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Fast Forward 130,000 Poles Call for Referendum To Protect Kosher Slaughter
More than 130,000 Polish voters have signed a petition calling for a public referendum on an amendment that would legalize Jewish ritual slaughter, or shechitah, in Poland. The petition, circulated by the National Council of Agricultural Chambers, or KRIR, was submitted last week to the Chancellery of Polish Parliament, or Sejm. The parliament has two…
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Culture Painting Inspires Dialogue Between Jews and Catholics in Poland
One could not be unmoved when a group of young clerics from the local Catholic seminary sang a popular Israeli song in Hebrew, “Hevenu Shalom Aleikhem” (“We Brought Peace”), during a Catholic service in a small (and in January very sleepy) town in southeastern Poland. The Israeli ambassador to Poland, Zvi Rav Ner, could be…
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Fast Forward 6 Jewish Gravestones Vandalized in Polish Cemetery
Vandals destroyed six tombstones in a Jewish cemetery in the Piasek district of Myslowice, a city in southern Poland. The identity of the vandals, who knocked down the nineteenth-century gravestones on Monday night, remains unknown. Last year, a group of local residents organized a cleaning of the cemetery, grubbing trees and bushes and cleaning the…
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Fast Forward Polish Cops Nab Suspected Vandal at Jewish Cemetery
Police officers in Poland arrested a man whom they said they had caught desecrating Jewish tombstones. The suspect, who was not named, was arrested last week at the Jewish cemetery of Andrychow, 30 miles southwest of Krakow, the news site Wadowice24.pl reported Tuesday. At the 18th-century burial site, he had knocked down 13 tombstones before…
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Culture A Personal History of Blood Libel in Poland
Some years ago, an obsession with Polish poetry led me to two ideas: First, that I should visit Poland, and second, that someone else should pay for it. So I wrangled a Fulbright fellowship and spent a year traveling in Poland. (I mention the Fulbright not to brag, but because it bugs me when travel…
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Music Lies and Silence Surround Kosher Slaughter Scandal in Poland
(JTA) After a Polish court tossed out a government regulation permitting kosher slaughter in 2012, Poland’s $500 million ritual slaughter industry was expected to be brought to its knees. Evidence shows, however, that not only was kosher slaughter still being performed in Poland as recently as this month, but also that kosher meat producers had…
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Music Poland Official In Hot Water Over Drunken ‘Heil Hitler’ Outburst
Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Thursday he is considering the future of a senior party ally who is alleged to have drunkenly shouted “Heil Hitler!” at a German airport official. The incident involving Jacek Protasiewicz, vice-president of the European parliament, is embarrassing for Poland because it has been trying to put aside wartime…
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Fast Forward British Lawmakers Press Poland on Holocaust Restitution
A group of British parliamentarians is pressing Poland’s prime minister to follow through on a pledge to enact a restitution law for Holocaust victims. Poland was among 46 nations that signed a 2009 declaration committing to restitution legislation for Holocaust-era property seized by the Nazis, but it has not passed any restitution laws for private…
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