Born in Krakow on 20th November 1927, Miriam Akavia (formerly known as Matylda Weinfeld) was a writer, translator and President of the Polish-Israeli Friendship Society in Israel. She grew up in an assimilated Jewish family. Both of her parents died during WWII, while she spent this period in the Krakow ghetto, KL Plaszow, Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen camps. A strong supporter of the Polish-Jewish reconciliation and the owner of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland. ”Right after WWII, I thought that I would never put my foot here ever again. Today I know that I cannot erase Poland, especially Krakow, from my life”, said Miriam Akavii during one meeting with the youth in Poland. She died on 16th January 2015 in Tel-Aviv. Her most notable works include:Jesień…
Born on 16th November 1919 in Krakow, Natan Gross, son of Jakub, was a director, screenwriter, film producer and film critic, poet, writer, editor and a publisher in both Polish and Hebrew. A Krakow’s Hebrew Gymnasium graduate who took his maturity exams in 1938 and who studied at the Faculty of Law at the Jagiellonian University as well as at the Academy of Fine Arts. War, however, ceased his education. Right after WWII broke out, he tried to get to Lviv but when he was just about to enter the city, he learned that Lviv had been occupied by the Soviets and decided to return to Krakow where he stayed until the beginning of 1941. Since that moment, his family’s ordeal began. In the search for shelter, they…
Born on 14th November 1876 in Krakow, Chaim Hilfstein, son of Jakub and Zofia, née Rosner, was a social and political activist, a Zionist and a consultant in internal medicine who worked at the St.Lazarus hospital in Krakow.He graduated from St.Ann’s gymnasium in Krakow in 1897, followed by Medicine at the Jagiellonian University. Hilfstein obtained his PhD title in 1904. A member of the National Jewish Council for Western Galicia in November 1918. In 1897, Hilfstein co-founded the ”Przed-świt-Haszahar” Jewish Youth Association which was the first Zionist organisation in Krakow. Throughout the interwar period, together with Ozjasz Thon, Hilfstein was one of the leaders of the Zionist Organisation of the Lesser Poland and Silesia region. He was a delegate at Zionist congresses in Karlsbad (1921), Vienna (1925)…
Born on 13th November 1888 in Chrzanow, Ignacy Izaak Schwarzbart, son of Markus Saul and Chana, née Michalik, was a lawyer, politician and a publicist. A deputy to the Sejm of the 6th term (1938-1939), member of the National Council of the Polish authorities in exile, board member of the Jewish Religious Community in Krakow (1924-1936) as well as a city council member (1933-1939). A 1908 graduate of a gymnasium in Podgorze who studied Law at the Jagiellonian University and obtained his PhD title in1913. After finishing university, he ran his own law firm. During WWI, he served in the Austro-Hungarian Army and later on in the Polish Army. Between 1921–1925, Schwarzbart was the editor-in-chief of Nowy Dziennik, a local Zionist newspaper in Krakow. A member of the Administrative…
בס”ד Following the murder of 1500 mostly Jewish men, women and children on 7 Octoer by Hamas-Terrorists, a wave of antisemitism is travelling through Europe. This wave had already started before the beginning of Israel’s military response to bring back secuirty and defence to the country, and it is getting bigger. Antisemitic words and antisemitic attacks have consequences. Many of our felllow Polish Jewish citizens are afraid of leaving their homes, of wearing a kippa oder a pendant with the star of David. Jews are insulted and spat on. Jewish homes have been sprayed. What is done to our Jewish citizens and what they have had to endure is intolerable. This Thursday marks the 85th anniversary of the German Pogrom Night. In the night from 9 to…
The carnage committed by the Palestinian terrorists of Hamas against Israeli citizens, mostly civilians, including women and children, cannot be repeated. Every country, every people that is attacked, among which Israel and Jews alike have the right to defend themselves. The consequences of the most tragic act of extermination perpetrated against Jews since the Shoah must include measures that prevent further atrocities by Hamas or by other terrorist organisations. If the international community has not undertaken concrete or effective actions in order to secure the Gaza strip from Hamas terrorists, whose only goal is the destabilisation of the peace process and their means the instrumental exploitation of Palestinian society, the burden to secure the area and its borders falls unto Israel. Evaluating the events and expressing an…
It has been almost one month that Israel was perfidiously and brutally attacked by terrorists whose admitted purpose is genocide, who want to wipe out Jews from the face of the earth. They broke the most ancient rules of war, proudly slaughtering old women and babies and taking them as hostages. Sadism such as theirs had not been seen for 80 years. They cowardly disrespect and beat their prisoners, desecrate the bodies of the dead, use their very own children as human shields, knowing that civilised nations will not repeat their crime. At the same time, the hydra of antisemitism rears its ugly head once again in Europe. Genocidal slogans are sung and repeated. Who was the actual aggressor on 7 October is forgotten and Israel is…
Born on 3rd November 1840 in Częstochowa, Szymon Dankowicz was a progressive rabbi connected with the Tempel Synagogue. A patriot and a great advocate of the agreement with Polish people. A graduate of School of Rabbis in Warsaw, Jewish Theological College in Wrocław as well as the Philosophy and History Faculty at the Central School of Warsaw. He was issued a smicha which he received from Dow Ber Meisels. In 1862, Szymon Dankowicz published a Jewish coursebook through Orgelbranda, a publishing house from Warsaw. Between 1861-1862, he participated in patriotic demonstrations and as a consequence, was arrested by the Russian authorities and exiled. His patriotic career includes being a January Uprising participant (1863-1864), too. From the mid 60’s of the 19th century, he held the position of a preacher at the Tempel Synagogue.…
Born on 1st November 1889 in Krakow, Józef Lustgarten, son of Wilhelm, was a footballer, sports official, coach of the national team, international referee as well as a lawyer. A IIIrd Jan Sobieski Gymnasium graduate who studied law in Krakow and Vienna where he completed a judicial apprenticeship and successfuly passed a certified referee exam in 1913. During WWI, Lustgarten fought for the 1st Legion Brigade. In 1919, he obtained his PhD title and started his career as a clerk and a solicitor. After the end of WWI, Lustgarten made huge efforts to revive two local footbal clubs, greatly weakened by WWI , namely Cracovia and Wisła. His professional articles published in Przegląd Sportowy covering the topic of umpiring constituted a must-read for all aspiring would-be referees. Apart from dealing with the…