Transcripts For DW Jewish Life In Poland 20240713

Jewish service or morning prayer shot in warsaws main synagogue led to proudly by the chief rabbi of poland. The fact that there is noise behind me because the people who are brain are now having a breakfast together is a sign. That there is jewish life and. A resurgence of jewish life in poland for many a highly Unexpected Development earlier. This was the country that nazi germany chose as the epicenter of a systematic genocide in which 6000000 jews died across europe we dont talk a lot about auschwitz. Policeman is this person that has that as a gift a great gift. We desperately need the rabbi. For there is. A cheese i said it before that. Might try to have a Catholic Bishop is among the various public figures attending this Interfaith Service in warsaw. The host michel she trick chief rabbi of poland the answer. Is an interfaith prayer wishing that anti semitism will finally disappear. Change doesnt happen overnight. It takes time but as long as you see youre going in the right direction it gives you gives you energy and it gives you. And its that hope that sustains the work of michael shoot rick this is his office and warsaws no chick synagogue also a home for the american born rabbi. Never find what she needed. The son of a new york rabbi he 1st visited the country in the 1970 s. In search of his roots his grandparents had left europe before the 2nd world war in communist ruled poland she direct found a few jews struggling to preserve what was left of their heritage the diaries as i wrote. In the 79 my impressions when i met different people remember one thing i said all this person has the business on the inside of the door at the at the outside you know and i thought that that was. Like being somewhat embarrassed of being yours and i realized later that was a tremendous statement of being jewish because nobody had it on the outside and almost no one had on the inside so you know having to understand what something meant here. After the collapse of communism shoot now a rabbi himself relocated to warsaw and embarked on his mission his aim was to reestablish jewish religious life in poland this is the 1st time that a jewish prayer book was reprinted in poland after the fall of communism this is the original page was from a few 26. 00 this is probably from. 192. Before that there were few if any jewish religious books here now 30 years on warsaw has a flourishing Jewish School again with 200 students this year will see the 1st of them graduate you want to name your schools children attend the school like thousands of other polish jews it was only after the fall of communism that she started to embrace her jewish identity. Thanks also to the dedication of chief rabbi michel shooter as well as the latest. Book dont you know i think some of that. Now the Jewish School has been a blessing for you want to name your sca her husband lukash and their 3 children. They call this is all. Very. Very persistent and for months i dont like but the big record. Of possible for me this never never melkor and i think this is so and the money minority here is so real minority so its real sometimes it feels like you know we only have dolls you know where all the talk is theyll find them put or theres a growing climate of trust even short of peoples that were good and i think thats the most important thing star wars year that obviously there are still many prejudices and. Traumas left over from the 2nd world war and theyve been passed down from generation to generation. You can. War didnt just destroy or at least try to destroy Human Dignity thing to a great extent it also destroyed the mutual trust between peoples including the trust between the jewish and polish peoples that of them its december and hanukkah are the jewish festival of lights is approaching the rabbi offer some guidelines to the teachers. An important question is whether to give the children presents that hanukkah. A few 100 years ago there was the socalled hanukkah go to children were given money to buy themselves something. Today its perfectly fine to give jewish children a small present on every hanukkah evening. You dont have to of course it used to be hanukkah goat or some chocolate jobs. Were living here under strong christian cultural influences that the Christmas Season is that a similar time of the year to hanukkah. So lets give the children presents we present. She trick has been working in poland for the past 30 years the school is one of many funded by the american philanthropist ronald as slaughter to promote jewish life in Eastern Europe we need somebody to go to poland. I heard about this rabbi named Michael Sitrick so we hear what im over we saw him. And we said this is the right person we installed him initially in the synagogue. 1919 next may. And also was involved in the game the school look here mainly a kindergarten but it was interesting is that the men who got the poll. He became much more involved with much more polish and as he started to limp or which he desperately needed the rabbi and the rabbi. But michael wasnt just any rabbi i remember. I will his 1st trip no that was already filed so it must have been early 1000000 t. S. He just arrived after flying nonstop from new york or about that he was in that tired but he still had a session with where the teenagers. And they were pestering him with questions and eventually michael retired says ok guys. Tomorrows another day i was just sleep over it and hes trying to rise from the armchair with. And whoop the girl just shopped him back that you dont understand were the legs generation of jewish mothers in this country we need to know everything now monica and stanley suave karl you have ski remained faithful to their heritage even during the communist era. Began before that you know we heard. Earlier and this is monicas a book the 2nd one by the way of the summit there is the reason mothers in power want the quiet skis researched this aspect of jewish heritage 1st some 90 percent of the Jewish Population of poland were murdered during the German Occupation most of those