Wywiad z prez. Kacawa

[j.t]

Czy ktos z panstwa slyszal w radiu rozmowe polskiej dziennikarki z
prezydentem Kacawa? Ja trafilem na koniec, bylo to 3 dni temu (slucham trojki
przez internet), u mnie godz. miedzy 3 a 4 rano czyli w kraju kolo 11 przed
poludniem. Chcialbym ten wywiad przeczytac caly, moze zostal gdzies
opubllikowany?
A to co uslyszalem:
1. Polacy wspolpracowali z nazistami (oczywiscie bez wymieniania slowa
Niemcy) i mordowali wspolnie Zydow.
2. Na stwierdzenie dziennikarki, ze mlodziez Izraela postrzega Polakow przez
podreczniki historii (w ktorych oczywiscie jestesmy przedstawieni jako
mordercy) i czy mozemy liczyc na zmiane tego nauczania, pan Kacawa
odpowiedzial ze " nie mozna zmienic historii ! "

3.Krytykowanie panstwa Izraela czy izraelskiego rzadu jest antysemityzmem.
Tym razem bylo to juz dla mnie humorystyczne, po poprzednich obrazajacych
Polske i Polakow insynuacjach.
Nigdy bym nie uwierzyl, ze bedac gosciem Polski mozna pozwolic sobie na
takie klamliwe i obrazliwe slowa wzgledem gospodarzy. Niestety, slyszalem to
na wlasne uszy i ja, czlowiek niezwykle spokojny i opanowany zostalem
wytracany z rownowagi nie mogac tego dnia zasnac.

Dziennikarka zachowala duza kulture i klase (i swiety spokoj oczywiscie),
czego nie mozna powiedziec o p.Kacawie.

[fredzio54]

Only broken shards remain

By David Assaf

In the finest classic tradition, historian Majer Balaban links each turning
point in the lives of two Jewish communities in Poland to some outside event -
economic, military or political

"Toldot Hayehudim Bekrakov Uvekazimierz, 1304-1868" ("The History of the Jews
in Krakow and Kazimierz, 1304-1868") by Majer Balaban, translated from the
Polish by David Weinfeld, Asher Wilcher, Sinai Leichter and Elazar Fershker,
The Center for Research on the History and Culture of Polish Jews and Magnes
Press, 1089 pages (two volumes), NIS 94



Krakow, the historic capital of the Kingdom of Poland (until 1596), is one of
the oldest and most beautiful cities in the country. For many years, the Jews
who lived there, at the foot of Wawel Castle, in a neighborhood abutting the
thick walls of the ancient Jagiellonian University, led a relatively secure
existence. In the early 14th century, they were all clustered on one street.
Ordered to leave in 1495, they settled in a nearby town, Kazimierz (Kuzmir),
built by King Kazimierz the Great in 1335. It was surrounded by a wall and
watchtowers, and separated from Krakow by a tributary of the Vistula, which has
since dried up.

Unlike Warsaw, where Jews and Poles rose up against the Nazis and had their
city razed to the ground as punishment, Krakow was doubly "privileged." From
the outset, it became the administrative headquarters of the Nazis, and because
its inhabitants were docile and obedient, the infamous governor-general, Dr.
Hans Frank, had mercy on Krakow and spared the city and its lovely vistas. Soon
after the occupation, the old Jewish quarter was evacuated and German officers
moved into the more attractive apartments. The ghetto was built nearby, in the
Podgorze district on the south side of Krakow. Those who have seen the
movie "Schindler's List" will no doubt remember the heartrending scenes filmed
there.

The Kazimierz district today is a rare example, possibly the only one of its
kind in Europe today, of a complete medieval Jewish neighborhood preserved
within the perimeters of a modern city. Anyone who walks its flagstone streets,
visits the Altschule, the old Gothic-style synagogue built in the early 15th
century, or the "new" synagogue where Rabbi Moses Isserles (the Rema) prayed in
the 16th century, goes into the courtyards, touches the doorposts, walks up the
ancient flights of stairs - cannot help but feel the spellbinding uniqueness of
this place.

The dramatic cultural and political events that changed the face of Krakow over
the centuries also left their mark on the city's Jews. Indeed, the geographical
shifts of the Jewish neighborhood, from the center of town to the periphery and
back again, are more than symbolic. At first, the Street of the Jews was part
of the old city, very close to the city wall and the Gate of the Jews. In 1495,
the Jews were expelled from the city and settled in Kazimierz. When the
boundaries of Poland were redrawn for the third time in 1795, Kazimierz, which
by this time had a large Christian population, became part of Krakow. The city
thus had a Jewish neighborhood again, right in the heart of town, and its
residents became both an integral part of the city and a community with its own
distinct identity.

With a wealth of historical sources and sites that are unusually well
preserved, the history of the Jews of Krakow has become a popular research
subject. Two impressive books on this subject have been published within a year
of one another. One of them is "Kroke-Kazimierz-Cracow," edited by Elchanan
Reiner (Diaspora Research Institute, Tel Aviv University, 2001), a collection
of outstanding articles, new and updated, on the history of Krakow Jewry. The
title refers to the three names by which this city has been known. The other
is "The History of the Jews in Krakow and Kazimierz," a new Hebrew translation
of the magnum opus published 70 years ago by the great Polish Jewish historian
Majer Balaban. After more than two decades of translation and editing work, the
publication of this book is nothing short of a historiographical-cultural
event.

