Obituaries
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A Friend Of Jews And Israel
Dinah Spritzer
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
F
or Jews, Poland's late president,
Lech Kaczynski, was a man of
many firsts.
He was the first Polish president to
attend a service at a Polish synagogue,
the first to celebrate Chanukah at the
presidential palace, the first Polish leader
to provide support for a Jewish history
museum on Polish soil.
His death in Saturday's plane crash
along with his wife and 96 members of
Poland's political elite represents a huge
loss for the Polish-Jewish relationship,
Poland's chief rabbi, New York native
Michael Schudrich, told JTA.
"A lot of those who are politically right
of center are open to Jewish contributions
to Polish culture, but if you had a dif-
ferent person in power, they would have
been quiet about it. Kaczynski empow-
ered those people to also have a voice
Schudrich said.
Schudrich had been invited to accom-
pany the presidential delegation to the
April 10 event in Katyn commemorating
the 1940 massacre there of 20,000 Poles
by Soviet forces, but the rabbi could not
attend the Saturday event.
On Sunday, mourners packed Warsaw's
Nozyk Synagogue, where Kaczynski once
visited, for a memorial service for the vic-
tims of the crash. Nearby, some 100,000
Poles filled the streets as the president's
coffin passed by in a procession.
Kaczynski's death, as tragic as it may
be, is not likely to set back Polish-Jewish
or Polish-Israeli relations, insiders say.
The role of president is largely ceremonial
in Poland; the government is run by the
prime minister, currently Donald Tusk.
Tusk and his Cabinet are considered allies
of Israel and the United States, and are
friendly to Jewish concerns.
In 2008, as president, Kaczynski
restored Polish citizenship to the
15,000 Jews exiled in 1968 by Poland's
Communist government in the throes
of an anti-Semitic frenzy. He was among
Europe's top political supporters of Israel.
AJC Ties
Kari Alterman, Detroit director of the
American Jewish Committee, said, "Since
1996, AJC has run a joint program with
the Polish government to build strong
relations between American Jewish and
Polish leaders. Our leaders who have
participated have gained an important
perspective into the emerging Polish
democracy and participated in high-level
and unique dialogues with government
officials, Jewish leaders and young profes-
sionals. Additionally, a group of Polish
leaders have traveled to the U.S. with
AJC each of these years, gaining a greater
understanding of our country and of the
Jewish people:'
Levi Smith, an AJC Detroit board mem-
ber, said, "I was part of an AJC mission to
Poland in July 2005 which was co-spon-
sored by the Polish Foreign Ministry. We
met with then mayor of Warsaw Lech
Kaczynski for an hour.
"He proudly, through an interpreter, pre-
sented the plans for a Museum of History
'Poland's Tragedy Is Ours'
David Harris
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
W
hen the plane carrying Polish
President Lech Kaczynski,
his wife, and dozens of other
officials crashed in the Katyn Forest
near Smolensk, Russia, on Saturday, this
immense disaster was also a personal
tragedy.
I lost friends in the crash that killed
key leaders from the Polish government,
economy, and military.
I first met Kaczynski when he was
Warsaw's mayor. Kaczynski was eager
for the renewal of Jewish life in Poland.
He felt a kinship to Jews, whom he saw
as an integral part of Poland's fabric.
He said it was impossible to understand
Poland without comprehending the
Jewish role in its life. That's why he was
supportive of the Museum of the History
of Polish Jews and why he was instru-
mental in launching it.
The president was a friend of Israel.
He liked and understood it. He instinc-
tively grasped its security predicaments
because he could personally relate to a
vulnerable country in a tough neigh-
borhood. And he chastised those quick
to judge Israel in order to curry favor
with others, again seeing a parallel with
Poland, whose own interests were sac-
rificed more than once on the altar of
global power politics.
Rejecting Iran's nuclear ambitions was
of Polish Jewry to be built
with $33 million in city
funds on the site of the
former Warsaw Ghetto. I
promised hhri that I would
return with my family
when it was completed.
"Some people were
cynical about his motiva-
tion," Smith said. "Was
it to increase Jewish
tourism? I saw a sincere
man who recognized our
role and contributions
Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his wife, Maria,
to Poland for 600 years.
The museum is going up visiting the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in
Jerusalem, Sept. 12, 2006.
today as a tribute to his
efforts.
report criticizing Israel for its actions in
"We lost a friend this weekend."
the 2009 Gaza war. He also upgraded mil-
itary, economic and cultural cooperation
Supporter Of Israel
between Israel and Poland and opposed
"The president and his wife were great
anti-Semitism by emphasizing the shared
friends to Israel," Israel's former ambas-
history of Jews and Poles.
sador to Poland, David Peleg, said. "And
"In my first discussions with him as
those who traveled with him on that
mayor, he talked about the Jews at Katyn,"
plane were not only personal friends of
mine, but also were dedicated to the pres- said Peleg, referring to the Russian site
where Kaczynski was headed when his
ervation of Jewish sites in Poland."
plane crashed. "He made the point that
Peleg singled out for praise Janusz
more than 10 percent of those killed in
Kurtyka, head of the National
Katyn were Jewish officers."
Remembrance Institute, Deputy Culture
For now, the speaker of the Polish
Minister Tomasz Merta and presidential
Parliament, Bronislav Komorowski,
adviser Mariusz Handzlik. Handzlik
assumes the presidency until elections
was so close with the Jewish commu-
are held in two months. Komorowski
nity that he attended the bat mitzvah of
is one of several top candidates for
Schudrich's daughter.
the post. All are likely to continue
Peleg, now head of the World Jewish
Kacynsnki's path of Polish-Jewish
Restitution Organization, noted that
reconciliation, observers say.
Kacynski lobbied against the Goldstone
❑
a no-brainer for Kaczynski. Like many
Poles, he and his family had witnessed
man's capacity for evil. In our meetings,
he'd get right to the point: Isn't it obvious
what Iran is doing? Iran's leaders can't be
trusted with a bomb. The world needs to
get tougher with Tehran.
Mariusz Handzlik was another friend
on the plane. A diplomat whom I first met
in Washington years ago, he was serving
as undersecretary of state in the office of
Poland's president.
When Mariusz was assigned to the
Polish Mission to the United Nations, he
proudly told me that now he would be in
a position, together with his colleagues, to
help Israel in the world body. He wanted
the Israelis to know they had friends at
the United Nations.
Andrzej Przewoznik was secretary-gen-
eral of the Council for the Protection of
Struggle and Martyrdom Sites.
I first met him when the Polish gov-
ernment and the American Jewish
Committee joined together to demarcate,
protect, and memorialize the site of the
Nazi death camp in Belzec, located in
southeastern Poland, where In less than a
year, more than 500,000 Jews were killed.
That memorial could not have been built
without Andrzej's pivotal role.
May the memories of Lech Kaczynski,
Mariusz Handzlik, Andrzej Przewoznik
— and their fellow passengers — forever
be for a blessing, as those of us privileged
to have known them were ourselves
blessed.
❑
David Harris is executive director of the
American Jewish Committee.
Obituaries on page 74
Obituaries
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