these moments of joy has become all the more important. imo. and these days you have to celebrate when you can that does it for us here at news thank you so much for joining us and don't forget you can always get more now web site news. that's also. our twitter and instagram handle i'm sarah kelly and much for watching have a great day and just he's. staying for. language courses. video. any time any.

jewish service a morning prayer shot in warsaw's main synagogue led to proudly by the chief rabbi of poland. the fact that there is noise behind me because the people who are prayed are now having breakfast together is a sign. that there is jewish life and. a resurgence of jewish life in poland for many a highly unexpected development. this was the country that nazi germany chose as the epicenter of a systematic genocide in which 6000000 jews died across europe we don't talk a lot about auschwitz so. please miss this person who has it

as a gift a great gift. we desperately need that the rabbi. talks a. lot but there is. a cheese i said before that. might try to have a catholic bishop is among the various public figures attending this interfaith service in warsaw. the host michel sheetrit chief rabbi of poland. a everyone. that is an interfaith prayer wishing that anti semitism will finally disappear. change doesn't happen overnight. it takes time

but as long as you see you're going in the right direction that gives you gives you energy and gives you. and it's that hope that sustains the work of michael shoot rick this is his office and warsaw's no check synagogue also a home for the american born rabbi. never find what she needed. the son of a new york rabbi he 1st visited the country in the 1970 s. in search of his roots his grandparents had left europe before the 2nd world war in communist ruled poland she drew it found a few jews struggling to preserve what was left of their heritage the diaries as i wrote. in the 79 my impressions when i met different people remember one thing i said all this person has the mrs on the inside of the door at the at the outside you know and i thought that that was. like being somewhat embarrassed of being here

so i realized later that was a tremendous statement of being jewish because nobody had it on the outside and almost no one had on the inside so you know having to understand what something meant here. after the collapse of communism shoot now a rabbi himself relocated to warsaw and embarked on his mission his aim was to reestablish jewish religious life in poland this is the 1st time that a jewish prayer book was reprinted in poland after the fall of communism this is the regional page it was from a few $26.00 this is probably from. 9192. before that there were few if any jewish religious books here now 30 years on warsaw has a flourishing jewish school again with 200 students this year will see the 1st of them graduate you want to name your schools children attend the school like thousands of other polish jews it was only after the fall of communism that she

started to embrace her jewish identity. thanks also to the dedication of chief rabbi michel shooter rick this was. the. book don't you know i think some of. the jewish school has been a blessing for you want any near sca her husband lukash and their 3 children. they are. all. very. very persistent and unsettled like butter big ragged feel. of possible for a roof and this never never milk or i think this hole and the man my know it if you say real minority. it's real sometimes it feels like you know we

only have dolls you know where on talk the matter is there will find effort or there's a growing climate of trust even short of peoples i would and i think that's the most important things will star wars you left office leave there are still many prejudices and. traumas left over from the 2nd world war they've been passed down from generation to generation. you can use to war didn't just destroy or at least try to destroy human dignity thing to a great extent it also destroyed the mutual trust between peoples including the trust between the jewish and polish peoples that of them it's december and hanukkah are the jewish festival of lights is approaching the rabbi offer some guidelines to the teachers. an important question is whether to give the children presents that hanukkah. a few 100 years ago there was the so-called hanukkah go to children were given money to buy themselves something. today it's perfectly fine to give jewish

children a small present on every hanukkah evening. you don't have to of course it used to be hanukkah get some chocolate. or living here under strong christian cultural influences that the christmas season is a similar time of the year to hanukkah. so let's give the children presents we present. of. she trick has been working in poland for the past 30 years the school is one of many funded by the american philanthropist ronald s. slaughter to promote jewish life in eastern europe we need somebody to go to poland . i heard about this rabbi michael sitrick so we bought a mobile we saw him. and we said this is the right person we installed them initially in the synagogue. 1919 next month. and also was involved to begin a school look here mainly

a kindergarten but was interesting is that the main thing to poland. he became much more of. a much more polish and as he started to limp or which we desperately needed the rabbi and he rapped. but michael wasn't just any rabbi i remember. oh yes 1st trip no that was already out so it must have been early nineties he just arrived after flying nonstop from new york or about that he was ned tired but he still had a session with where the teenagers. and they were pestering him with questions and benchley michael rekeyed says ok guys. tomorrow's another day i was just sleep over it and he's trying to rise from the armchair with the. girls just

