Rebirth of Judaism in Poland

 

Seventy years after the Holocaust, who could have imagined a rebirth of Jewish life in Poland?  Certainly not my mother, Nika Kohn Fleissig, who survived the Second World War as a young woman in Poland and Germany, and began a new life in America in 1946.  I returned to Krakow and Warsaw in June together with my mother, not as tourists, but to make presentations based on our book “From Miracle to Miracle: A Story of Survival” which had just been published in Polish.

 

We spoke in Krakow, my mother’s hometown, at the developing Center for Dialogue to Catholic Polish graduate students in Judaic studies, at the Galicia Museum in Krakow to high school students, at the bustling Jewish Community Center to adults and seniors, and then in Warsaw, at the Progressive Jewish congregation, akin to Reform Judaism in America, before their Friday evening Shabbat service.  My mother spoke in elegant Polish, adjusting her words and message to each audience.  I spoke in English, stopping after each group of sentences for translation into Polish by young volunteers.  I began each presentation showing slides of my mother’s large family before World War II, decimated during the Holocaust, and gave some historical information about the Nazi occupation of Poland, the Warsaw Uprising of 1944, and liberation in 1945, as the backdrop for her miraculous survival.  I also showed photos of our synagogue and congregational celebrations in Sedona, ending with a photo of my mother as the proud matriarch of a new family including her children, their spouses, and five grandchildren ranging from 7 to 37!

 

At our talks in Krakow venues, we were delighted to have present the children of the beloved Polish Catholic piano teacher of my mother who helped hide her at the early critical moments of the war when her parents and brother were taken away, and made it possible for her to survive.  We spoke about how their mother, Zosia Pozniak,  had been honored through my mother’s sponsorship with a medal as a Righteous Gentile, and had attended a ceremony in 1979 when a tree was planted in her honor at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, Israel. Her granddaughter told us that she had visited Israel and was very moved to locate that tree and see a plaque at its base with her grandmother’s name inscribed on it.

 

We had such positive reactions. People who weren’t Jewish cried and were moved because of Nika’s story. Somehow it triggered memories of war losses from their own families. There were always hugs at the end of our presentations.

 

We had really no idea that there is re-emerging Jewish life in Poland. From a population of about 3 million before the War, there are maybe a couple thousand now.  Under Communism from the 1950’s through the 1980’s, religion of all kinds was suppressed, and only in the past twenty years has democracy begun to flourish, and with it, a renewed interest in Jewish themes, music, food, and contributions to Polish life over the past thousand years.  Tourism to Jewish sites has become a big business.  I was shocked to see tour trolleys with large signs advertising “Tours to the Jewish Quarter, Ghetto, Auschwitz,”   sites that represented horror and death.  The tours also visit Schindler’s Factory, where over a thousand Jews were saved by being on “Schindler’s List,” including many of my mother’s schoolmates from her unique school in Krakow, where the students learned Hebrew as a modern language in the ‘20’s and ‘30’s along with their required Polish subjects. 

 

We met graduate students, Catholic Poles, interested in Jewish culture. There are concerts of Jewish klezmer music, plays in Yiddish, restaurants with Jewish menus, kosher-style… all prepared by non-Jews! We were introduced to several people who were in the process of  converting to Judaism. Apparently there are many adults who had found out in their twenties, in post-Communist Poland, that they were part Jewish and were now learning about their Jewish heritage.  My mother, who clearly remembers the anti-semitic jokes and slurs, and the dangers of being a Jewish minority in Poland, was amazed by this new positive attitude toward Judaism, and openness to inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogue.  She described how one always had to be careful as a Jew... not belonging really although Jews had lived for centuries in Poland and felt very Polish..but were treated as a tolerated, but discriminated against minority. Certain professions and opportunities were closed. Then during the War there was constant danger of death if one was found out to be a Jew.  The idea that now there are people who want to convert is amazing to her. She heard how they are attracted to the sense of community, of study and questioning, or being rooted in an ancient tradition.  There is still anti-semitism… It has not disappeared, but there is also a young generation searching for a more human understanding of people and refusing the old patterns of stereotyping and discrimination. 

 

As we walked through the cobblestone streets of parts of old Krakow, I came upon views that I had seen in my mother’s paintings when I was a child.  I excitedly pointed out the perspective of a narrow street with houses in perspective leading to the Brama Florienska, the medieval Florian Gate, and exclaimed, “Isn’t that the view in one of your earliest paintings that I remember from our house in White Plains, NY?” My mother was thrilled that I recognized it.  That moment for me was like seeing a still, dark scene suddenly come to life with bustling people on the sidewalk.  Throughout this trip I felt like I was bouncing back and forth between the 1930’s, 40’s and today’s reality.  I stepped into the painting of the past and brought our life story into the present.

In Warsaw, my mother said it felt so unreal. In 1944, after the Warsaw Uprising, before she was taken to Prisoner of War camp with 2000 women – a whole other story -  she had left a totally bombed out city, all rubble, and now we came to a totally rebuilt modern city. Past and present continued to merge.

 

For my mother this was a very healing and satisfying trip.  Young and old approached her and thanked her for her inspiring message of developing one’s skills and talents and using them for good. She has no room for hate or blame, but rather looks for human connections with people of all backgrounds.  She asked young people, “What is your passion?” and challenged them to treasure their unique gifts and not waste the precious gift of life.  Every day for my mother is another adventure, another miracle.

 

I will give a more in-depth presentation about our odyssey for the Sedona community on Sunday, July 28 at 4 pm at the Jewish Community of Sedona and the Verde Valley, 100 Meadowlark Drive, Sedona, AZ.