I believe leadership is, at its core, about working with people in a team. Pulling out what is most valuable to the team and its goals and supporting them in achieving those.
As part of my series about “individuals and organizations making an important social impact”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jacek Kastelaniec of the Auschwitz Pledge Foundation.
Jacek is the Director General at the Auschwitz Pledge Foundation (APF), which was established in 2021 to fight indifference and the manifestations of all discrimination, especially racism, antisemitism, misogyny as well as discrimination against migrants, refugees and LGBTQIA+ people. From its roots in preserving and safeguarding the memory of the Holocaust, the mission of APF has evolved to help properly fund organizations around the world stopping hate in all forms through its Erase Indifference Challenge (https://www.eraseindifference.org/challenge). Past recipients from the fund include CyberWell — a platform used by internet giants that exposes ads associated with online antisemitic content — along with bystander intervention trainings/prevention efforts from US companies Right To Be and T’ruah.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
From a young age, I’ve always been interested in the world around me. This curiosity for the world motivated my decision to study at the University of Warsaw and the University of Montpellier in France with degrees in journalism and political science. Coming out of university I served as an assistant to a Le Monde permanent correspondent in Warsaw.
I’ve always exercised a healthy amount of contrarianism and rebellion through my personal and professional life.
As leader of the school paper in university I led a charge to make sure that the management and teachers respected student rights.
From high school through university, I was involved in initiatives supporting Poland’s neighboring countries Ukraine and Belarus. I still remember the feeling at a demonstration in Warsaw after the rigged elections in Ukraine. At that time, a group of friends and I decided to appeal to politicians, celebrities and our relatives asking them to draw attention to our neighbors and show them support.
The next step in my activism journey was Free Belarus, a movement conducted in partnership with the Belarusian opposition. We managed to organize long-term support for the Belarusian opposition via concerts held in solidarity with Belarusians, attended by tens of thousands of people in Warsaw.
I didn’t know it then but looking back now it’s clear my efforts were always targeted at indifference to discrimination.
As a result, the director of the Auschwitz Birkenau Museum and Memorial, Piotr Cywiński, invited me to build a fundraising department for the Museum. Together we founded the Auschwitz Birkenau Foundation where I worked and developed the fundraising program for 9 years, to such a level that it has an endowment of over USD 200 million today!
In my role at the Auschwitz Birkenau Foundation, my main task was to preserve sites related to the Holocaust. We wanted to keep what was authentic and protect the difficult memory of this place.
This helped shape the path that led me to what I am doing now.
A few years ago, I decided to shift my commitment to creating something new. I wanted to find new solutions to discrimination because as much progress as society has made, there is still indifference to discrimination in every corner of the globe. This was the inspiration behind the Auschwitz Pledge Foundation and our steadfast commitment to erasing indifference to discrimination, in all its forms. My goal is to communicate with young people in an authentic language — how this young generation speaks. I want to support people with innovative ideas and are not afraid to bring their ideas to life.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your organization?
We underestimated at the outset that explaining the concept of indifference might not be intuitive for most people. People hear the word ‘indifference’ and don’t associate it with the dangers of war, bias, discrimination. Indifference lives within each of us as a cognitive and defense mechanism and, to some extent, is a normal part of being human. It can also be extremely dangerous.
Talking with NGOs, politicians and philanthropists very much confirmed that the danger of indifference is worth spreading. We took it directly from the words of Holocaust Survivors, e.g. Eli Wiesel or Roman Kent, who spoke at the 70th anniversary of Auschwitz about indifference as a major threat to increasing discrimination. We know that in the flurry of information and how quickly certain topics are exhausted today, indifference is still a big, if not even bigger, threat.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
When starting the Auschwitz Pledge Foundation, we created an “Erase Indifference Challenge,” an innovation engine that finds and funds organizations addressing the imminent dangers of indifference. In its inaugural year, we prepared the Challenge and opened enrollment without knowing that the vast majority of projects would flow to us in the final days.
The submission portal was open for three weeks total, and at the two-and-a-half-week marker we only had about 30% of what would be the final number of entries. You can imagine how stressful that was! We started making backup plans for additional scouting and contacted organizations that had previously come to our attention, encouraging them once again to definitely submit a project. Luckily, we didn’t end up needing the backup plan — 70% of applications came in the last two days before the deadline. Lesson learned!
Can you describe how you or your organization is making a significant social impact?
I believe that the Auschwitz Pledge Foundation is making a profound social impact through the Erase Indifference Challenge. The Challenge is an annual global competition that awards grants and mentorship to innovative NGOs, startups and organizations that contribute to the fight against all forms of discrimination. It is an open invitation to innovators, NGOs, universities, startups, private businesses, public institutions, religious associations, or informal groups to apply for financial support to fund, scale and promote their projects.
Our overall social impact goal is to heighten awareness, encourage conversation and drive action to dramatically reduce indifference on a global scale over the next ten years.
Can you tell us a story about a particular individual who was impacted or helped by your cause?
Recently, one story stuck to me. Last year the GrowSpace Foundation, one of our Challenge winners who runs the Ranking of LGBTQ+ Friendly Schools, faced attacks from a conservative MP about a school in Kędzierzyn Koźle — a small town in southeastern Poland.
The attack came after the school received positive ranking results, indicating that it is a welcoming and safe space for people from the LGBTQ+ community. The school’s headmistress, despite the pressure, continued her open policy and cooperated with the GrowSpace Foundation to make her school an even more welcoming space for everyone.
These are direct actions that translate into the well-being of specific people and communities. I have children at school myself and I know how important it is for schools to be a safe place where others can be trusted.
How do you define “Leadership”? Can you explain what you mean or give an example?
I believe leadership is, at its core, about working with people in a team. Pulling out what is most valuable to the team and its goals and supporting them in achieving those.
I am personally inspired the Chairman of APF’s Council, Jozef Wancer. Jozef was born in the Gulag, is a Holocaust survivor and had a great career in the USA and Poland — where he was the president of a bank. I have the privilege of talking and working with him on a regular basis. I’ve observed how he does not impose himself in conversation, but rather listens and helps the people who work around him. He is a leader but creates space for others to take responsibility and grow.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why?
- I have the right to make mistakes and ask questions.
- Think big and be ambitious.
- Work is not only a right but should also be fun!
- Perseverance always brings results.
- From failures you will learn.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
This is a very difficult question, because all the issues we deal with are important to me. Right now, the issues closest to me are those concerning racism, the LGBTQ+ community and anti-Semitism because they affect me and my family personally.
I don’t consider myself an influential person but I try to support people who have potential and new ideas. My role at APF allows me to meet and spend time with people running projects and organizations with major impact. This is my biggest inspiration today — how to learn from each other and approach modern challenges with intersectionality.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
I’m not a quote guy if I’m honest. If I can instead recommend a book, it would be The Order of the Day by Éric Vuillard. It shows how small things can change our reality by 180 degrees.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them.
It is very difficult for me to choose one person, but if I had to it would be Melinda Gates. I have always been impressed by how strategic and organized her endeavors are. I, on the other hand, can act spontaneously and use creativity on the fly, so I would love to meet and talk about perspectives that can complement each other. Gates is also inspiring because she and Bill Gates have defined what philanthropy looks like today.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
We encourage any of your readers who would like to learn more about what we do to firstly support our mission by taking the pledge to erase indifference or apply to the Challenge, which is open until 18th February 2024.
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success in your great work!
Social Impact Heroes: Why & How Jacek Kastelaniec Is Helping To Change Our World was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.