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Post by Jaga on Oct 22, 2014 20:24:19 GMT -7
and also a new Museum of the history of Polish Jews in Auschwitz. I wonder who paid for all of it.... To Celebrate Its Jewish History, Poland Presents ‘a Museum of Life’www.nytimes.com/2014/10/22/world/europe/warsaw-museum-of-the-history-of-polish-jews.html?src=me&module=Ribbon&version=origin®ion=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Most%20Emailed&pgtype=article WARSAW — With anti-Semitism having become more prominent again across Europe, something quite different is growing in a huge, translucent building at the center of a vanished neighborhood in Warsaw. After several days of concerts, seminars, festivals and hoopla, the core exhibition of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews — the most ambitious cultural institution to rise in Poland since the fall of Communism — will be unveiled on Tuesday. Poland’s top political leaders will be there, as will the president of Israel and other international dignitaries. The institution has been embraced across the political spectrum and has drawn only scattered, mild protest. In eight sprawling galleries, packed with multimedia exhibitions and artifacts, the museum traces the history of Jews from their first appearance in Poland in the Middle Ages to the present day. The Holocaust, the part of the story that is most often remembered, fills only one of the eight galleries. |
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Post by pieter on Oct 23, 2014 3:39:43 GMT -7
Jaga,
I think that this Museum is a good and relevant thing in a country where christians (Roman-catholics) and jews lived side by side for hundreds of years and in which Polish jews paid an important con tribution to Polish history, culture, science, the economy and education.
Tufta, our former Varsovian contributer and respected member, said to me. Polish jews were often first seen as Poles and secondly as jews. That's a healthy thing. It's like with the Dutch jews of today. Nobody says, he or she is a jew, catholic, protestant or ahteist/agnostic (secular humanist) today.
For me as an 'outsider' it was sometimes curious to see that there sometimes was a dispute about the ethnicity or nationality of a famous Polish jew, like the artist Bruno Schultz. The funny thing was that Poland sees him as an important Polish artist and a person who was important for the development of Polish language (the Polish Franz Kafka), while Ukraine saw/sees him as an Ukrainian and Israel sees him as a Jewish arist and writer.
Unfortunately for me and others who believed in the 'European enlightenment', christian foundation, hertitage of the Renaissance, democracy, and values of equality, brotherhood, freedom and tolerance, the climate in the world and Europe is changing. Anti-semitism, Islamophobia and anti-christian agigation and persecution go hand in hand in parts of Europe and in the Muslim world. Due to the existance of Muslim enclaves in Europe (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Turkey, parts of Kosovo, Macedonia and Albania, and Muslim migrant ghetto's (banlieue's in France, the notorious public housing projects in the large American innercities and the English cities of Brighton, London, Liverpool and Manchaster), anti-semitism, anti-Hindu behavior against Indian Hindu migrants and aversion against central- and Eastern-European migrants (Ukrainians and Poles have been intimidated by aggressive Muslim Pakistani's in England).
Back to Poland. The Jewish community is a tiny community in Poland in an ocean of Roman-Catholicsm. I don't know if the far right European anti-semitism and Muslim migrant anti-semitism of other parts of Europe will reach Poland. For now anti-semitism is a relevant minor issue in Poland, because the present generations of young Poles never grew up with Jewish compatriots (fellow citizens of Jewish heritage). For them Jews, Judaism, and even Israel, Israeli's and the Second World War is an abstract, distant thing. Like it is for many other young Europeans. Movies, documentries, books, newspaper articles, essays, magazines, history lessons, museums, memorials, oral histories, internet blogs/websites, tv- and radio programs won't change that fact. You can be pessimistic or negative about that, but that's the way the present day youth is. The digital generation, which grew up with video games, a virtual world, Facebook, Myspace, MTV, Mp3 download music, short youtube video clips, twitter, I-phones/tabloids, I-pats/Android tablets, laptops and e-readers.
I realize that I come from an antiques era of analogue sound and vision, analogue tv, and familymembers and older friends that experienced the Second World War, the cold war, the Vietnam and Korea wars, guys who experienced Nazism, communism and the European currencies; de Gulden, Mark, French and Belgian Francs, and border crossings and customs at the Dutch-German and Dutch Belgian borders. That is all of the past.
