Poland: 70 Years Later

by Rebecca Neuwirth

In the end, it’s Agatha who makes it impossible not to hope.

I’m with a JDC Ambassadors delegation at the 70th anniversary commemoration of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. At midnight on April 19, in the light of two flames that rise from menorahs on either side of the famed Ghetto monument, Cantor Yaakov Lemmer sings in Yiddish about small boys who steal outside to sell cigarettes, and of a searing loss of innocence. Next to me, a member of our delegation sings quietly along—she remembers the tune from childhood.

Children's Memorial in Warsaw Jewish Cemetary

Loss of innocence is an elegant metaphor for the brutal desperation that drove parents to allow their young boys to risk their lives to bring home crumbs. The story of the Warsaw Ghetto is unendingly heinous. At its height, over 400,000 Jews were imprisioned in 1.3 square miles. Starvation and violence killed some 100,000 in the first year, and the Nazis deported almost 300,000 to mass murder in Treblinka. Cruel selections separated mothers and fathers from their children; sadistic and senseless acts were the rule, with human kindness used as a lure for brutality.

But the commemoration of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, unlike other forms of Holocaust remembrance, focuses not on atrocities but on courage.

It draws attention to acts of resistance and stubborn humanity, from the courage of small boys to the sharing of crumbs of food, the caring for orphaned children – embodied by the amazing Janusz Korczak, even the creation of culture that persisted in the Ghetto in the face of inhuman conditions. Above all, it focuses on the final armed resistance waged by a few thousand Jews against the impossibly larger, full force of the Nazis, and that ended one month later in total destruction and with only 13 Jews remaining.

Campers with Disabilities Rejoice at Szarvas

“I return to Szarvas every year to see my
friends and feel something I cannot feel
anywhere else—happy,” says Henrik Z., 32,
who has Down’s syndrome.
Sourse: JDC Website

All year long Henrik Z., 32, who has Down’s syndrome and lives with his pensioner mother inBudapest, Hungary, looks forward to the most special week of his summer. That’s when he goes to camp Szarvas, where he sees his friends, plays soccer, and celebrates Shabbat with the community he feels closest to.

“I return to Szarvas every year to see my friends and feel something I cannot feel anywhere else—happy,” he says.

Home taught by his father for much of his life, Henrik started to attend a special school for the first time when his dad died about 10 years ago. As he began to socialize with his peers, his teacher recommended that he attend a summer program to maintain his social development and interaction throughout the year. That’s when he learned about the one-week summer program for people with disabilities at the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation/JDC International Summer Camp in Szarvas, Hungary.