Most of the group comes to Poland tomorrow morning, but those of us who were here already had a great time getting to know about Warsaw and its Jewish Community.
First, we went to the Grave of the Unknown Soldier. It was the second monument of its kind and was built right in front of the first public park in Europe where a Polish palace used to stand.
After that, we went to the Jewish Historical Institute. There we learned about Oneg Shabbat, a secret organization run by Emanuel Ringelblum dedicated to writing history as it happened within the Warsaw ghetto. It was really interesting to see people writing about how they needed to write their own history. They couldn’t let the accounts of the events written by Nazis be the only side of the story to be told. For me, some of the most powerful things in the museum were the wills of the leaders of Oneg Shabbat. It was clear that they felt they needed to be remembered. When talking about the Holocaust, it’s important to remember all the Jews who resisted, and this was a wonderful example of that. To learn more about these archives, you can read the book “Who Will Write Our History?” or watch the movie of the same name.
Next we went to the JCC in Warsaw. It has only been around for 5 years, but it was obvious that in that time a thriving community had grown around it. We talked with the head of the JCC about her plans for the future of the JCC as well as about the unique nature of the Jewish Community in Poland. Many Poles don’t know or identify with their Judaism, and the Warsaw JCC strives to be a place where anyone can go to help develop their Jewish identity. Warsaw has also just recently joined the Partnership2gether program with Pittsburgh and Karmiel-Misgav, so I expect we’ll be hearing more about them soon.
After that we headed to the Museum of the History of Polish Jews. We had an excellent lunch in the cafeteria, then went on a 2 hour guided tour. The museum was built after a Polish delegation went to the opening of the Holocaust museum in Washington, DC. They decided they also should have a museum about Jews and Jewish life. However, they didn’t want to just talk about the Holocaust. The museum tells the story of Jewish life in Poland from the 11th century onwards, from their arrival in Poland through the modern day. I really enjoyed learning Jewish history that wasn’t about the Holocaust.
We ended the day with a delicious dinner at a Polish restaurant. We were joined by the head of the Warsaw JCC, the people who started the Hillel branch in Poland, a member of the Israeli embassy in Poland, and someone who worked for the Jewish Historical Institute. It was a wonderful dinner and we got to meet everybody who came to Poland early.
I can’t wait for everyone else to get here tomorrow and for the trip to really start!
Emma Stewart is a student at Winchester Thurston School.