What We Do
Our Vision and Mission
We envision a world in which people are imbued with the belief that one thought, one
person, one action CAN change the world.
The mission of The Stefania Podgórska Foundation (formerly The Stefi Foundation) is to inspire compassion, tolerance, and courage by teaching about Stefania and Helena Podgórska, two Catholic girls who rescued 13 Jews during the Holocaust in Nazi-occupied Poland.
Answering the question why she helped Jews, Fusia, as Stefania was known to her friends and family, said that she “had to help, that we are all human beings.” True to that thought, we envision a world where young people are imbued with the belief that one thought, one act, one person CAN make a difference, that they can change the world. Through Fusia’s story, we teach compassion, tolerance and courage wherever that message needs to be heard.
Goals and Objectives
It is our goal in 2020 to advocate for the inclusion of Fusia’s story in continuing education for teachers of the Holocaust.
Goals
1. To promote the telling of Stefania and Helena’s story to teach young people that one thought, one act, one person CAN change the world.
2. To memorialize Stefania’s story by collecting, preserving and cataloging all supporting materials.
3. To increase the story’s visibility, relevance and public exposure.
Objectives
1. Engage in public speaking events at schools and public venues.
2. Advocate for making the story part of a Holocaust and/or social studies curriculum and including the story in continuing education for teachers.
3. Promote the use of existing movies and books to support the learning process.
4. Digitize, preserve and catalog all artifacts, documents, recorded interviews, TV shows, books, awards, memoirs, pictures.
5. Increase the story’s visibility, relevance, and exposure to the public through strategic communications including media, in-person engagements and strategic alliances with like-minded organizations.
Public Speaking
Ed Burzminski delivers the riveting summary of Stefania and Helena’s story of compassion, tolerance, and courage. As Fusia’s son, he offers a perspective on Fusia and Max’s life in America, and he shares some powerful experiences on how his parents’ story has influenced his life.
Through public speaking engagements, Ed Burzminski engages audiences by sharing how Stefania Podgórska rescued 13 people, how she and Max Diamant (later Josef Burzminski) lived after immigrating to the United States and how they influenced his life.
By using video clips, he enables Fusia and Max to add a dimension to his talks by engaging the audience with his parents who share parts of the story in their own words.
Ed’s story of unknowingly befriending the son of prominent Nazis and his subsequent interaction with Max is a powerful message inspiring tolerance and compassion.