OŚWIĘCIM, PL / ACCESS Newswire / April 15, 2026 / In the shadow of one of history's darkest sites, more than 120 senior law enforcement leaders gathered this week in Poland for a program with an urgent mandate to translate memory into action.

The seminar, titled "Operationalizing Never Again Not On Our Watch 2026," was hosted at the Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation in Oświęcim, adjacent to the former Nazi death camp Auschwitz. Organized in partnership with the Rutgers University Miller Center on Policing and Community Resilience and the University of Virginia, the program brought together police leaders, policymakers and security officials from across the United States, Europe and beyond for an intensive period of study and discussion.

Among the highest-ranking participants were New Jersey State Police Acting Superintendent Jeanne Hengemuhle, New York Police Department Executive Director Amy E. Bishop, Washington DC Metropolitan Police Department Assistant Chief Tasha Bryant and Royal Canadian Mounted Police Superintendent Sanjaya Wijayakoon, alongside senior European leadership including German Police Union Federal Chairman Jochen Kopelke. Their presence underscored the program's reach into the upper ranks of global policing at a moment of heightened concern over extremism, antisemitism and other forms of hate.

For the Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation, the convening reflects a broader educational mission that has, over the past decade, engaged tens of thousands of diplomats, military personnel, law enforcement officials and educators in Holocaust based training programs focused on tolerance, human rights and ethical leadership.

Participants spent time in Oświęcim combining historical study with professional dialogue. They toured the remains of the Auschwitz Birkenau camp complex, engaged in seminars on the role of state institutions in enabling atrocities and took part in discussions designed to connect those lessons to contemporary policing.

"Law enforcement officers hold immense authority and responsibility," said Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation Director General Jack Simony. "Our responsibility is to ensure that the lessons of the Holocaust are not confined to history but are actively shaping how today's leaders confront bigotry, hatred and the dehumanization of others."

The program's structure reflects a growing emphasis on professional audiences particularly those entrusted with public authority. While Holocaust education has long focused on students and the general public, institutions like the Auschwitz Jewish Center have increasingly tailored their work to judges, diplomats and law enforcement officials, arguing that such groups play a decisive role in preventing hate and protecting vulnerable communities.

"Never Again is not a slogan it is a responsibility," said Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation Chairman Simon Bergson. "By bringing together leaders from across countries and disciplines we are building a community committed to recognizing warning signs and acting before prejudice and hatred escalate into violence."

The delegation reflected that international scope. In addition to senior American officials, participants included police leaders and union representatives from Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Estonia as well as officials from Canada, Kenya and Australia. Many hold positions that shape training standards, departmental policy and national policing strategy.

The program was led by Paul Goldenberg, chair of the initiative, alongside colleagues from Rutgers and the University of Virginia and featured a mix of lectures, site visits and small group discussions.

For many, the setting itself a short distance from the barracks and crematoria of Auschwitz served as a stark reminder of how ordinary institutions including police forces were once drawn into systems of persecution and mass murder.

"In Oświęcim, where the consequences of hatred were carried out with the participation of ordinary institutions, we are consistently reminded that the line between protection and persecution is defined by human choices," said Tomasz Kuncewicz. "Programs like this are about equipping today's leaders with the awareness and moral clarity to ensure that authority is always used to defend human dignity, never to erode it."

Sessions focused on the incremental nature of authoritarianism, the normalization of bias and the ethical obligations of officers when confronted with unlawful or discriminatory directives.

The delegation included senior law enforcement officials from across the United States and abroad. including:

• From Arizona: Cochise County Sheriff's Office Captain Tim Williams.

• From California: San Mateo Police Department Chief Ed Barberini.

• From Colorado: Denver Sheriff's Department Major Keri Adcock; Boulder Police Department Deputy Chief Ron Gosage; Colorado State Patrol Captain Wesley Kartus; Colorado State Patrol Lieutenant Colonel Joshua Downing.

