PHOTO BY B ILL HANSEN
From Assimilation
To Rebirth
Rabbi works to bring Jewish life back to Poland.
JULIE WIENER STAFF WRITER
abbi Michael Schudrich
says he's always up for a
challenge. So it's no sur-
prise that the native New
Yorker — formerly the rabbi of
Tokyo — would opt to work in
Poland, not exactly the hub of
late-20th-century Diaspora Jew-
ish life.
But there are more Jews liv-
ing in Poland than many people
think. As executive director of the
Ronald S. Lauder Foundation in
Poland since 1990, Rabbi Schu-
drich oversees programming for
a community that he estimates
numbers about 40,000. During
a recent visit to Detroit, Rabbi
Schudrich said that 300,000 Jews
remained in Poland after World
War II, and over the next few
decades, "those Jews who want-
ed to be Jewish left Poland," he
said. 'The minority, the survivors
who opted to remain, in some
ways were in agreement with
those who left. In other words,
if you want to be Jewish leave
Poland. If you want to stay in
Poland, then don't be Jewish.
"Thousands — tens of thou-
sands — said it's enough to be
here, that's it. Many had survived
by living under false papers or in
hiding and just never came out
of hiding after the war," he added.
Most of those who opted to re-
main in Poland didn't tell their
children they were Jewish be-
cause of concerns that it would
lead to professional, social and
political problems. But according
to Rabbi Schudrich, social reali-
ties in Poland began to change in
1989 with the collapse of the
Communist regime.
"What was before taboo could
now be talked about," he said. "So
you have thousands of Poles dis-
covering in recent years that they
have Jewish roots."
Among those only now discov-
ering or acknowledging their
roots are Jews born after the war,
Rabbi Michael Schudrich: Executive director of the Lauder Foundation in Poland.
as well as thousands who were
small children during the war
and whose parents saved them
by giving them to non-Jewish
families.
"Most of those parents never
came back and most of those chil-
seems something doesn't make
sense in my family,' " he said.
"For example, someone might
say, 'My mother doesn't have any
relatives' or 'My mother cooks all
these Jewish foods but says she's
not Jewish.' "
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16
dren were lost to the Jewish com-
munity," said Rabbi Schudrich.
In his eight years in Poland,
the rabbi has encountered peo-
ple with all kinds of stories.
"In many cases, people come
and say, 'I think I'm Jewish. It
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