ABOUT US

Mission, origins, and structure

Mission

Silesia Silva Fundacja preserves, researches, and shares the cultural heritage of Silesia — for present and future generations, across national borders.

Vision

In the long term, SSF sees itself as a forerunner of an academy of Silesian cultural heritage — following the tradition of Silesia's great research traditions, adapted to the 21st century: digital, trilingual (Polish, German, Czech), transnational, and practice-oriented.

Values

• — Memory: We remember what is at risk of being forgotten.
• — Bridges: Poland–Germany–Czechia: Europe's history connects rather than divides.
• — Integrity: Scholarly rigor, transparent finances.
• — Openness: Silesia's religious tolerance — Catholic, Lutheran, Jewish — as a guiding model.
• — Continuity: What we do should carry on for generations beyond us.

Origins and roots

The founding family of Silesia Silva Fundacja has personal roots in Silesia going back several generations. As the family moves from Celle (Lower Saxony) to Jelenia Góra, they return to places that are part of their own family history. This return is not meant sentimentally but as forward-looking: out of a personal connection to Silesia, an institution emerges with a program for coming generations.

Group structure: SSF and Sp. z o.o.

Silesia Silva Fundacja is part of a two-part structure that deliberately separates — and at the same time connects — non-profit and commercial work:

• — Silesia Silva Institute (SSI): The umbrella group name covering the non-profit foundation and the operating company together.
• — Silesia Silva Fundacja (SSF): Non-profit foundation based in Jelenia Góra, responsible for cultural heritage, funding applications, and education. Oversight: Minister of Culture and National Heritage (MKiDN). In formation — registration in the KRS is still pending.
• — Silesia Silva Institut Sp. z o.o.: Commercial operating company based in Jelenia Góra / Wrocław, providing services. Profits are intended to flow to SSF as dividends.
• — Planned connection: SSF is intended to hold shares in the Sp. z o.o. in the future, so that dividends help fund the non-profit work (envisaged in the draft statute, not yet implemented).

Founding status

SSF is in the process of being established. Registration in the Polish National Court Register (KRS), as well as the assignment of a tax number (NIP) and statistical number (REGON), are still pending. All information on this website reflects this status.

Team

A region with an extraordinary history

Lower Silesia is the region of origin of thirteen Nobel laureates — from a time when the region lay at the crossroads of cultures and languages. SSF understands this history as context and inspiration for its own work, not as a claim of ownership.

The next chapter of this tradition is being written now — with a new foundation, not a claim on the old one.