ALYN
HOSPITAL
()HMI) RY SI AMMIR GRI MEW;
Marzynski's journey began in On a Polish-speaking radio sta-
1991 when he traveled to Bran- tion, Marzynski and Romaniuk
sk with his 70-year-old friend tell the story of the Jews of Bran-
Nathan Kaplan to learn about Ka- sk and answer callers' questions.
plan's father, who had lived and Some callers are blatantly anti-Se-
worked in the town before the mitic. Others disapprove of Ro-
Holocaust. Over a two-year peri- maniuk's scholarship: "The job
od, Kaplan exchanged more than was done by Germans, but you
100 letters with Romaniuk, who sound like the Poles did it," says
shared his research into the town's an angry caller.
Jewish history.
Throughout conversations with
In Bransk, with a non-Jew as a Jews from Bransk, Romaniuk
guide, Marzynski found a way to tries to maintain an academician's
enter his past. For Romaniuk, re- command of his Jewish studies,
search into Jewish life was risky. but the closer he comes to Jewish
Some of his neighbors were hos- life, the more the question of Pol-
tile and feared that Jews would ish moral responsibility arises.
return to reclaim property
that was theirs before the
war. Despite the towns-
people's fears, Romaniuk
became an amateur histo-
rian, uncovering traces of
Jewish life and archiving
the material. On his own,
he gathered the tattered
remains of a Torah and
Jewish family pho-
tographs and personal be-
longings.
A picture of Jewish life
emerges as Kaplan, Ro-
maniuk and Marzynski
talk to townspeople about
their memories of life be-
fore and during the war. Filmmaker Marian Marzynski, left, and Zbyszek
The picture is of a small Romaniuk uncovered the tattered remains of a
community in the midst of Torah.
an indifferent or hostile
majority. At its seams, differences
Marzynski and Romaniuk trav-
bred suspicion and conflict be- el to Israel for the 50th anniver-
tween Jews and Catholics. In sary of the liquidation of the
Bransk, where during World War Bransk ghetto. In Israel, Roma-
II the Germans killed the Jews, a niuk finds bitterness. He is con-
96-year-old miller describes what fronted with the uncompromising
he had witnessed and cries over opinions of Ramat-Aviv high-
the death of humanity: "How can school seniors. The students chal-
I be a normal person after what I lenge his objectivity as a historian
have witnessed?"
and question his search for the
Through his research, Roma- truth about Polish-Jewish rela-
niuk learned that Bransk had once tions.
supported five synagogues, though
Romaniuk's travels leave him
only one is still standing, and a torn, feeling pressure from both
/ I) market square where all the hous-
sides. When he returns to Bran-
es had belonged to Jews. "In those sk, he finds anti-Semitic graffiti
houses, Jewish tailors, shoemak- on his apartment door and hears
ers, bakers and sellers of fancy rumors that he brings Jews to
goods had their shops," he tells Ka- town so that they can reclaim their
plan.
property.
To gain a broad perspective of
At the height of this pressure,
Jewish life in Bransk, Romaniuk Romaniuk, now the town's vice
comes to America. Marzynski now mayor, prepares his speech on the
• serves as his guide, opening the
history of Bransk for its 500th an-
door for him to American Jews
whose families came from Bran- niversary celebration. With the
town's orchestra playing a rendi-
sk to build a new life on this shore. tion from
Fiddler on the Roof, Ro-
In America, Romaniuk finds the
connections he searched for. maniuk delivers a speech that
Among the former Bransk sur- demonstrates the complexity of
vivors, he visits Evelyne Silver- Polish-Jewish history and rela-
tions.
board, an Atlanta resident who left
"Shtetl is a very unusual film
• the shtetl as a 14-year-old. She
about
the Holocaust," says execu-
shares the photographs and me-
mentos, among them a letter writ- tive producer David Fanning. "It
ten to her in America from a friend unfolds almost as a detective sto-
in Bransk before the war: "Life in ry, where the viewer is in the cen-
our shtetl has become unbearable. ter of the action — empowered to
I am sick of this hideous word 'Jew' be a private eye through the
I hear all around me. It seems we process of the main character's dis-
covery."
were born to suffer."
• But Romaniuk also finds anger
Shtetl will air at 8 p.m. Wednes-
and accusations of being unpatri-
day, April 17, on PBS's WI'VS-
otic from some Polish-Americans.
Channel 56.
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