who survived did so by going underground or pretending to be christian and losing their jewish identity these old cemeteries are precious reminder of polands extensive Jewish Population before the holocaust ringback it was like an eye open open air i opening or know that the presence of those traces of jewish presence are really sprouse in my circle of friends there are many who had jewish ancestry. Didnt learn anything to do with didnt. Feel jewish and when we were children because we were not introduced into it the coyotes have been living their lives in accordance with jewish traditions and scripture for 2 generations now their son daniel was prepared for his bar mitzvah the jewish coming of age ceremony for boys by rabbi shoot rick. Of the. The chief rabbi is now off on a trip to southern poland. Hes constantly on the move. And sometimes that means mobile conferencing in the car. Today hes talking to a Jewish Community in pittsburgh. Just steps for us. He setting up an Exchange Program for young jews from poland and the u. S. I think that our biggest challenge im not very practical and its still its a blast but still existing on follow up is we dont necessarily have the professional staff to follow up the way we should with a plethora of projects to watch over it often seems like too much for one person. Who said it was going to be easy. I can say that the Jewish Community of poland in the last 30 years has gone from a stagnating dying dysfunctional Jewish Community to a reemerging vibrant dysfunctional Jewish Community. Were still dysfunctional but at least now were alive were vibrant were creating. Today there are once again jewish communities in nearly all of polands larger towns and cities optimistic estimates say the country is now home to up to 12000 practicing jews this renaissance has led to a growing demand for kosher food today rabbi shoot direct is visiting 3 businesses catering to that demand were only welcome to film and one of the profit of vodka distillery having you know. The production line 1st of all the office about the direction the. Jewish dietary laws divide foodstuffs into kosher and nonkosher the chief rabbi checks production for compliance certain additives such as pork paste gelatin. Not permitted. To have to do that today theyre doing a production for israel but thats not always are the stickers in hebrew for you could see all the stickers arguable but theres going to israel after inspection the firm is given an international kosher certificate bought co is a popular drink during the passover festival so this in here actually some when you see it signed in hebrew by our supervisor its. With a a lock here here and here and here and here. So we know that when we come back to the passover the passover production that it really is from that alcohol most of the kosher font is for export only a fraction will stay in poland one the small. Coastal town a. Very nice you know me in person for products the main market is israel also we produce and so this product to the United States and to my company cops in africa. Also some amounts we produce and so on and see you know we are trying to right the market call for a soccer ball car or truck also for cultural products so at least the share you are selling in poland which means that is among. People who. Know its ok its not going to be cooked communi if you think about polish and jewish people but i think most people dont know the roots are from jewish coming to you so i think if this is truly in progress so. It will have that. Information get information about their rights and they can raise. Very well. Im very happy that i wasnt the only jew who want them live as a jew in both of them because otherwise it would have been very lonely. But if those jews then adventure you decide and some do that they want to live their jewish lives elsewhere if theyre free choice were not making a religion out of juice in poland its not an oblique geisha but that certainly is a right and it gives me also the private satisfaction harker to. And i want to keep it that way you get to the question heres another question certificate i know the firm is just getting it we need. To know the thoughts and this is the confirmation for caution distillation of next up thank you i hope i havent caused you too many headaches. And the rabbi leaves with a present. Very important kosher for passover. So far our impressions have been positive but jewish gentile encounters dont always run this move lee lets go. Relations with the polish government have been strained recently the right wing nationalist government introduced legislation in 2018 that caused deep offense to jewish sensibilities it made it illegal to suggest that the polish state or people were in any way complicit in the holocaust perpetrated by the nazis it basically was the defend the good name of poland the polish shouldnt be blamed for things that they didnt do but there was then a great concern is but they were poles they did bad things and how we going to deal with that and more or more importantly it was. The. Problem that. The reaction there were hurtful statements. There were hurtful statements made by some poles that were hurtful statements made by some jews. Protests met with a wave of anti semitic rhetoric in the media and on the internet. The bill is controversial for the 100 poles feel insulted when the press in europe or the International Media refer to the german concentration camps as polish death camps or that hurts the poles you have to the stand thats one of. The polish people them so. Elves suffered during the 2nd world war and 6000000. 