shopped him back at that you'd understand were the legs generation of jewish mothers in this country we need to know everything now monica and stanley suave car have ski remained faithful to their heritage even during the communist era. began before that you know much earlier and this is monica's a book the 2nd one by the way of the summit there is the reason mothers in power on the quiet skis researched this aspect of jewish heritage 1st some 90 percent of the jewish population of poland were murdered during the german occupation most of those who survived did so by going underground or pretending to be christian and losing their jewish identity these old cemeteries are precious reminder of poland's extensive jewish population before the holocaust it was like an eye open open their

eyes opening in all the presence of those traces of jewish presence of rich past in my circle of friends there were many who had jewish ancestry. didn't learn anything to do with didn't. feel jewish and when we were children because we were not introduced into it. the coyotes have been living their lives in accordance with jewish traditions and scripture for 2 generations now their son daniel was prepared for his bar mitzvah the jewish coming of age ceremony for boys by rabbi shoot rick . of the. chief rabbi is now off on a trip to southern poland. he's constantly on the move. and sometimes that means mobile conferencing in the car.

today he's talking to a jewish community in pittsburgh. steps aside. he setting up an exchange program for young jews from poland and the u.s. i think that our biggest challenge i'm very practical and it's still it's last but still existing on follow up is we don't necessarily have the professional staff to follow up the way we show up with a plethora of projects to watch over it often seems like too much for one person. who said it was going to be easy. i can say that the jewish community of poland in the last 30 years has gone from a stagnating dying dysfunctional jewish community to a reemerging vibrant dysfunctional jewish community. we're still dysfunctional but at least now we're alive we're vibrant we're creating. today there are once

again jewish communities in nearly all of poland's larger towns and cities optimistic estimates say the country is now home to up to 12000 practicing jews this renaissance has led to a growing demand for kosher food today a rabbi should direct is visiting 3 businesses catering to that demand were only welcome to film and one the profit of vodka distillery having you know. the production line 1st or the office of action. jewish dietary laws divide foodstuffs into kosher and non-kosher the chief rabbi checks production for compliance certain attitudes such as pork based gelatin. not permitted. to have to do that today they're doing

a production for israel but that's not always are the stickers in hebrew so you can see all these things is arguable but there's going to israel after inspection the firm is given an international kosher certificate bought is a popular drink during the passover festival so this you hear actually some when we see it signed in hebrew by our scotia supervisor it's. with a a lock here here and here and here and here. so we know that when we come back to the passover the passover production that it really is from that alcohol most of the kosher vodka is for export only a fraction will stay in poland one of the small. kosher. us you know me and i. products the main market is israel also we produce and so this product to the united states and to my company got sent off in cairo.

also some amounts we produce and so full. and see you know we are trying to write a market call for a soccer ball car also for akasha products so these to share you are selling in poland which means among. people who. think it's not going to be could communi if you think about polish and jewish people but i think most people don't know the roots are from jewish community so i think if this is truly in progress so. it's or have. information to get information about their rights and they can raise. very well. i'm very happy that i wasn't the only jew who want that there live as a jew in both of them because otherwise it would have been very lonely. but

if those jews then adventurously decide and some do that they want to live their jewish lives elsewhere it's their free choice we're not making a religion out of juice and poland it's not going to bleed geisha but that certainly is a right and it gives me also the private satisfaction we're hard to kill. and i want to keep it that way you're going to be the person here's another question certificate i know the firm is just getting it we need. to know the thoughts and this is the confirmation for kosher distillation of mexico thank you i hope i haven't caused you too many headaches. and the rabbi leaves with a present. very important question for passover. so far

our impressions have been positive but jewish gentile encounters don't always run this move lee let's go. relations with the polish government have been strained recently the right wing nationalist government introduced legislation in 2018 that caused deep offense to jewish sensibilities it made it illegal to suggest that the polish state or people were in any way complicit in the holocaust perpetrated by the nazis it basically was the offense the good name of poland the polish shouldn't be blamed for things that they didn't do but there was then a great concern is but there were polls they did bad things and how we going to deal with that and more or more importantly it was. the. problem that is. the reaction there were hurtful statements.

