2020 Consular Report

2020 Honorary Consulate Report
submitted by

Honorary Consul Tad Taube
and
Vice Honorary Consul Shana Penn

13 January 2021

  1. Charakterystyka urzędu konsularnego kierowanego przez konsula honorowego (lokalizacja siedziby, dostępność dla interesantów, dni i godziny przyjęć, wskazanie, w której z niżej wymienionych dziedzin, dominowały przedsięwzięcia realizowane przez konsula honorowego, szczególne zdarzenia mające miejsce w roku sprawozdawczym). / Characteristics of the consular post headed by the Honorary Consul (location of the Honorary Consualte, accessibility to applicants, days and hours of admission. Please indicate which of the areas below were dominated in Honorary Consul undertakings in 2020, special events taking place in the reporting year).

    The Honorary Consulate has moved its headquarters from Belmont to San Francisco, CA. However, durring the pandemic,  the building in which it is now located is not operating regularly. Therefore like most businesses, the Consulate functions via email, phone, the Internet, and Zoom. We have ably fielded requests through these channels in a timely and efficient manner. We held a formal Flag Raising of the Polish national flag over San Francisco City Hall for a first-ever international gathering via Zoom.   

  2. Zrealizowane przedsięwzięcia / completed project and activities:

Działania w dziedzinie konsularnej / activities in consular field:

  1. Consulate’s office hours for applicants seeking help with Polish citizenship, Polish Passport, traveling to Poland and others. A total of 41 e-mail queries regarding one of the following: Polish passport, Polish citizenship, student visa, and genealogy research. (See detailed list at the end of this report.)

- Termin realizacji / date/ time span of the activity
January 2020 until now
- Przedsięwzięcie, krótka charakterystyka / Who was initiator of the activity?
Honorary Consulate

Działania w dziedzinie polonijnej / activities in Polish diaspora field:

  1. On January 26, 2020 in honor of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the Discovery Channel and Discovery Go channel broadcast "Who Will Write Our History," the docudrama about Emanuel Ringelblum and the Oyneg Shabes group who risked their lives to record the truth about life in the Warsaw Ghetto

- Termin realizacji / date/ time span of the activity
January 26, 2020
- Przedsięwzięcie, krótka charakterystyka / Who was initiator of the activity?
The global broadcast was supported in part by Taube Philanthropies and promoted by Honorary Consul Tad Taube.

  1. Online Exhibit: Kraków during the Pandemic. https://spark.adobe.com/page/5sMt9nL5b6VHo/?fbclid=IwAR2Jw_6w8O1KC9-hCMLULHimWGkl6QWVmLeNjvuGk5RwEzGwyYSijnZSzY4

- Termin realizacji / date/ time span of the activity
August 24, 2020 – ongoing
- Przedsięwzięcie, krótka charakterystyka/ Who was initiator of the activity?
Honorary Consul Tad Taube, San Francisco–Kraków Sister Cities Association, Galicia Jewish Museum (Kraków)

  1. Webinar: How to Raise Successful People: Simple Lessons for Radical Results. Webinar by Esther Wojcicki and Dariusz Stola, moderated by Shana Penn

- Termin realizacji / date/ time span of the activity
August 18, 2020
- Przedsięwzięcie, krótka charakterystyka / Who was initiator of the activity?
Honorary Consul Tad Taube, San Francisco–Kraków Sister Cities Association

  1. On September 21, 2020, Hon. Consul Taube arranged for a professional videographer to film the artwork of Polish artist Witold Kaczanowski, which is in San Francisco and Woodside, California, so that Mr. Kaczanowski can use it for the documentary he is making in Poland about his art.

- Termin realizacji / date/ time span of the activity
Sept. 21, 2020
- Przedsięwzięcie, krótka charakterystyka / Who was initiator of the activity?
Honorary Consul Tad Taube

  1. On December 16, 2020 the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Taube Center for the Renewal of Jewish Life in Poland Foundation, Taube Philanthropies, and The Honorary Consulate of the Republic of Poland in the San Francisco Bay Area held a virtual event to celebrate the publication release, in English, German, Hebrew, and Polish translation, of 1,000 Years of Jewish Life in Poland: A Timeline. The translation and publication of the new editions were supported by a grant from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland, and the ceremony speakers included Ambassador Jacek Chodorowicz, Plenipotentiary of the Minister of Foreign Affairs for Dialogue with the Jewish Diaspora; Tad Taube, Honorary Consul of the Republic of Poland and Chairman, Taube Philanthropies; Chief Rabbi of Poland Michael Schudrich; and Dr. Edyta Gawron, Institute of Jewish Studies,
    Jagiellonian University.

- Termin realizacji / date/ time span of the activity
Dec. 16, 2020
- Przedsięwzięcie, krótka charakterystyka / Who was initiator of the activity?
Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Taube Center for the Renewal of Jewish Life in Poland Foundation; Taube Philanthropies; Honorary Consulate of the Republic of Poland in the San Francisco Bay Area

  1. “Music and Poetry against Hatred: A Conversation with Grzegorz Kwiatkowski”

- Termin realizacji / date/ time span of the activity
December 11, 2020
- Przedsięwzięcie, krótka charakterystyka / Who was initiator of the activity?
Honorary Consul Tad Taube
University of California Berkeley’s Institute for Slavic and East European Studies
San Francisco-Krakow Sister Cities Association

Działania w dziedzinie dyplomacji publicznej / public diplomacy activities:

  1. Celebration of May 3rd Constitution Day and Polish National Flag Day co-hosted by the Honorary Consulate; Consul General of Poland in Los Angeles; San Francisco Office of the Mayor; SF- Kraków Sister Cities Association

- Termin realizacji / date/ time span of the activity
May 4, 2020
- Przedsięwzięcie, krótka charakterystyka / Who was initiator of the activity?
International Zoom gathering

  1.  Attendance in the 75th Anniversary Commemoration of the Auschwitz Liberation. Vice Consul Shana Penn led a US delegation to participate in the total three-day ceremonies, Jan 26-28, at the Auschwitz site and in Kraków.

- Termin realizacji / date/ time span of the activity
January 27, 2020
- Przedsięwzięcie, krótka charakterystyka / Who was initiator of the activity?
State Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau

  1. Tad Taube and Shana Penn meeting with the Ambassador of Poland to Washington DC

- Termin realizacji / date/ time span of the activity
October 2020
- Przedsięwzięcie, krótka charakterystyka / Who was initiator of the activity?
Zoom meeting

Inne/ Other

  1. Humanitarian Medical Assistance for Polish Citizens

- Termin realizacji / date/ time span of the activity
April 2020
- Przedsięwzięcie, krótka charakterystyka / Who was initiator of the activity?
Honorary Consulate in cooperation with the Consul General in Los Angeles and children’s hospitals in the Bay Area

E-mail queries serviced by the Honorary Consulate of the Republic of Poland, 2020
Topics of queries and numbers per topic:
Polish passport questions– 5
Damage of the passport – 1
Polish passport renewal – 13
Polish citizenship – 6
Travel to Poland – 5
Presidential election - 1   
Stamp and signature of a representative of a Polish government – 1
Request the Polish Flag – 1
Student Visa to Poland – 2
Work Visa to Poland – 1
PESEL number – 1
Polish ID – 1
Exact copy of the original document (Poland passport) – 1
Notary translation – 1
Homeless Polish person at the San Jose airport - 1