00 of them died almost 25 percent of the polish nation opinion this legacy of the 2nd world war isnt better than the consciousness of generations of poles to this day that after all they suffered their extremely sensitive to claims that the poles were responsible for the existence of that that comes from poland at the end there was an unnecessary. Problem that. More or less is no longer you know people remember it but its no longer a wound its a scar. When International Jewish organizations protested warsaw held discussions with the Israeli Government and the legislation was watered down rabbi shu trick played a mediating role. But he prefers to focus on the positive aspects of life in poland. For instance that poland is represented by people like daddy was popular a young kayaker who has competed for the country at the Olympic Games popular isnt as busy as the chief rabbi but he still finds time to get involved in the restoration of jewish cemeteries like the one in creep off in southern poland the cemetery was completely neglected for years. Challengers are going to try and improve things here 1st or launch an appeal on facebook we already have permission ive been busy and otherwise id have come to get this fixed up much sooner. Popular wanted to clear the cemetery. And restore its former dignity several months and a lot of hard work later its reopening theres a new memorial plaque listing the jewish residents of this small village who were killed by the nazis for rabbi shoot to make the commitment of these volunteers is especially appreciated. Our presence. Memory. The jury think of life or group of reason was closed after several centuries in august 94 to kill on principle of august the nazis started to run for governor i would like to ask chief rabbi of poland michel shortly to so few words. But now you have not started on the one hand my heart is broken down there on the other hand im very happy today. Its a broken because the jewish people agree were killed simply because they were jewish parts and. I would like to think our mayor for his words so called is not igneous said that we must oppose anger and we must oppose hatred when it is still small in before to spread in your part. Of the book. At the same time my heart is happy. Who would have thought when the war ended 74 years ago that respect would be shown to the dead in this Jewish Cemetery once again so. That the mass graves would be marked and remembered. A group must solve the global mostly clear. In 142. 00 the nazi regime finalized plans to exterminate the entire Jewish Population of europe as a group of german troops dissolve the jewish ghettos in towns and cities throughout poland the jews were murdered on the spot or transported to extermination camps projects like darrius poppy harlows try to establish the names of the victims so that they are not forgotten. By. There are initiatives like this all over poland for the past 30 years the restoration work has been focusing on a few more towns or villages each year michel shooter it considers this one of his key tasks. Relatives of the people buried in poland often come from overseas to visit the cemeteries including from the u. S. Part of your values and i treat kids my new for never hear my sister my brother in law or. My wife hiding out there somewhere. Special measures are so important you call them let them talk about having the holocaust and thats essential you have if. Its an obligation of every good. Not only jews that germany is really a publisher of every with human being remember what happened the knowledge of it but if you think about that then perhaps the 1st thing we should do is make sure that every victim of the holocaust has a grave and more and more others demand to the best of our ability will Never Get Close to having a grace for a situation like that its actually quite a few 100 more like 30. More even want to be theres a tremendous value in mind. Its sometimes said that michael shooter is the rabbi of both the living and the dead in poland. The last of it or just happened here. We visit if you want to and look past and their 3 children as well and the now as i was. Bashed for julians exchange and there and hes english teacher was very very happy when he and he came back and she was like all very Good Progress after that because there was she it was no chance to speak you know polish it was have you want to is an actress and recently appeared in a swedish film her husband lukash is a theatre director and has been working in slovakia the couple value their International Contacts lukash admits that living openly as a jew in poland sometimes makes her feel insecure. What was a very tragic moment after war you have to do is after all right. Was the 68 because it was the moment where. My family heard go go go out from paul and 968. 00 brought further trauma to polish jews leading communist Party Figures blamed the student protests at the time on a zionist plot triggering months of anti semitic incitement many jews who had survived the shoah now fled the country. However my life our war was the person 1st person who told me that marys no and to some it isnt in poland but now am i i am talking to myself where you and i is and where and. Antisemitism is prevalent throughout the world it may be worse im told the better but its prevalent. A lot its there with the Catholic Church a lot has to do with just internet age speech and all the things there is a but the result is that the for sure ainge way antisemitism in poland propelled the war jewish kids into a school. And its true that theres an issue of systems you i wouldnt say that all members of the church would dissipate in the dialogue in the same way because i wouldnt say that all members of the church are without prejudice that this song maybe actually probably some are prejudiced but these are really exceptions to the overall picture that. Name unity unthinking of the 2nd Vatican Council which is how to direct influence of the atmosphere in poland and developments here and of policy and ill join you believe me but i have the feeling that something great is happening if you like that again and the economy and. The Jewish Community center or j c c brings together warsaws 5 congregations its sunday brunch for jews and gentiles the food is good and its a popular Meeting Place parents can relax while the kids learn handicrafts. Rabbi she trick often comes here to. You won an emmy or scare enter children try to come every weekend. Daniel cry asking is also here suffering from down syndrome is no obstacle to becoming a fully integrated member of the Jewish