• From the District of Columbia: Metropolitan Police Department Assistant Chief Tasha Bryant; Metropolitan Police Department Captain Gavin Nelson.

• From Florida: Aventura Police Department Chief Michael Bentolila; St Lucie County Sheriff's Office Reservist Adam Dobrin.

• From Maryland: Montgomery County Department of Police Captain Kathy M. Estrada; Hyattsville Police Department Deputy Chief Laura Lanham.

• From Massachusetts: Massachusetts State Police Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Tucker; Wellfleet Police Department Reserve Officer Marc Spigel.

• From Minnesota: Minneapolis Police Department Bureau Chief Ganesha Martin.

• From New Jersey: New Jersey State Police Acting Superintendent Jeanne Hengemuhle; South Brunswick Police Department Captain Jeffrey Russo; Monmouth Junction Police Department Chief Raymond J. Hayducka; Cinnaminson Police Department Chief William Obuchowski; New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police Executive Director Mitchell Sklar.

• From New York: New York Police Department Executive Director Amy E. Bishop; Suffolk County Police Department Assistant Commissioner Elizabeth Daitz.

• From North Dakota: North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation Chief Agent Casey Miller.

• From Tennessee: Knoxville Police Department Captain Tracy Hunter; Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director David Rausch.

• From Texas: Harris County Sheriff's Office Sergeant Joseph Saavedra; Collin County Sheriff's Office Sheriff AJ Skinner.

• From Virginia: Virginia State Police Lieutenant Colonel Norman Gray; Loudoun County Sheriff's Office Major David Hill; Louisa County Fire and EMS Deputy Chief Chris Lee.

• From Washington: Seattle Police Department Lieutenant Dorothy Kim.

• From Australia: Queensland Police Service Assistant Commissioner Virginia Nelson.

• From Belgium: Antwerp Police Department Chief External Relations Karl Hereen; Antwerp Police Department Commissioner Bob Davits; Local Police Antwerp First Inspector Van Bogaert Koen.

• From Canada: Royal Canadian Mounted Police Superintendent Sanjaya Wijayakoon.

• From Estonia: Estonian Police and Border Guard Prefecture Head Vaiko Vaher.

• From Germany: German Police Union Federal Chairman Jochen Kopelke; German Police Union Deputy Chairman Sven Hüber; Bavarian State Police Colonel Bernd Bürger; Lower Saxony Police Detective Superintendent Damian Janitzki.

• From Kenya: Anti-Terrorism Police Unit Chief Inspector Alvince Osura.

• From Netherlands: Dutch Police Union Strategic Advisor Michel Öz; National Police Superintendent Koen Simmers; Dutch Police Union President Vanessa van den Berg.

• From Portugal: Public Security Police Superintendent Rui Paulo Domingues Neves.

As the program concluded, participants departed Oświęcim with a shared charge to carry forward the lessons of a place synonymous with human destruction into institutions tasked with protecting life and liberty.

For the Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation, the hope is that such efforts will ensure that remembrance is not passive but operational embedded in the daily decisions of those who wield authority in societies around the world.

The Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to harnessing the lessons learned from the Holocaust to combat hatred and bigotry through educational programs and by providing direct humanitarian aid to victims of mass atrocities. It supports survivors of genocides and other tragedies, including Ukrainian refugees and those impacted by Hamas's October 7 attacks. The Foundation maintains the Auschwitz Jewish Center, the last remaining synagogue in Oświęcim (Auschwitz) and serves as the primary institution dedicated to preserving the memory of the town's Jewish community while addressing hate. To date, over a million people have visited the center, more than 300,000 students participated in its educational programs and tens of thousands of diplomats, military and law enforcement personnel and educators, have taken part in its educational initiatives on tolerance and the Holocaust. For more information, visit: https://ajcfus.org/.

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Joshua Steinreich
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SOURCE: Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation