Poland's Jews

Poland | Maidanek | Chelmno | Jedwabne | Treblinka | Auschwitz

It’s difficult to sum up in words what it is like for a Jew, child or grandchild of Holocaust survivors, to go to Poland. My grandfather fled Poland before WWII, II, leaving behind his mother and two sisters. He left them behind to travel to the new world, with the hopes that he could work hard and save enough money to bring his mother and sisters to safety. He never got that chance, and spent much of his life feeling the pain and the guilt of this failure.

I thought of him a lot while I was in Poland. And, as I found comfort little comfort there, I knew I could offer him none as well. This site, therefore is dedicated to the memory of the Jews of Poland, and Germany, and Hungary, and Czechoslovakia. To the Jews of the Ukraine and Belgium and Holland. In short - to all of Europe’s Jews...who never made it home.

Poland Today

Physically, Poland is a beautiful country, with green lush forests, flowing rivers, and vast open spaces. But in the middle of the forests, there are mass graves; in the wide open spaces, there are the remnants of concentration camps.
One could argue that the Poles did not put the concentration camps there; that the Nazis did. But if you go to places like Jedwabne, where Pole murdered Jew without any Nazi interference, or Krasnik, where even today, it is clear they do not like Jews; or Lodz, where we were told "Hitler was our friend" by drunken Poles who clearly had nothing else to do on a workday, the overall message becomes clear.

Do Poles hate Jews? Is there anti-Semitism in Poland today? My response, having visited there, is, "What difference does it make?"

There are very few Jews in Poland today. One more generation, and Poland will be Judenrein, free of Jews. There is no future for Jews in Poland, and much of the past is slowly being eradicated by desecration and erosion. Time and hatred will destroy the last remnants of what was once a glorious community.

Today, Poland is filled with the ashes and the graves of millions of Jews. Tomorrow, even these remnants may be gone. On these pages, I hope to give you a sense of what is today, as I saw it, in July, 2003.
In some places, I can offer a glimpse of what might have been 60 years ago, and 600 years ago, the glory and the pain. But, in most cases, I can only offer you a sad view of what is left...

...for now.

Another interesting site to see: www.polandjews.com