THE GUARDIAN: There are signs that Poles are discovering their lost Jewish heritage and that antisemitism is in decline
In Kazimierz, once the Jewish heart of Krakow, signs of a revival are everywhere. There are restaurants with Hebrew lettering, a new community centre where students drop in for a Sabbath meal, and even a Jewish kindergarten. And once a year, this quarter is dominated by a celebration of Jewish music, theatre and film that attracts up to 13,000 visitors.
Krakow's Jewish Culture festival is the most prominent symbol of an apparent rejuvenation in the shadow of the Holocaust. This is the nearest Polish city to Auschwitz, but it has also become a place where Poles are discovering their lost Jewish heritage.
The Jewish community centre on Miodowa Street, neighbouring a synagogue defiled by the Nazis but now restored for worship, has seen a steady stream of visitors. Opened in 2008 by Prince Charles, the centre offers Hebrew and Yiddish language lessons and an introductory religious course, alongside yoga, belly-dancing and basketball.
Jonathan Ornstein, the centre's director, says: "I think that people for a few years have been talking about a Jewish renaissance in Poland, in Krakow especially, and that was primarily an interest by non-Jews in Jewish culture, and I think that now we're in a second stage that is totally made possible by this first stage. That's people with Jewish roots getting involved in the Jewish community."
Ornstein says the centre has young people coming in every day who have no contact with Jewish life but want to explore their Jewish roots. One local rabbi tells a story of a Pole who discovered from his mother's birth certificate that she was Jewish, born in Krakow's wartime ghetto. She told him that she had kept it a secret all her life – and then they discovered that the man's father was Jewish, too.
There are reckoned to be slightly more than 100 official members of the Jewish community in Krakow, but 400 who consider themselves Jewish. » | Jeevan Vasagar and Julian Borger | Thursday, April 07, 2011