In my liberal and cosmopolitan view the cultural and historical circle would be round, if next to a Jewish and National Museum there woould be Museums for the Muslim culture, faith and contribution to Europe. And next to that of the Hindu-, Buddhist-, Sikh-, Bahai and for instance Secular-Humanist communities and peoples. What has irritated me and will keep irritating me is the fact that out of political correctness, many European politicians don't want to mention the christian roots and heritage of Europe. That is due to the fact that the secular and atheist forces in Europe are strong. These forces in general don't like Christianity, Judaism-, Islam and other faiths with one God or more gods. Their foundations lay in the Bloody French and Russian revolutions.
Cheers,
Pieter
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Post by Jaga on Oct 23, 2014 14:08:51 GMT -7
Pieter,
how nice that you found some time to reply. I posted this message mainly because the building is impressive. As far as Holocaust and Jews in Poland, I think that for the last 20-30 years there was just too much about Jewish culture everywhere, Holocaust museums are everywhere etc....
There are no museums of Ukrainian or Belarussian or Rusyn cultures in Poland.
On the other hand there is a Japanese museum in Krakow. Some people gave money, it is in the most prominent part of Krakow, near Wisla on the other side of Wawel castle. Its exhibitions are quite interesting.
+++Back to Poland. The Jewish community is a tiny community in Poland in an ocean of Roman-Catholicsm.+++
yeah, but we also had orthodox, quite many and Easter rite religion.
I wish Israel was tolerant towards non-Jews in their own country.
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Post by Jaga on Oct 23, 2014 14:08:54 GMT -7
Pieter,
how nice that you found some time to reply. I posted this message mainly because the building is impressive. As far as Holocaust and Jews in Poland, I think that for the last 20-30 years there was just too much about Jewish culture everywhere, Holocaust museums are everywhere etc....
There are no museums of Ukrainian or Belarussian or Rusyn cultures in Poland.
On the other hand there is a Japanese museum in Krakow. Some people gave money, it is in the most prominent part of Krakow, near Wisla on the other side of Wawel castle. Its exhibitions are quite interesting.
+++Back to Poland. The Jewish community is a tiny community in Poland in an ocean of Roman-Catholicsm.+++
yeah, but we also had orthodox, quite many and Easter rite religion.
I wish Israel was tolerant towards non-Jews in their own country.
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Post by pieter on Oct 24, 2014 10:17:23 GMT -7
Jaga,
The offspring of the Polish jews have a more powerful lobby and position in the world. Polish jews have immigrated to the Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, Great-Britain, France, Israel and other countries of the world and they became quite succesful there as business people, scientists, doctors, entrepreneurs, politicians and lobbyists. Ofcourse the plight or cause of the remembrance of Polish jews is also supported by other jews with a non-Polish jewish heritage. Ukraine and Belarus aren't that wealthy nations and their billionaires and millionaires are few, and probably a few of them are interested about Poland and the Ukrainian and Belarussian minorities in Poland. Jewish culture, music, history, literature (Stanisław Lem, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Chaim Potok -The son of Polish jews-, Marcel Reich-Ranicki,a Polish-born German literary critic and member of the literary group Gruppe 47; Julian Tuwim, and etc.), cinema (Roman Polanski, Aleksander Ford, Andrzej Munk and Konrad Tom), media and journalism are dominant, influential, good (in the sense of the language and content quality) and multi-lingual. (You have and had American, British, German, Polish, Dutch, French and Belgian journalists and tv reporters of jewish descent. Think about Larry King of CNN and Jon Stewart of the The Daily Show)
The world is changing and new lobbygroups and ethnic dominations will change the face of the world and our societies. Today Arabs are in a negative spotlight due to terrorism from the Middle-east, North-Africa and in Europe (comitted by migrants with an Arab or other Muslim background), but in time the Muslim terrorist phenomenon will fade away like Nazism, fascism, communism and extremist domestic European terrorism (by far right and far left European terror organizations) faded away. And then the Arabs, tradesmen (businesspeople and merchants like the jews) will have their inlfuence, lobby groups, mosques, culture centers and Museums too. Because Arab and Muslim culture is interesting and part of the West in many ways. We got our algebra, maths and part of our medicines from them.
