Krakow - Day 1

So we started our time here in Poland in Krakow, in the south of the country and close to the epicentre of the story we are here to hear. Our first day was trying to paint the picture of what life was like for Jews in Poland (and the surrounding countries) before the rise of the Nazi party and the horrors of the Holocaust started to have their impact.

We commenced our history lesson in and around the Kazimierz Quarter where Jews lived and thrived up to the first half of the 20th century for almost 600 years. Krackow is where bagels were first produced in the 1600s (and I’ve tasted a few that might have come from that original batch!).

We visited the ornate synagogues, restored from the destruction and desecration of the Nazi occupation when they were turned into factories or stables. At the high point there were 13 synagogues in this area as over 25% of the population, by 1931, were Jewish. And we visited the cemetery where graves had been damaged and tombstones had been taken to pave the roads. After the war the Poles recovered the gravestones and built walls of these remnants to ensure they kept the memorials even if they didn’t know which grave to reattach them to.

The picture painted was of thriving communities that existed in respect and reasonable harmony alongside Poles and Polish Catholics.

Our day finished with the other end of the story at the Jewish Community Centre in Krackow - which evolved somewhat out of a meeting the then Prince Charles (now King Charles) had with Holocaust survivors in the city. This led to the formation of a centre that now serves all sections of the community - and as we heard - beyond our own community.

Of course being the closest and largest Jewish community to Auschwitz Birkenau, Krackow is a natural stop for so many tourists visiting the camps nearby. So it plays a role for Jewish visitors and also for the growing community that live here.

We asked how many Jewish people now live in Krackow. That is a difficult answer to give as so many Poles are now finding they have Jewish heritage and are wanting to discover their roots. So the official figure is 100, but there are 850 people signed up to regular programmes - and many more getting in touch.

The JCC is trying to show that Jewish life in Poland in 2023 can be so much more than its history. People should be able to think of Poland as a safe place for Jews today, and not be clouded by the history of the past.

And now they have a different role to play - serving the Ukrainian refugees who make their way from the border, only 2 hours away.

And why would the JCC help Ukrainians? Do they only help the Jewish Ukrainian refugees? The answer the director gave was that they help all the refugees - whoever they may be. And why? Because the reason 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust was because Jews were the “others” in the community. And no one came to their rescue.

Now there is another group who are “others” and the lesson of the Holocaust is that we all have to help the others, whoever they may be.

So we ended the day with some inspiration. Of course we are seeing atrocities, but we have to learn from it and we have to make sure no other group suffers as the Jews suffered in the Holocaust.