Tag Archive for Poland

REPORT: Iran sanctions Poland

A Turkish news agency reports that the Islamic Republic canceled a scheduled Polish film week two days after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Fox News that Poland was hosting a U.S. sponsored summit, aimed at discussing Iran’s regional, disruptive influence.

By Elad Benari

 

Iran on Sunday cancelled a week dedicated to display Polish films, which was scheduled to take place in February, in protest over Poland’s hosting of an anti-Islamic Republic summit.

Hossein Entezami, the director of the Cinema Organization, said that the activity has been suspended, reported the Turkish Anadolu news agency.

Polish films had been scheduled to be shown in February in the cities of Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz and Mashahd. Continue Reading »

Holocaust institute switches trips from Poland to Ukraine over ‘Holocaust Law’

The Israeli Holocaust education institute said the end of trips to Poland is to send “a clear message of rejection of the state’s interference with the narrative of the Holocaust,” when it outlawed ‘claims of Polish collaboration’ during the nazi genocide.

By Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA

 

A Holocaust education institute that trains guides for study trips abroad said it will switch it activities to Ukraine from Poland following that country’s law prohibiting some rhetoric about the genocide.

The Shem Olam Institute, located in a small village in central Israel and which includes a small museum, focuses on religious life during the Holocaust, and has so far trained some 20 guides for Holocaust study trips in Poland. Continue Reading »

Warsaw should confer honorary Polish citizenship on Mahmoud Abbas

Without a doubt, Mahmoud Abbas’ antisemitic doctoral thesis he wrote for a Moscow university currently qualifies him as the perfect candidate for Polish citizenship, especially after Polish President Mateusz Morawiecki, speaking at the Munich Security Conference quoted Abbas saying, ‘Nazis were not the only perpetrators of the Holocaust – there were Jewish perpetrators as well.’

By David Bedein

 

The Israeli Foreign Ministry has declared that it would engage in an international campaign to denounce Polish President Mateusz Morawiecki, who told participants at the Munich Security Conference on Feb 17, 2018, that Nazis were not the only perpetrators of the Holocaust – there were Jewish perpetrators as well. Continue Reading »

Polish Justice Minister seeks to ban use of misleading phrase: ‘Polish death camp’

Poland’s Justice Minister says, “Enough with this lie.” Poles are maligned worldwide because of this misleading phrase, which suggests then-occupied Poland was culpable for the camps, when the Nazis ordered them built on its soil.

By Reuters & Israel Hayom Staff

 

Poland is drawing up new regulations to punish use of the phrase “Polish death camps” when referring to the wartime Nazi concentration camps on Polish soil, Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro said on Saturday.

Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro – Photo: YouTube Screenshot

Poland has long sought to eliminate the misleading phrase from historical and newspaper accounts since it suggests that the country, which was occupied by Nazi Germany throughout World War II, was responsible for the camps set up on its territory. Continue Reading »

Polish Homeowners ignore plea to remove Jewish gravestones used to build outhouse

After WWII, residents of small Polish village of Pilica apparently wanted to defile the memory of the buried Jews by using their gravestones with Hebrew writing, to build outhouse.

By Yori Yalon

 

The tiny Polish town of Pilica hides an infuriating secret: Homeowners who lived in the town after World War II used Jewish gravestones to build an outhouse and parts of their home, apparently in an effort to defile the memory of the Jews.

An outhouse in the Polish village of Pilica built out of Jewish gravestones – Photo: From the Depths

The sight of dozens of gravestones bearing Hebrew writing as part of a structure that serves as an outhouse is unsettling. Continue Reading »

Jewish Council Commends FBI Director Comey of Forethought to Target Evil

NCYI President praised Director James Comey’s indictment of Polish collusion during the Holocaust, warning that it cannot, should not be ignored.

By Gedalyah Reback

 

Last week, FBI National Director James B. Comey wrote ahead of Israel’s Holocaust Memorial Day that such evils can never be forgotten, lest we fall on the trope that we are doomed to repeat history.

FBI Director James B. Comey – Reuters

“I believe it is simply our duty to do that, and I believe this is truth no matter where you come from on a philosophical or religious spectrum. Our obligation is to refuse to let bad win, to refuse to let evil hold the field.” Continue Reading »

Jewish group petitions Poland for safe return of Torah scrolls hidden in monastery

The Depths Holocaust commemoration organization seeks to retrieve 35 Torah scrolls stolen by Polish priest 70 years ago in his bid to decipher “hidden secrets.”

By Yori Yalon

 

Thirty-five Torah scrolls were recently discovered in Polish monastery, where they have been hidden since the Holocaust.

Jonny Daniels, founder and chairman of The Depths, with the Torah scrolls

It is believed the scrolls, which represent a significant historical find, were stolen over 70 years ago by a local priest, a known anti-Semite who sought to uncover secrets believed to have been hidden by Jews in the sacred books.

For decades, the scrolls were kept in the monastery’s rundown basement. Continue Reading »

Poland’s Constitutional Court overturns ban on kosher slaughter

 

Constitutional court’s decision in favor of an EJA-led petition against the ban, that would have been implemented in 2015, came just in time.

European Jewish Association director: ‘This is an important day for all European Jews.’

ByYnet

Poland’s constitutional court on Wednesday allowed the resumption of kosher slaughter in the country, ruling in favor of a petition to overturn a ban implemented last year.