there were hurtful statements made by some poles that were hurtful statements made by some jews. protests met with a wave of anti semitic rhetoric in the media and on the internet. and the bills it's controversial for the 100 poles feel insulted when the press in europe or the international media refer to the german concentration camps as polish death camps or that hurts the poles you have to the stand that's one of the part of the polish people them sir. elves suffered during the 2nd world war and $6000000.00 of them died almost 25 percent of the polish nation european this legacy of the 2nd world war isn't better than the consciousness of generations of poles to this day that after all they suffered their extremely sensitive to claims of the poles were responsible for the existence of the death camps in poland at the end there was an unnecessary. problem that. more or

less is no longer you know people remember it but it's no longer a war and it's a scar. when international jewish organizations protested warsaw held discussions with the israeli government and the legislation was watered down rabbi shoot trick played a mediating role. but he prefers to focus on the positive aspects of life in poland . for instance that poland is represented by people like daddy. a young kayaker who has competed for the country at the olympic games popular isn't as busy as the chief rabbi but he still finds time to get involved in the restoration of jewish cemeteries like the one in creep off in southern poland the cemetery was completely

neglected for years. back challengers are going to try and improve things here 1st or launch an appeal on facebook we already have permission i've been busy otherwise i have come to get this fixed up much sooner. popular wanted to clear the cemetery. and restore its former dignity several months and a lot of hard work later it's reopening there's a new memorial plaque listing the jewish residents of this small village who were killed by the nazis for rabbi shoot to make the commitment of these volunteers is especially appreciated. our presence here expressed memory.

the jury spoke of life of the group of region was closed after several centuries in august 9th. on trying to provoke was the nazis started the writing for the priest i would like to ask chief rabbi of poland michael shortly so few words. but now you have not started on the one hand my heart is broken down there on the other hand i'm very happy today. it's a broken because the jewish people of grieve were killed simply because they were jewish parts uncovered. i would like to think our mayor for his words so called is not you said that we must oppose anger and we must oppose hatred when it is still small in before to spread and yet pocho pocho pocho the bookie. at the same time my heart is happy. who would have thought when the war ended 74 years

ago that respect would be shown to the dead in this jewish cemetery once again so. that the mass graves would be marked and remembered. all agree must all the that almost cloth as. in 1942 the nazi regime finalized plans to exterminate the entire jewish population of europe as in group of german troops dissolve the jewish ghettos in towns and cities throughout poland the jews were murdered on the spot or transported to extermination camps projects like daria's populars try to establish the names of the victims so that they are not forgotten. now. yeah. i know. there are initiatives like this

all over poland for the past 30 years the restoration work has been focusing on a few more towns or villages each year michel shooter considers this one of his key tasks. relatives of the people buried in poland often come from overseas to visit the cemeteries including from the u.s. . part of your family is going to my 3 kids my niece and nephew my sister my brother in law. my wife fighting over there somewhere. special measures are so important you called it a mother that you talk about in every molecule and that's essential that i feel that it's an obligation of everybody. not only jews germans is really the publisher of everybody going to being remember what happened or knowledge of it but if you think about that then perhaps the 1st thing we should do is make sure that every victim of the holocaust has

a great moral and others demand for the best of our ability we'll never get close to you'll have a graze for 6 to 800 families like each other particles in the 100 more but they're going to more even want to be there's a tremendous value on. it sometime said that michael shooter is the rabbi of both the living and the dead in poland. a man with a place that will see how much we visit if you want to and lukash and their 3 children as well and. as i was. bashed for julian's exchange and then and there and he's english teacher was very very happy when key and he came back and she was like all of a very good progress after mr h. because there was she he it was no chance to speak you know polish it was have you want to is an actress and recently appeared in

a swedish film her husband lukash is a theater director and has been working in slovakia the couple hallyu their international contacts lukash admits that living openly as a jew in poland sometimes makes her feel insecure. what was the tragic moment after the war you have to do is after all right in poland was the 68 because it was the moment when it is a half of my family had to go our go go out from columns $968.00 brought further trauma to polish jews leading communist party figures blamed the student protests at the time on a zionist plot triggering months of anti semitic incitement many jews who had survived the shoah now fled the country however my life our war was the person 1st person who told me that mary's know and to some it isn't in poland but now am i

