Follow the Forward’s latest news, stories and historical posts about Poland
Poland
The Latest
-
Culture Adam Michnik Strains for Solidarity Between Poles and Jews
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…
-
Food Krakow’s ‘Jewish’ Cafes
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…
-
The Schmooze Convicted Nazi War Criminal Convalesces in Alpine Nursing Home
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…
-
The Schmooze Russian Jews (Finally) Get Their Own Museum
They’ve largely disappeared as residents, but Russia’s Jews now have their own museum. Billed as the first Jewish museum in the country, the Moscow center opened recently following several years of planning. Exhibits are divided between two general themes, focusing on either Jewish practice or on Jewish history in Russia. Radio Free Europe reports that…
-
Culture This is Not a Holocaust Book
Yes, that is correct. The sign on the big shelf in one of the largest bookstores in Warsaw says “Jewish books.” The books — fiction, nonfiction, academic, guides to Judaism and contemporary Jewish life (including a translation of Shmuley Boteach’s “Kosher Sex”) — are all in Polish. Such shelves can be seen in every big…
-
The Schmooze Slideshow: Remembering Jewish Life in Poland
A decade ago, American journalist and photographer Edward Serotta decided to collect the life stories and family photographs of every elderly Jew living in Central Europe that he could find. “I wanted to document a whole world,” he said. It was a world that few Jews or Europeans knew about. Jews were unaware that a…
-
The Schmooze Is It Immoral To Re-Steal Previously Looted Holocaust Memorabilia?
For a Jewish visitor to Poland, is it moral to steal souvenirs that may have themselves been looted from Jewish homes during the Holocaust? Not according to yesterday’s Ethicist column in the New York Times Magazine. “Traveling in Poland, I visited antique stores offering Jewish items — menorahs, mezuzas — that seemed more than 65…
-
Books Everything We Need to Know
On Monday, Ruth Franklin wrote about sharing a stage with Yann Martel. She is the author of “A Thousand Darknesses: Lies and Truth in Holocaust Fiction.” Her blog posts are being featured this week on The Arty Semite courtesy of the Jewish Book Council and My Jewish Learning’s Author Blog series. For more information on…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The Iran war ended terribly for the US, and even worse for Israel
- 2
Film & TV In ‘Disclosure Day,’ Steven Spielberg finds himself at odds with Jewish thought about aliens
- 3
Opinion Cultural boycotts of Israel just reached peak absurdity
- 4
News Abdul El-Sayed is courting Jewish voters — without moderating his views on Israel
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Trump nominee defends college cartoon of Jewish student with devil horns at Senate hearing
-
Fast Forward Former antisemitic activist Lucas Gage explains to Jewish podcast why he left the movement
-
Sports This year’s biggest World Cup upset came from its most Jew-ish team
-
Fast Forward JD Vance: Israeli Cabinet shouldn’t be criticizing ‘only powerful ally’ left in the world