When Thanks Are Due
A Detroit lawyer wants to honor Poles
who protect Jewish synagogues and cemeteries.
and most upscale restaurants serve a
dish translated as 'Jewish carp,' basi-
Stag Writer
cally gefilte fish," he said.
"The professional discipline needed
Jewish lawyer from Detroit
to
explain
the Jewish-Polish relation-
hopes to make an annual
ship
is
not
history or anthropology,
event out of honoring Poles
but maybe psychiatry," he said.
who help to protect and
"The Jewish people lump Nazis and
preserve Jewish life in Poland.
Poles
together, but they still separate
Earlier this month, Michael Traison
Germans
from Nazis," he said,
of Miller, Canfield, Paddock and
"although
Ukranians, Lithuanians and
Stone arranged a ceremony for 23
Latvians
gave
the most help in run-
non-Jewish Poles at the 10th Jewish
ning the death
Culture Festival
n
tf4.
camps.
7.V
::7
k
WW:
in Krakow.
"Most studies
Traison, whose
explain the six major
law firm has three
concentration camps
offices in Poland,
were in Poland only
has traveled
because of their geo-
extensively there
centric location to
and found Poles
the bulk of the
who protect syna-
Jewish
population."
gogues and ceme-
Traison's
law firm
teries — among
teries
has
worked
in the
them Ireneusz
past
with
Polish
Slipek.
municipalities to
Slipek has
acquire commercial
been tending a
properties previously
Jewish cemetery
owned by Jews,
in Warta for a
seized by the Nazis
number of years,
and since aban-
and "He needs to
Michael
ri-aison,
doned.
be told 'Thank
in Detroit
Polish government
you very much,'"
officials
are eager to
Traison said.
give
the
land former-
But he has
ly
administered
by
other reasons for
the
communists
honoring those
back to the original
who have put
owners or to Jewish
themselves at
developers.
peril to save rem-
It's not easily done,
nants of a once
Traison
said. "People
flourishing cul-
- need due diligence,
ture.
- and a willingness to
"We don't have
invest the time."
A
Jewish
cemetery
in
Wadowice.
the resources to
A former synagogue in Poland.
The
Polish legislature
maintain these
passed a law last year
sites on our
providing restitution of qualified corn-
imated, but there is still a "palpable
own," Traison said. The honors also
munal property such as synagogues
Jewish
presence,"
Traison
said.
"may encourage others" to follow suit.
and
cemeteries, seized by Nazis.
He
cited
not
only
Hebrew
inscrip-
c=\/
And, he continued, it is a "chance
Restitution
will
go
to
the
existing
tions
seen
on
old
buildings,
but
the
to show Jews that there are good peo-
Jewish communities in Poland, he said.
presence of food rooted in Jewish cul-
ple in Poland."
Traison could only say he has "been
ture found throughout the country.
The hatred associated between the
involved
in discussions and has given
"Any bakery will serve braided
Poles and the Jews "may not be consis-
❑
some
advice."
bread
that
closely
resembles
challah,
tent with the facts, and sometimes
HARRY KIRSBAUM
A
include simplistic generalizations," he
said. "There's no denying there's anti-
Semitism in Poland, but it's also a uni-
versal problem.
Traison sees a "very complex role
between Jewish and Polish society."
"The relationship," he said, "is
unequaled as far as. the complexity of
the two cultures."
Many cities had heavy Jewish pop-
ulations before the war. Today,
Poland's Jewish population all but dec-
"
j
271 West Maple
Downtown Birmingham
248.258.0212
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1998
12 Detroit Jewish News