here i am talking to myself where you had eyes and where and. anti-semitism is prevalent throughout the world it may be worse and probably better but it's prevalent. a lot it's there with the catholic church a lot has to do with just internet age speech and all the things the reason but the result is that the for sure ainge way anti-semitism in poland propelled the war jewish kids into a school. and it's true that there's a there's of this it was you i wouldn't say that all members of the church participate in the dialogue in the same way because i wouldn't say that all members of the church are without prejudice that this song maybe actually probably some are prejudiced but these are really exceptions to the overall picture that me and him

named me and i'm thinking of the 2nd vatican council which is how to direct influence on the atmosphere in poland and developments here and i'll join you believe me but i have the feeling that something great is happening if you want that again and the economy and. the jewish community center or j c c brings together warsaw's 5 congregations it's sunday brunch for jews and gentiles the food is good and it's a popular meeting place parents can relax while the kids learn handicrafts. rabbi she trick often comes here to. you won an emmy years enter children try to come every weekend. daniel cry ascii is also here suffering from down syndrome is no obstacle to becoming a fully integrated member of the jewish community. in the village nearby new

rochelle or you hear him here was very important to me than i could celebrate my parents for. because i was born into a jewish family. at the ceremony and i said to blessings in hebrew. another reading from the torah i spoke about the exodus from egypt. you hear starlee mysteries there again talk rabbi shooter rick simplified the bar mitzvah procedure for the young man he has known him since he was a child daniel craig took part in the seminars shoot gave in the 1990 s. when the jewish revival began. the young jewish community in poland has made great strides since its beginnings in a small village in southern poland 30 years ago in the 1990 s. she'd worked organize seminars on jewish life at an education center out today it's

a hotel and guesthouse for a family get togethers this is the rabbi's 1st time back in many years for companies who haven't seen these people 1520 years and all 5 reckon that. maybe thing when he's working here. we would have classes over here on the grass here we would sing we would dance we do everything trying in our own little safe space like people see what judaism was about it's impossible to . be jewish in poland and not feel the presence of the absence so of course that was a recurrent topic of our conversations and of course we never came up with any extraordinary intelligent solutions to the problem because there aren't. decades after the holocaust many polish jews had become disconnected from their roots you know all these stories there was that was

a time when people just realized some of them yes just realize that there were many here are a great many of them you say yes and even those who knew never had a chance to experience it never had a shot back before not some some did but many didn't. and so it was really a 1st chance was also a chance just to be openly jewish you know he didn't have to worry about anybody making a comment or wondering what it meant. and in a lot of ways it all started here. we had a dinner. in 1900 i looked at these kids they were not kids anymore they were there when their thirty's and forty's and i'll never forget we sang the song called those against with the raisins and. we said. way to sing the song that. we are mother bear so to

his children all those 100 who remember the song the road the song please joy and you know 1st 10 then 20 to 80 kids 80 of the 100 were singing a song from this so self-conscious and so for the by the by the 3rd probably never heard before since that many of the. was was a year later in 1990 the martyr foundation funded the 1st jewish heritage seminars in the. last 30 years ago a kosher meal was made in this kitchen for probably the 1st time since the 2nd world war and this is the bit 1st about the been strange for you with what was kosher food for example that modern a good deal share at 1st but then we got used to the you know people here that

believe exactly as if you just we asked that after the 1st workshop they knew how to cook that is staff got to know us and they soon learned the songs that we sang in the dining room the others the protests they also knew what happened on friday evening and on saturday morning you have an awesome people think. that we are here in communist poland jewish life was an abstract concept. look at clients and before that i only knew what i had seen on t.v. we didn't know better we were anxious about it but that all changed when michael caine that you would. hear when shogun were listening to him speaking about what you would do it was important to them it was so special. because he related to that he got down to their level they spoke with him he said they saw him sit on the floor and talk to them. so we out of this was the this is

the exactly the way we realize he was special it's done a suave and monaco cry f.c. were 2 of the 1st participants they were finally able to practice their jewish faith openly only to hide and be discreet as in the communist era stein aswat even led prayers sometimes many of those attending were holocaust survivors. during the war there were 2 of them so they were not adults some of them were very little children or babies some of there were 8 or 10 and those sort of arrived and all either because they were hiding somewhere or they were given. both stannis wife and monaco were born after the war. this was very helpful to make me more. knowledge. make me know how do the things that regular joes

