world

W.::. _4tffiitatision where :he Potsda
Conference was held, ,,vith the
Communist Red Star stiil on the

A historic and musical tour through Germany and Poland.

T

he Cantors Assembly of
America sponsored a historic
first: a trip to Germany and

Israel.
Our Michigan contingent chose the
German portion of the trip, and it includ-
ed Cantor Dan Gross of Adat Shalom
Synagogue in Farmington Hills, Cantor
Pamela Schiffer
of Congregation
Shaarey Zedek
in East Lansing,
along with my
husband, Martin
Adelman, and fel-
low Adat Shalom
congregants Susie
Graham, Paul
Goldsmith, Linda
Levy, and Bruce
Kriegel.
We vis-
ited Berlin and
Potsdam, Germany, June 28-July 1,
Munich and Dachau July 2-5. The tour
comprised 50 cantors and 250 congre-
gants and Holocaust survivors. A profes-
sor of history, Stephen Berk of Union
College in Schenectady, N.Y., lectured
brilliantly on German history, the sec-
ond Reich, the Shoah and the aftermath.
My husband, Martin, and I took
an optional pre-tour to Warsaw and
Krakow, Poland, June 25-27. Our first din-
ner was at Beit Warszawa, a small progres-
sive congregation founded and partially
funded by Severyn Ashkenazy, a survivor
now living in Los Angeles who is com-
mitted to re-engaging the 35,000-50,000

The Tempel Synagogue in Krakow

The Holocaust Memorial in Berlin

people of Jewish heritage left in his native
Poland. In fact, the website suggests there
may be 200,000 Poles today with some
Jewish blood, and congregations are form-
ing in eight cities of Poland.
The most poignant day of our whole trip
was at Auschwitz. The guide had family

The Berliner Cathedral where the interfaith concert was
held under the statue of Martin Luther

interred there, and she made it so real to
us that we could almost feel the freezing
winter cold and the summer heat as pris-
oners in striped pajamas slaved on 300
calories a day. Three years ago, the Cantors
Assembly came there and found a con-
tingent of Israeli military, which marched

them in with pride.
Before the war, there were 3.3 million
Jews in Poland, 9.5 percent of the popula-
tion, more than in any European country.
That is why the Nazis built death camps
there — it was the biggest concentration
of Jews.

Cantors' Trip on page 46

August 16 • 2012

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