Community where you know the village nearby me over here or you hear him here was very important to me than i could celebrate the. Because i was born into a jewish family. Can you at the ceremony i said to blessings in hebrew. Thats a reading from the torah spoke about the exodus from egypt. Heres. A good talk rabbi shooter rick simplified the bar mitzvah procedure for the young man he has known him since he was a child daniel craig took part in the seminars shoot it gave in the 1990 s. When the jewish revival began. The young Jewish Community in poland has made Great Strides since its beginnings in a small village in southern poland 30 years ago in the 1990 s. Shooter it organize seminars on jewish life at an Education Center out today its a hotel and guesthouse for a family get togethers this is the rabbis 1st time back in many years for companies that havent seen these people 1520 years i know from reading that. Maybe 1000 when hes well i think. We would have plastered over here on the grass here we would sing we would dance we do everything trying in our own little safe space let people see what judaism was about its impossible to. Be jewish in poland and not feel the presence of the absence. So of course that was a recurrent topic of our conversations and of course we never came up with any extraordinary Intelligent Solutions to the problem because there arent. Decades after the holocaust many polish jews had become disconnected from their roots you know all these stories ever since that was a time when people just realized some of them yes just realize that there were many of them right many of them you say yes and even those who knew never had a chance to experience they never had a shot back before not some some did but many didnt and so it was really a 1st chance who was also a chance just to be openly jewish. You know youd have to worry about anybody making a comment or wondering what it meant. And you know a lot of ways it all started here. We had a dinner. In 1900 i looked at these kids they were not kids anymore that they were in the thirtys and fortys and ill never forget we sang the song called rosa games with the raisins and its always said. Way to sing the song. Real mother be it so to his children all those 100 who remember the song the road the song please joy and you know 1st 10 then 20 the 80 kids 80 of the 100 was singing a song from this so selfconscious and so for the by the by the 3rd probably never heard before since that many of the. Was was a year later in 1990 the modern foundation funded the 1st jewish heritage seminars in the. 30 years ago a kosher meal was made in this kitchen for probably the 1st time since the 2nd world war and this is the village 1st a bust have been strange for you with what was kosher food for example that one of the local sheriff 1st but then we got used to the you know people get their lives exactly youre sick you just we asked that after the 1st workshop they knew how to cook that is staff got to know us and they soon learned the songs that we sang in the dining room the cook the evers the protests they also knew what happened on friday evening and on saturday morning you know lots of people think. They are in communist poland jewish life was an abstract concept. And look at clients and before that i only knew what i had seen on t. V. We didnt know better we were anxious about it but that all changed when Michael Caine that you put out. There when showed them were listening to him speak here about what you would do if it was important to them it was so special. Because he related to their he got down to their level they spoke with him he said they saw him sit in the floor and talk to them. So we have to this was the this exactly the way we realized he was special. Stunna suave and monica k. F. C. Were 2 of the 1st participants they were finally able to practice their jewish faith openly only to hide and be discreet as in the communist era status while even led prayers sometimes many of those attending were holocaust survivors. During the war there were 2 of them so they were not adults some of them were very little children or babies some of there were 8 or 10 and the survivor know either because they were hiding somewhere or they were given. Both stannis wife and monica were born after the war. This was very helpful make me more. Knowledge. No make me know how do the things that regular joes will because this is not something for god from my family and also this is true about all or almost all people of my generation and younger so those who lived in ball on were jewish in some way in the seventys or in the eightys were mostly very assimilated and very far from. Jewish involvement. Here you know 8 weeks a year for 6 years the rebirth of jewish religious life in poland began under somewhat spartan conditions and. It was a wonderful times you know very warm memories. And this is where a little synagogue. A makeshift synagogue was set up in an alcove of the Education Center. It marked a new beginning for judaism in. Everything from basic things of judaism should be kosher holidays history to what does it mean to be jewish how do you feel about being jewish and also getting to know each other icebreakers and sometimes fun things that we everybody reenact the biblical scene. And on friday nights we were put all the different benches that we could find and wed have the prayer outside which is really i think everyones favorite moment of the week. But there was also criticism from unexpected quarters for some people jewish life in Eastern Europe was unimaginable after the holocaust the fact is that jewish people in america particularly people who are 2nd generation whose parents fled the holocaust so appears why do you want to do it. And i said to these people because they were jewish kids we must do what we care to give them with jewish life it is ridiculous to protest the gains in the rebirth of jewish life where it had been murder because you dont regulate life. Jews have a right to live and live as jews wherever they were if this is the only problem then a we need to get out of Europe Europe is