so called: Greystone Mandala) aimed at bringing social justice, welfare and peace, and providing support and guidance for activists. These are still our guiding goals.

The Retreat begins at 8am Monday morning in Krakow, Poland. It is best to arrive in Krakow by the weekend preceding the retreat to allow for rest from travel. Krakow, the ancient capitol of Poland, has been a great attraction for retreat participants, with its ancient castle, many cathedrals, market square and the old Jewish quarter of Kazimierz. You are responsible for making your own hotel reservations in Krakow prior to the retreat. Hotel information, what to bring to the retreat and a suggested reading list will be provided upon registration. A Reading List is available at: http://www.zenpeacemakers.org/

Please register for the Retreat as soon as you can to purchase plane tickets early and aid us in our planning and preparation. In Krakow, retreat check-in will begin on Sunday afternoon, November 5th. The full Retreat schedule will then be provided in the retreat packet. The Retreat will officially start Monday morning November 6, 2006 with a guided tour of the Kazimierz district - the old Jewish ghetto of Krakow - once the home of close to 70,000 Jewish inhabitants. Charted buses will then bring Retreat participants to Oswiecim, where Auschwitz is located and where we will spend the rest of the week. Arrangements have been made for accommodations and meals from dinner on Monday, November 6th, through breakfast on Saturday, November 11th. All meals are vegetarian. On Saturday morning, bus transportation will be provided back to the Krakow airport and train station. Oswiecim is located 55 km from Krakow and 30 km from the airport.
During the Retreat, housing accommodations are located within walking distance of Auschwitz-Birkenau and have meeting and dining rooms. All accommodations are shared rooms. While walking together to and from Birkenau is encouraged, bus transportation will be provided each morning, each afternoon and for all evening programs.
English is the common language of the retreat. If you need a translator, please let us know when you register.

RETREAT FEES:

The fees for The Bearing Witness Retreat at Auschwitz-Birkenau, 2006:
Early Registration Fee: US$775.
Late Registration Fee: US$850.
Early Registration fee deadline is Friday, October 13th.

* Please note, these fees do not include the costs of travel to Poland or ground transportation and accommodations in Krakow. Upon registration, Retreat Participants will receive additional information, including Hotels in Krakow, meeting places, what to bring for the Retreat and a suggested reading list.
If you have any questions, please contact the Retreat coordinators:
Laura Carboni, laura@zenpeacemakers.org 413-367-2080 ext. 4#
Ola Kwiatkowska, elenai@elenai.strefa.pl
Ginni Stern, ginni@zenpeacemakers.org or ginnistern@hotmail.com
802-734-6223, cell