OTHER VIEWS
Shades Of Poland's Dark Past
because their bodies were turned to
ashes, and we have no cemeteries.
Basically, our trip to Poland was to
commemorate our
own victims of
Nazism. In addition
to our parents and
sister, we lost about
50 members of our
extended family.
AM OFFEN
Community Views
1 just returned from my home-
town, Krakow, Poland, with
my wife, Hyla.
Krakow's prewar Jewish
population consisted of more than
70,000. Although it is a historic and
beautiful city, it pained me greatly
that it has ceased to exist as a once-
thriving Jewish center of learning,
commerce and intelligentsia, due to
the brutal, inhumane Nazis.
Krakow is now almost devoid of
Jews — fewer than 200 remain. On
Shabbat morning, we could barely
form a minyan in the famous Remuh
Shul, in the old Jewish section.
Nearby, there are about a half-dozen,
Jewish-style restaurants playing
klezmer music nightly. Sadly, neither
the players nor the owners are Jewish.
Sam Offen is a West Bloomfield resident
and Congregation Beth Ahm member.
He endured the Krakow ghetto and
the German concentration camp at
Plaszow of "Schindler's List" fame.
He was liberated in Mauthausen on
May 5, 1945, by the American
11th Armored Division.
Hyla and Sam
Offen in Zakopane,
a resort town in the
southern Tatra
Mountains south
of Krakow.
Essentially, the real purpose of my
somewhat reluctant trip to Poland was
a reunion with my two brothers,
Nathan of New York and Bernard of
California. We are three lucky sur-
vivors because in the annals of the
Holocaust, there are very few "three
siblings in one family" who survived.
There were literally hundreds of
thousands of families totally obliterat-
ed from the face of the Earth. There is
not even one family member left to
memorialize them. Consequently, no
one will know that they ever existed
We went to
Auschwitz, where
,1‘ my father, Jacob,
50, was killed in
August of 1944. We also went to a
very little-known German extermina-
tion camp called Belzec, in a remote
part of eastern Poland on the
Ukrainian border. There, in addition
to others, most of the Krakow Jewry
was destroyed, including our mother
Rochme Gittel, 45, and sister, Miriam,
15, killed in October of 1942.
Belzec, unlike other camps, didn't
contain any facilities. The human
cargo was forced to leave the cattle
cars directly to the gas chambers.
Being fluent in Polish, we rented a
car and drove more than 1,200 miles
through a good portion of southern
and eastern Poland. We passed
through some familiar-sounding
shtetls, whose names evoked childhoo(
memories.
We were pleasantly surprised by the
courtesy extended to us by the Polish
people, especially the young ones,
devoid of anti-Semitic remarks. Peopl
were friendly and interested to know
what our life was like in America.
My brother Bernard is one of the
Youngest survivors of Auschwitz. He
spent the last 10 summers in Poland,
lecturing about the Holocaust at the
Jagielonian University in Krakow, one
of the oldest in Europe. He is also
speaking at public schools with some
success.
The students show a great deal of
interest, but the authorities don't
always cooperate. Occasionally, he
guides some tour groups through
Auschwitz. One of the most interest-
ing ones happened just a few weeks
ago: he guided 50 students from
Jedwabne. It made a great impact on
them.
No doubt, Poland is undergoing a
resurgence in interest in Jewish sub-
jects. The new generation, particularl
is thirsting for that knowledge.
However, I continually monitor the
Polish media, both here and abroad,
and find that this interest is not uni-
versal. Hopefully, this, too, will
change.
❑
A Bar Mitzvah Promise In Israel
ELISSA BROWN
Special Commentary
Jerusalem
'm not a martyr, an overly religious person or even
brave for that matter.
So why did I choose to go to Israel during July as
the Palestinian intifada (uprising) continued to esca-
late daily? Because I know what I'm good at and that is
keeping a promise.
Before my son was ever born, more than 13 years ago, my
husband, Robert, and I promised each other that we would
go to Israel for our first child's bar or bat mitzvah. In our
hearts and minds, we always knew this trip would one day
become a reality for us.
So here it was, the summer of 2001 and a trip to Israel
was in the works. Did I ever consider not going? Of course.
The pressure from family and friends, not to mention the
warnings from the State Department, didn't help.
After many sleepless nights and vows not to watch any
more CNN (Cable News Network), I proceeded to pack for
our trip. The usual anxiety of going on a long trip corn-
I
BAR MITZVAH on page 30
Elissa Brown is a West Bloomfield resident. She and her hus-
band, Robert, have two children. They are affiliated with Adat
Shalom Synagogue.
8/17
2001
28
The Brown family at Masada. Robert, Elissa, Michael, 11, and Benjamin, 13,
and the Israeli rabbi who was helping with the bar mitzvah service.