6 | AUGUST 17 • 2023
1942 - 2023
Covering and Connecting
Jewish Detroit Every Week
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PURELY COMMENTARY
city rich in 1,000 years of history,
including over 700 years of Jewish
life.
To say that there is a Jewish
revival in Krakow may be an
overstatement. The interest in
the Jewish story of Kazimierz as
well as investment in the Jewish
quarter of the city is mostly due to
Stephen Spielberg’s film Schindler’s
List, which was filmed there. The
Schindler factory, now a museum,
stands on the eastern part of town.
It seems that throughout Poland
there is a phantom Jewish cultural
existence with Jewish festivals in
many Polish towns that no longer
have any Jews living there. Why,
you might ask, is there such a fas-
cination with Jewish culture from a
Polish population that had actively
and apparently enthusiastically
helped eradicate most of its Jews
during the Holocaust?
Our Polish tour guide, one of our
Hebrew students, agreed that even
though the Jews were only about 10% of
the whole Polish population before the
war, they were an important part of the
cultural landscape of Poland. After so
many centuries of Jewish life in Poland,
Jews left a mark in the overall Polish
cultural experience. Eliminating the
Jewish population left an ethnic void
they are still trying to fill. Please do not
assume that filling the void comes
from a love of Jews. Antisemitism
is still alive and well in Poland, and
the current government continues
to make a great effort to expunge
from their history any culpability
in the murdering of its Jews during
WWII.
Even in light of such antisemi-
tism in Poland and parts of Eastern
Europe, the Jewish community,
through the JCC Krakow, its donors,
(many of whom are from the United
States), and the non-Jews who
wish to be associated with the JCC,
opened their hearts and their hands
to the war-torn Ukrainian refugees,
offering support and safety, living by
our sacred teachings of giving help
and charity to those who are not in
a position to help themselves.
Avishay Hayut is a retired physical
therapist who was born in Israel and lives
in Ann Arbor. He is a co-author of The Ones Who
Remember: Second-Generation Voices of the
Holocaust and has been involved in speaking about
the book to help combat bigotry and antisemitism.
To visit or donate to the JCC Krakow, visit www.
friendsofjcckrakow.org.
continued from page 4
Ukrainian refugees
wait to gain entrance
to the JCC to pick up
food.