Initial amateur efforts

Attempts to document the local history of the Jewish communities of Poland
began in the second half of the 19th century. Usually, it was the product of
some scholar or educated person's interest in recording the history and special
achievements of his community and its leading personages - community leaders,
rabbis and scholars. These amateur historians invested great effort in
reconstructing the past based on printed sources, archival documents in a
variety of languages, and visits to historical sites such as synagogues, study
halls, Jewish neighborhoods, Kahal chambers and cemeteries. Thanks to the
endeavors of people like Shmuel Yosef Fuenn of Vilna, Menachem Mendel Biber of
Ostra, Arye Leib Feinstein of Brisk, Shimon Eliezer Friedenstein of Grodno and
Shlomo Baruch Nissenbaum of Lublin, a great deal of information has been
amassed and hundreds of important sources have been copied and preserved,
including tombstone inscriptions, communal ledgers and regulation books, some
of which were lost or destroyed in the Holocaust.

Krakow was also fortunate to have its local historians. Among the more well
known are Yechiel Matityahu Zunz, Haim Natan Dembitzer, Feival Hirsch Wettstein
and Bernard (Haim Dov) Friedberg, whose efforts provided the basis for
historical descriptions of this community.

Between the two world wars, a modern, critical historiography of the Jews of
Poland began to emerge. New disciplines were introduced, professional
historians entered the picture and methodical studies were published based on
archival sources and collections of documents. Most importantly, the research
went beyond preoccupation with the "Jewish neighborhood." Instead of
concentrating entirely on famous Torah personalities, studies now encompassed
such topics as demography, economy, urbanization, Christian-Jewish relations,
material culture, Jewish autonomy, and the processes of enlightenment,
secularization, assimilation and conversion.

The "founding fathers" in this field, who also made an important contribution
to local historical research, were associate professors Moses Schorr (1874-
1941) and Majer Balaban (1877-1942). Both were from wealthy, distinguished
families in Galicia, and both settled in Warsaw after World War I, became
university professors and were active in many educational and public spheres
(Schorr was a member of the Senate and a rabbi and preacher at the Great
Synagogue; Balaban was mainly involved in teaching and research, although he
also preached regularly at the Nozyk synagogue).

Schorr, who later devoted himself to the study of the ancient East, published
his first research study on the history of his hometown, Przemysl (1903). But
as valuable as this book may be, it cannot compare in scope and scholarship to
Balaban's studies of three leading Polish Jewish communities: Lvov (1916),
Lublin (1918) and especially Krakow (first edition - 1912; revised, expanded
editions - 1931, 1936). There is no finer, more meticulously researched book on
any Jewish community in the world.

Considerable influence

Balaban, scion of a family of printers and scholars, was born in Lvov, the
capital of eastern Galicia, where also he studied for his doctorate. He spent
World War I in Lublin, as a military chaplain for the Austrian occupation
authorities. After some time in Czestochowa, he settled in Warsaw in 1920,
where he was appointed principal of the Askola school, and taught history at
the State Teachers Seminary for Jewish Religion (established in 1918). He also
taught at the rabbinical school of Takhkemoni (established in 1922),

[fredzio54]

Prezydent Izraela w Polsce



Według prezydenta Izraela - Moshe Katzava, stosunki między Izraelem i Polską
będą lepsze, gdy oba narody szczegółowo poznają wszelkie fakty związane z
Holocaustem i drugą wojną światową.

Prezydent Izraela przybywa dziś z 3-dniową wizytą do Polski. Weźmie udział w
obchodach 60. rocznicy wybuchu powstania w getcie warszawskim i w Marszu Żywych
w Oświęcimiu.

Prezydent Katzav w wywiadzie dla Polskiego Radia podkreślił, że nie można
wymazywać z podręczników szkolnych faktu, iż część Polaków podczas wojny
współpracowała z nazistami.

"Nie mogę powiedzieć, że wszyscy Polacy byli winni, ale muszę powiedzieć, że
pewne grupy były winne współpracy z nazistami i zabijaniu żydów"- podkreślił
Moshe Katzav.

Zdaniem prezydenta Izraela, w Europie, w tym również w Polsce, antysemityzm
jest częstym zjawiskiem. Moshe Katzav wyraził nadzieję, że polskie władze
podejmą ostre kroki, by zapobiegać antysemityzmowi, który - w jego opinii -
jest rodzajem rasizmu.

"Antysemityzm to jest przeciwstawianie się wszystkiemu, co jest powiązane z
judaizmem, syjonizmem i Izraelem. Wierzę, że polski rząd i prezydent zamierzają
z tym walczyć" - dodał prezydent Izraela.

Moshe Katzav powiedział, że oba nasze narody, a zwłaszcza młodzi ludzie,
powinni wyciagnąć wnioski z lekcji, jaką był holocaust. Prezydent Izraela
dodał, że takie spotkania młodzieży, jak na przykład Marsz Żywych w Oświęcimiu,
pozwolą młodym ludziom zrozumieć historię.
Polacy niestety to jest Prawda !!!
wasz Fredzio54 kapral u Szarona