Follow the Forward’s latest news, stories and historical posts about Poland
Follow the Forward’s latest news, stories and historical posts about Poland
Follow the Forward’s latest news, stories and historical posts about Poland
Follow the Forward’s latest news, stories and historical posts about Poland
The abrupt dismissal of a Catholic monk from the college of Jewish studies he founded in the northern Polish town of Torun has shattered his dream and brought turmoil to his parish. Two days before Christmas, the Franciscan Order dismissed Father Maksymin Tandek from his position as director of the Higher School of Hebrew Philology,…
Every Polish town and village had its own Holocaust. That’s what Zuzanna Radzik wants Polish children to learn. Her task is not easy. Although Polish children are taught about the Holocaust, they don’t learn what happened in their own towns. The killing did not just happen in the death camps that they are taught about,…
When Poland’s new Sejm, or Parliament, was seated recently, the nationally televised event showed something never before seen in this conservative nation: a transsexual woman and an openly gay man being solemnly sworn in along with other parliamentarians. The seminal event was a consequence of the emergence of Palikot, a new, explicitly anti-clerical, libertarian-oriented party…
In the latest news about the anti-Semitic behavior of European football fans, supporters of Poland’s Legia team unfurled a huge “Jihad” banner during a recent Warsaw game against Hapoel Tel Aviv. The banner was green, and “Jihad Legia” was written across it in white Arabic-style font. Green is one of Legia’s team colors, but it…
Columnist Masha Leon, who has covered social events for the Forverts and then the Forward for more than 30 years, was honored Thursday night by the government of Poland for her articles and other work that have helped further the understanding of Polish-Jewish lives, history and culture. The president of Poland, Bronislaw Komorowski, pinned a…
In Search of Lost Meaning: The New Eastern Europe By Adam Michnik Translated by Roman S. Czarny Edited by Irina Grudzinska Gross University of California Press, 248 pages, $29.95 Even as a young Communist in postwar Poland, Adam Michnik demonstrated the courage of his convictions. He was first arrested in 1964, at age 18, for…
Krakow’s old Jewish quarter, Kazimierz, is famous (or notorious, depending on how you look at it) for its Jewish-themed tourist infrastructure. Its “Jewish” cafes present a nostalgic literary image of prewar Jewish life — some with taste and sensitivity, others in a disturbingly kitschy manner. At least a dozen (and maybe more) cafes, restaurants, hotels…
In Bad Feilnbach, a postcard-perfect spa town in the Bavarian Alps, residents are crying NIMBY. It’s not a cell phone tower or nuclear energy plant they are concerned about, but rather something many find even more toxic — convicted Nazi war criminal John Demjanjuk. The 91-year-old Demjanjuk, a free man while his appeal wends itself…
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