Again, to repeat myself. I see the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw as a positive thing. First because it is an interesting modern building, secondly because in 1939, Jews constituted 30% of Warsaw's population ( 375,000 people). There are today 1,300,000 people with a Polish jewish heritage in the world. 1,250,000 Israeli's have Polish ancestry. In Europe other people today take the role Jews played in the 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries. Sometimes I have the impression that the Turkish, Kurd, Moroccan Berber and Arab migrants of today are like the jews of back then. Regarded by native Europeans as different people, due to their different religion, different culture, different ethnicity, different looks, different customs, traditions and ambitions.
Like the European (christian and nationalistic anti-semitism of the past) the present islamophobia (the anti-semitism of today, because Arabs are semites, and anti-Muslim and anti-Arab cartoons, look like the anti-semitic leaflets, flyers and posters of the past). Arab Muslims, but also North-African Berbers, Turks, Kurds, Afghans, Persians (Iranians) and other non-European Muslims are 'the jews of today'. Anti-semitism stil exists, but it isn't accepted by the establishment, the ruling elite, the intelligentsia (journalists, writers, poets, critics and such) and large sections of the public. Due to the knowledge of the persecution of jews in the Christian Europe of the past, the pogroms and the Holocaust (Shoa). Aversion, hatred for and agression against Muslims has become a normal thing in Europe. Radicalization of a minority of European Muslims and the terrorism that exists, creates fear, an anti Muslim climate (Islamophobia, xenophobia and racism towards people with Middle-eastern looks and Muslim dress/clothing). I heard that even in Poland, Islamophobia and Homophobia have replaced anti-semitism. I say even in Poland, because Poland has very few Muslims.
Cheers,
Pieter
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Post by pieter on Oct 24, 2014 10:33:47 GMT -7
 Ed MilibandThe Leader of the British Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition Ed Miliband, has parents with Polish jewish roots. His brother David Wright Miliband (born 15 July 1965) is a former British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Shields from 2001 to 2013, and was the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs from 2007 to 2010. David and Ed Miliband, were the first siblings to sit in the Cabinet simultaneously since Edward, Lord Stanley, and Oliver Stanley in 1938.  David Miliband |
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Post by pieter on Oct 24, 2014 10:44:39 GMT -7
The family name of Benjamin Netanyahu was originally the Polish name Mileikowsky, because his grandfather was the Pole, Nathan Mileikowsky (August 15, 1879 – February 4, 1935) who was a rabbi, educator, writer and prominent Zionist activist. Nathan took his family to Mandate Palestine (aliyah=immigration to the Holy land) in 1920, he changed the family name to Netanyahu. After living in Jaffa, Tel Aviv, and Safed, the family settled in Jerusalem. Nathans son Benzion Netanyahu studied in the David Yellin teachers seminary and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Although his father was a rabbi, Benzion was devoutly secular. Benzion's son became the leader of the conservative Likud party and Israeli prime-minister.
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Post by Jaga on Oct 24, 2014 13:32:48 GMT -7
Pieter:
+++The offspring of the Polish jews have a more powerful lobby and position in the world+++
You are right of course. Ashkenazi Jews from Poland are very powerful, but we cannot publicly talk about it, since any mention of people of Jewish influence or Jewish lobby is a big "no, no". So, instead we have to talk about Holocaust.
I know that the majority of people of Jewish origin are amazing, educated folks. I know these people as well, they work hard, they are smart and they do not get any benefits from being Jewish.
I had discussions with my Polish friends about Tuwim, Brzechwa. We read their book each day with Ela. There is something amazing about these people. THEY DID NOT EVEN CONSIDERED THEMSELVES JEWS.
Lem was amazing, although at the end of his life ha had a hard time to adjust to the new reality.
+++The world is changing and new lobbygroups and ethnic dominations will change the face of the world and our societies.+++
Yes, but not enough. We do not hear on the daily basis how many people die in Liberia due to ebola, but if one person would die in the US, Spain or Germany, we would know it immediately.
+++The family name of Benjamin Netanyahu was originally the Polish name Mileikowsky, because his grandfather was the Pole, Nathan Mileikowsky++++
I wish Netanyahu did not have Polish roots. He is a very manipulative man.
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