Kosher slaughter will remain lawful in Poland. (Photo: EPA)

Kosher slaughter will remain lawful in Poland. – Photo: EPA

“Jewish communities all over Europe can sigh in relief,” said a statement by the European Jewish Association (EJA), which led the drive to reallow kosher slaughter in Poland. Continue Reading »

Polish Officials Target Desecrated Jewish Cemetery for Housing Project

A Jewish cemetery in Grodzisk, originally destroyed during the Holocaust & is now partly used as a junkyard & storage site, is currently targeted, as residential building plans threaten its very existence.

By Chaim Lev, Ari Yashar

 

The Jewish community of Poland is working urgently to try and save the Jewish cemetery in Grodzisk, after the city’s council began work on a construction project in the northern part of the city where the graveyard is located, putting it in direct danger.

Jewish graves in Poland

Jewish graves in Poland – Photo: Hezki Ezra

The cemetery was destroyed during the Holocaust, and afterwards most of the grounds were transferred to the “Independent Peasants Aide” organization, under whose proxy machines and building materials were stored on the site. Continue Reading »

Poles who saved Jews during Holocaust honored with new Warsaw memorial

The new memorial monument, which will be erected in the Warsaw Ghetto, will be entirely financed by Jews in Israel & from other countries.

By

 

Organizers have announced a design competition for a memorial in Warsaw to Poles who saved Jews during World War II.

Warsaw Ghetto

In this 1943 photo, a group of Polish Jews are led away for deportation by German SS soldiers during the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto by German troops after an uprising in the Jewish quarter. – Photo: AP

Polish-born Holocaust survivor and philanthropist Sigmund Rolat, of the Remembrance and Future Foundation, announced the competition at a news conference in Warsaw on Monday.

Continue Reading »

WZO Poll: 13% of Poles Believe Jews Guilty of ‘Using Christian Blood for Jewish Rituals’

‘Blood Libel’ against Jews alive and strong in Poland as 13% still actually believe Jews use Christian blood for their ritual purposes.

How does the Church allow this to propagate? Time for the Israeli gov’t to take EU representatives to task over rampant anti-Semitism there.

By Tova Dvorin

 

Little has changed in the way of anti-Semitism, a new poll reveals ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Mr. Yaakov Hagoel, head of the World Zionist Organization’s Department for Activities in Israel and Countering Antisemitism, revealed Sunday the staggering results of a new poll – which shows that anti-Semitism still remains strong in Poland. Continue Reading »

Catholic Church in Poland Unveils 18th Century Blood Libel Painting

On Thursday for the Catholic Church‘s Int’l Day of Judaism, a controversial picture was uncovered to expose realities of the church’s anti-Semitic past.

By Ari Yashar

 

The Catholic Church of Poland unveiled a painting on Thursday that had been kept hidden since 2006, after protests from both Catholics and Jews opposed the depiction of Jews murdering Christian children in the classic anti-Semitic blood libel trope.

The painting, an 18th century CE work by Italian painter Charles de Prevot called “Mord Rytualny (Ritual Murder),” has been mounted on a wall at the cathedral in Sandomierz but hidden behind a red curtain for the past 8 years due to its contents. Continue Reading »

Polish Bill: Jail For Those Who Say ‘Polish Death Camp’

 

Poland opposition’s bill would impose prison terms on those who say “Polish camps” instead of properly identifying them as “Nazi” camps.

By Elad Benari, Canada

 

 

Poland’s conservative opposition on Friday called for use of the erroneous term “Polish death camp” in reference to Nazi German facilities to be punishable by jail time, AFP reports.

Jews carry Israeli flags at Auschwitz – Reuters

Users of the term could get up to five years in prison, according to a bill introduced in parliament on Friday by the Law and Justice party.

Lawmakers voted to have it sent back to committee for more work. Continue Reading »

Poles Rally to Restore Historic pre-Holocaust Synagogue

 

Polish campaigners desperately seeking additional support saying that unless matching funds are found soon, the Krasnik synagogue restoration project is at risk.

By Michael Freund

 

The European Union has awarded a grant to a Warsaw-based Jewish organization to restore an historic synagogue compound in the Polish town of Krasnik, but campaigners say the project may be cancelled if additional matching funds are not raised within the next two months.

Inside the historic Krasnik Synagogue – Photo: FODZ

The Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland, known by its Polish acronym FODZ, was awarded nearly $2 million by the EU, “but the grant was given on condition that we raise another $650,000 in matching funds,” said FODZ president Monika Krawczyk, who was visiting Jerusalem this week. Continue Reading »

Brussels Could Reinstate Kosher Slaughter in Poland

Former Deputy Prime Minister says Poland’s recent ban on kosher slaughter must be rescinded as it is in violation of EU Laws.

By Adam Ross

 

The Polish lawyer representing the European Jewish Association (EJA), says a Polish ban of kosher ritual slaughter is illegal and should be overturned immediately.

Roman Giertuch, who is also a former Deputy Prime Minister of Poland, says the ban was adopted in violation of a European law that requires formal notification of the EU Commission for a legislation that contravenes EU regulations.

Giertych said the Polish law was made on January 1 – before the EU gave member states the right to rule on ritual slaughter independently. Continue Reading »