Jewish Warsaw - 1,000 Years to Today

I of course, started my day off right with coffee and eggs. We started the program today by going to the remnants of the Warsaw Ghetto. Not much of the ghetto stands today as it was destroyed when the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ended. Interestingly enough, on May 16th, 1943 the Great Synagogue of Warsaw was destroyed by the nazis thus symbolizing the end of the Uprising. This tour that I went on today is the 75th anniversary of the end of the uprising. I'm not sure what to make of the fact that of all days I am visiting the remnants of the ghetto is on this day of all days. Again, aside from a few buildings, not much remains. Much of the ghetto was destroyed and buildings were built on top of its ashes. But its history lives on in the memories and documents that were saved.

Remaining wall from the Warsaw Ghetto. If you look at the background, on the right you'll see a building from the communist era and on the left you'll see a skyscraper built when free-market capitalism came.

This building also survived from the destruction of the ghetto. After the war, it was renovated and used for the Department of Psychology for the University of Warsaw.

We continue walking through the area and finally come a monument to Mordechai Anielewicz and the other brave Jewish resisters who fought valiantly against the nazis but were ultimately killed. Despite being outnumbered and outgunned, they fought for 28 days. What is unfortunate is that it can be argued that the violence did not have to reach that point if the international community cared about the well-being of European Jewry. What was happening in Warsaw was not a secret. The BBC shared news of Jewish suffering in Warsaw and the Polish Government-in-Exile in London shared the news as well. No one cared so no one did anything and the international community ignored them at their peril. 

 

Myself (caught off-guard) at the memorial for Mordechai Anielewicz and the other fighters and planners of the Uprising. 

Group picture in front of Warsaw Ghetto Uprising monument in front of POLIN Museum. 

After our tour of the remains of the ghetto, we went to the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews. It was a self-guided tour so I was able to go at my own pace and absorb the information as I wanted to. The only thing was I had only a little over two hours. The museum was incredible! It documented Jewish life in Poland back over 1,000 years ago. As Jews were fleeing persecution throughout Europe, they heard of a country called Polin. Polin is a word that exists in the Hebrew language meaning 'you will rest here' so it is believed that they saw it as a prophecy that they could live peacefully there. 

For a long time, they were correct. Many Polish kings were tolerant of Jews allowing them to practice their religion in peace and even appointing Jews to high positions in the kingdom. Quite often when an antisemitic pogrom took place, it was operated by individuals and not by the state which is starkly different than the rest of Europe. It all started coming to an end with the attacks of the Cossacks. The Cossacks were violent and blood-thirsty. They would loot, destroy, rape, and kill. Poles and Jewish communities throughout Poland suffered heavily by the Cossacks. The intolerance would continue throughout history. 

This quote, made in 1920, was unfortunately more accurate than what the speaker intended. 

The end of World War I led to the rise and increased popularity of extremist politics on the far-left and the far-right. For the most part, Jews were hated by both. They were hated by the far-left for "inventing" capitalism and hated by the far-right for "inventing" communism. These are blood libels. Both are show a misunderstanding of Jewish involvement in politics, history, and economics. There were Jews who were capitalists and Jews who were communists. Adam Smith was not Jewish and Karl Marx's father was a Jew who abandoned the faith before Marx was born and Marx was an atheist so his works was not influenced by Judaism. Nevertheless, blood libels persisted. 

These blood libels, that mind you are very easy to prove they are lies, were used to justify the persecution and abandonment of the Jews. Even though some Jews were active in political extremism, it did not protect them from what was to come - the Holocaust. 

This is where I will stop with sharing the story told by the POLIN Museum for two reasons. 1. I could honestly write a book on this because there is so much information to share and 2. I encourage you to go see this wonderful museum for yourself when the opportunity arises. It really is an incredible museum and I learned a lot! 

After the museum we went to another Jewish cemetery in Warsaw called the Brodno Jewish Cemetery which is the oldest, existing cemetery in Warsaw which opened in 1780. The Brodno Cemetery is in a forest and before you walk down the path, you see a beautiful forest with a peaceful path with a few tombstones by the side. 

But, there is something disturbing about Brodno. No tombstones is in its original spot. Below, I will share some pictures I took that show what the cemetery looks like today. 

These are broken tombstones that will never be placed back together properly and no one knows where the person they were placed for lays in the earth. 

One of my friends said while walking through the cemetery that it looks like "a massacre of tombstones." Brodno was spared by the nazis wrath which comes a surprise to many. So who did this? The Soviets. After the war, Poland fell behind the Iron Curtain and the Russians wanted to try and erase Jewish history in Poland and one of the ways they tried to do that was by destroying Brodno. The Soviets bulldozed the city and some of the tombstones that were there for over two hundred years were used to build homes, paths, and other things. What the Soviets did here was disgusting and leaves a painful sight. 

In Hebrew, Israel mean to "struggle with God." I always thought that struggle was during our lives and in the afterlife, I never thought our bodies that we leave behind would continue to struggle whether it be against nature or man's disturbing ideologies. Because of the Soviets, many names are lost, more than likely forever. We will never know where they are buried and there will never be closure. I left Brodno Cemetery with more disdain for the Soviets with the pain that they left behind in this old cemetery in Warsaw. 

We concluded the day in a better light. We went to visit the Jewish Community Center of Warsaw which does amazing work not just in the city but throughout the country. We got to sit down and have dinner with Alicia Mroczkowska, who works with the Jewish Historical Institute. The JCC works hard to preserve Poland's old cemeteries which trust me, is very hard work. But they also have community events such as Hebrew study, meals for guests, support for members in need of help, and so much more. They fed us well. I had a delicious soup (I sadly can't remember what type of soup but it was vegetarian), salads, falafel, hummus, and other yummy foods. We had a discussion on Jewish life in Warsaw in the contemporary. I asked Alicia if she knew what the Jewish population of Warsaw is today and she said "nobody knows." Perhaps that is a question too painful to know the answer to. All in all, it was a very impactful and heavy day. I learned so much and yet have so much more to learn. I am excited about what the rest of this journey holds.

~Noah Goldman