a graveyard its particularly visible around the house with its birth. If you anybody with jewish historical sensitivity travels around europe. It is a place and i was very painful very painful after this journey back to be said that you dont really exist because there cant be jews here very painful and wrong. The seminar buildings where this jewish renaissance began are just an hours drive from the infamous extermination camp auschwitz birkenau. And theres another point we should point out when we go up this kind of bridge you look to the left and to the right and youll see train tracks lots and lots of train tracks and you understand why the germans built the biggest death camp here is because you have the crossroads of so many different train tracks from all over europe that that thats a clear point when you see it here you understand so why do they build it here. It actually thing it gets harder to visit this place than easier. When it really became harder. And so theres there was 2 things one is once my daughter was born i think in a natural way when you walk here when you dont have children you think you know could have i survived how much of a child you think could could your child have survived and their frequent becomes a completely different experience and the other thing for many many jews its. I mean its a horrible place for any human being to be but for for jews its also becomes personal because many of us have family that was here. Because chamber 3 and before yes chamber 5 and this is the sauna the rabbi travels to auschwitz birkenau several times each year people with many visitors from israel and the u. S. Asked to meet him at the site where their relatives were murdered was hes also a senior religious advisor to the Auschwitz Foundation which administers the site as a museum and a memorial rabbi shooter it says keeping the memory alive is crucial it seems that in europe the shock of the holocaust of this genocide the more genocide in history. Kind of silenced those people who refused to learn the lesson and it seems not 75 years later for many people do know the lesson there are those who never knew the lesson and now want to speak. In a loud voice about. Denying the holocaust belittling the holocaust. So while some people are saying you know weve learned nothing thats not true humanity has learnt a lot. It doesnt mean that all of humanity has learnt everything. And so even standing a place like this im hopeful because you just see the numbers of people visiting today. Gives hope that they will be changed when they leave how can you be the same person. Michael she tricks on call an austrian jew from vienna was a prisoner in auschwitz henry starr was brought there in august 944 on 1 of the last deportation trains from the german concentration camp at that in todays Czech Republic when i saw what it did to some of the babies. The platform of its. Slaughter. A. Shot of the earth came down like its in front of the muscle. This is the place were. All you know we call like this and my my uncle told me the story when they arrived on the train from theresienstadt into raising. The world war one veterans were treated better because there was some level of jewish selfgovernment enter a sense that some level but these 3 of the veterans were treated better and mangled they were lined up 5555 and they were in the same line as some vets world war one veterans and mengele sent the veterans straight to the gas chambers. And my uncle and his brother followed immediately with them figuring they were going to a better place based on their experience in theresienstadt and then mangle had his guards kicked my uncle and his brother to the other side saying that you cant decide your fate as you couldnt even jew could even decide to be killed. And so ironically mengele saved my uncles life. Which is bizarre. Henry stars survived auschwitz and emigrated to the United States where he started his own family michael should learned a lot from him. Or was one of those who spoke quite frequently about it so i cant remember if i was 11 or 13 i would say certainly by 13 i but i cant tell you you know from what age but. Certainly when i was in high school. This was something that you know ill call henry would tell me about her important whats this for your idea to be interested in Eastern Europe. To the. Absolutely yes to what extent. You know the ideas that you just i very much it took away from that i think. Took away from that that you just you cant be indifferent as something is wrong you have to try to fix it. Was. Can its December Christmas in warsaw the capital of catholic poland the Jewish Community is celebrating hanukkah the festival of lights the Opening Event is as always open to the public more songs jews are no longer a client a stein community. Simply put it was the place i was supposed to be. Michael shooter rick has dedicated the past 30 years of his life to reestablishing jewish religious life in poland hes committed to keeping memory alive and to working for the present and the future. Though looks like its still the place im supposed to be. C because. 3 women clean image and one goal get the full impact of the next theyve come to the states of god because football is a team sport. Because. W. Deprived their child and their future. Tens of thousands of children gaius fighters who are orphaned in iraq. Theyve become darius. Just the fall of mosul theyve been refused papers. And the chance of going to school. What will become of. Close up. 90 minutes on d w. How did. You discover a joint concept discover it with close. To 100 lives the ideals of the comps are more relevant today than they were a 100 years ago visionaries really shaped things to come to dollar values people understood design as a way of shaping society. With this. Promise world 3 part documentary starts mates on t w. This is d w news and these are our top stories a global fundraiser led by the European Union has secured nearly 7 and a half 1000000000 euros to fight the covert 1000 pandemic of funds i am up to help develop vaccines treatments and testing the u. S. Did not take pot