4 | AUGUST 17 • 2023 

guest column
From the Basement of the 
Krakow JCC — A Jewish Story
W

hen Russia declared war on 
Ukraine, I was distraught 
and concerned. Could it 
be the start of a new world war? Was 
anyone really believing the convoluted 
Nazi propaganda perpetrated by the 
Russians on the backs of 
the Ukrainian people? 
As a child of Holocaust 
survivors, I felt I needed 
to do something. It is one 
thing to donate money, 
but I wanted also to lift my 
hands. I tried to contact 
charity organizations but 
couldn’t manage to find a way to volun-
teer. 
Then I met Jonathan Ornstein, the 
CEO of the JCC in Krakow, Poland. He 
presented the work of the JCC Krakow 
to help Ukrainian refugees at a confer-
ence for Holocaust survivors and their 
descendants in Saint Louis, Missouri, 
last November. I wasn’t even aware 
that there was any Jewish community 
in Poland let alone that this particular 
community center had so far helped 
more than 200,000 refugees who fled to 
Poland. 
A plan started to hatch after Jonathan 
visited Ann Arbor and spoke at our syn-
agogue. Along with Eitan, my childhood 
friend from Israel who is also a child of 
Holocaust survivors, we arranged for 
our visit.
We arrived at Krakow on July 10 and 
immediately started working. The base-
ment of the JCC, which was the gym, 
had been turned into a workplace for 
sorting and packing nonperishable food 
for the refugees. Each morning, every 
day of the week, between five to eight 
volunteers gather there to make 100 
sandwiches in addition to repackaging 
rice, Kasha, lentils, split peas, oats, tea 
bags and other food staples into individ-
ual-sized Ziplock bags, preparing these 
grocery items for the clients. 

The refugees can “shop” once weekly 
for the food we packaged; they are enti-
tled to take up to 15 items available on 
that day, free of charge. This is really for 
the refugees and not meant as a city-
wide food bank. All who may enter are 
verified by their passport to assure they 
are indeed refugees who came after the 
start of the war. 
The JCC also provides shelter to some 
of the refugees at a place nearby. The 
volunteers were mostly from the United 
States, ranging in age from 13 to 94 
years old during my tenure. Bernard 
Offen, a 94-year-old Holocaust survivor, 
joins every Wednesday for two hours. 
He spent his teenage years in some 
of the most notorious concentration 
camps, including Auschwitz, which is 
only 40 miles west of Krakow. When 
he heard we planned to visit the camp, 
he drew us a map showing where his 
barrack was. Mr. Offen spends half of 
his time in his birthplace Krakow for 
springs and summers, and his winters 
he spends in the desert of Palm Springs, 
California. 
Prior to World War II, Krakow had 
more than 65,000 Jews. The Jewish 

part of town is called Kazimierz. This 
is where the JCC can be found, and it 
currently serves a Jewish population of 
close to 1,000 people, some of whom 
have only recently discovered their 
Jewish roots, like Jonathan Ornstein’s 
wife. 
Apart from helping Ukrainian refu-
gees, the JCC offers a variety of activi-
ties, including lectures on Jewish topics 
and practices, yoga and even Hebrew 
classes, just to name a few of the more 
popular options. The Hebrew classes are 
taught to primarily non-Jewish students, 
and Eitan and I, as native Hebrew-
speaking volunteers, were invited to help 
teach a few of the sessions. The rabbi 
who serves the JCC, Avi Baumol, comes 
from Israel twice a month to teach 
Jewish studies and lead services.
The workday for a volunteer is about 
four to five hours. After that, we were 
free to do whatever we wanted. Believe 
me, there is no shortage of what to see 
in Krakow. Twelve afternoons and eve-
nings of walking between 5 to 7 miles 
each day did not satisfy my desire to 
see more and explore the history of this 
absolutely beautiful European city, a 

PURELY COMMENTARY

continued on page 6

Avishay 
Hayut

Volunteers, including 
Avishay and his friend, 
packing food bags.

