Jewish-Polish current events
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18th Century 19th Century 20th Century The Holocaust in Poland Nazi German death camps in Poland Rescue of Jews by Poles during the Holocaust 1989–Present |
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| Polish Righteous among the Nations |
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With the fall of Communism in Poland, Jewish cultural, social, and religious life has been undergoing a revival. Many historical issues, especially related to World War II and the 1944-1989 period, suppressed by Communist censorship has been reevaluated and publicly discussed (see for example the Massacre in Jedwabne, the Koniuchy Massacre, the Auschwitz cross, and Polish-Jewish wartime relations in general).
Jewish religious life has been revived with the help of the Ronald Lauder Foundation, the Polish Jewish community employs two rabbis, operated a small network of Jewish schools and summer camps, and sustains several Jewish periodicals and book series events. In 1993 the Union of Jewish Religious Communities in Poland was established with the aim of organizing the religious and cultural life of the members of the communities in Poland.
Academic Jewish studies programs were established at Warsaw University and the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. Kraków became home to the Judaica Foundation [1], which has sponsored a wide range of cultural and educational programs on Jewish themes for a predominantly Polish audience.
Poland was the first Communist Bloc country to recognize Israel again in 1986, and restored full relations in 1990. Government relations between Poland and Israel are steadily improving, resulting in the mutual visits of presidents and the ministers of foreign affairs. The Polish government will finance the construction of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews [2] in Warsaw.
In September 2000, dignitaries from Poland, Israel, the United States, and other countries (including Prince Hassan of Jordan) gathered in the city of Oświęcim (the new Auschwitz camp) to commemorate the opening of the refurbished Chevra Lomdei Mishnayot synagogue and the Auschwitz Jewish Center. The synagogue, the sole synagogue in Oświęcim to survive World War II and an adjacent Jewish cultural and educational center, provide visitors a place to pray and to learn about the active pre–World War II Jewish community that existed in Oświęcim. The synagogue was the first communal property in the country to be returned to the Jewish community under the 1997 law allowing for restitution of Jewish communal property.
In April 2001, during the 13th March of the Living from Auschwitz to Birkenau to honor victims of the Holocaust, several hundred citizens joined 2,000 marchers from Israel and other countries. Government officials participating in the march included Members of Parliament, the province's governor, and Oświęcim's mayor and city council chairman. Schoolchildren, boy scouts, the Polish-Israeli Friendship Society [3], and the Polish Union of Jewish Students (PUSZ) also participated in the march. In May 2001, several hundred students from around the world marched through the town in The March of Remembrance and Hope.
In April 2002, during the 14th March of the Living [4] from Auschwitz to Birkenau to honor victims of the Holocaust, several hundred citizens joined 1,500 marchers from Israel and other countries.
In 2000, Poland's Jewish population was estimated to have risen to somewhere between 30,000 and 55,000—mostly living in Warsaw, Wrocław, Kraków, and Bielsko-Biała. With Poland joining the European Union, a number of Israeli Jews are emigrating to Poland.