the world because this is not something that i got from my family and also this is true about all or almost all people of my generation and younger so those who lived in. were jewish in some way in the seventy's or in the eighty's were mostly various you know that very far from. jewish involvement. here you know 8 weeks a year. the rebirth of jewish religious life in poland began under somewhat spartan conditions and. it was a wonderful times you know very warm memories. this is where we're a little sad. a makeshift synagogue was set up in an alcove of the education center . marked a new beginning for judaism in poland. everything

from basic things of judaism should be kosher holidays history to what is a need to be jewish how do you feel about being jewish and then also getting to know each other icebreakers and sometimes fun things that we have everybody reenact the biblical scene. and on friday nights we were put all the different benches that we could find and we'd have the prayer outside which is really i think everyone's favorite moment of the week. but there was also criticism from unexpected quarters for some people jewish life in eastern europe was unimaginable after the holocaust the fact is that jewish people particularly people who are 2nd generation his parents fled 'd the holocaust so it appears why do you want to do it. and i said to these people

because they were jewish kids there we must do what we can to give them a jewish life it is ridiculous to protest the gains in the rebirth of jewish life where it had been murder because you don't regulate life. jews have a right to live and live as jews wherever they were if this is the only problem then we need to get out of europe europe is a graveyard it's particularly visible around the house with its birth. if you anybody with jewish historical sensitivity travels around europe. it is a place in me that i was very painful very painful after this journey back to be said that you don't really exist because there can't be jews here very painful and

wrong. to some in our buildings where there's jewish renaissance began are just an hour's drive from the infamous extermination camp auschwitz birkenau. and there's another point we should point out when we go up this kind of bridge you look to the left and to the right and you'll see train tracks lots and lots of train tracks and you understand why the germans built the biggest death camp here is because you have the crossroads of so many different train tracks from all over europe that that that's a clear point when you see it here you understand so why do they build it here. it actually thing it gets harder to visit this place than it was here. when it really became harder. and so there's there was 2 things one is once my daughter was

born so i think in a natural way when you walk here when you don't have children you think you know could have i survived i want to have a child you think could you could your child have survived and their frequent becomes a completely different experience and the other thing for. many many jews it's . i mean it's a horrible place for any human being to be but for for jews it's also becomes personal because many of us have family that was here. because chamber 3 catch him before he has chamber 5 and this is the sauna the rabbi travels to auschwitz birkenau several times each year people many visitors from

israel and the u.s. ask to meet him at the site where their relatives were murdered with he's also a senior religious advisor to the auschwitz foundation which administers the site as a museum and a memorial rabbi shooter it says keeping the memory alive is crucial it seems that in europe the shock of the holocaust of this genocide the morse and genocide in history. kind of silenced those people who refused to learn the lesson and it seems not 75 years later for many people do know the lesson there are those who never knew the lesson and now want to speak. in a loud voice about. you know denying the holocaust belittling the holocaust. so while some people are saying you know we've learned nothing that's not true humanity has learnt a lot it doesn't mean that all of humanity has learnt everything. and so

even standing in a place like this i'm hopeful. because you just see the numbers of people visiting today. gives hope that they will be changed when they leave how can you be the same person. michael she tricks on call an austrian jew from vienna was a prisoner and else fits henry starr was brought there in august 944 on 1 of the last deportation trains from the german concentration camp at that in today's czech republic when i saw what it did to some of us. the platform of its. slaughter. a. shot of the earth came down like it's in front of the muscle.

this is the place where your stuff mengele you know we call like this and my my uncle told me the story when they arrived on the train from theresienstadt into raising. the world war one veterans were treated better because there was some level of jewish self-government enter a sense that some level but at least there the veterans were treated better and mangled they were lined up 5555 and they were in the same line as some vets world war one veterans and mengele sent the veterans straight to the gas chambers and my uncle and his brother followed immediately with them figuring they're going to a better place based on their experience in theresienstadt and then mangled had his guards kicked my uncle and his brother to the other side saying that you jew can't decide your fate. those you couldn't even do you can even decide to be killed. and

so ironically mengele saved my uncle's life. which is bizarre. henry stars survived auschwitz and emigrated to the united states where he started his own family michael shoot learned a lot from him. my uncle was one of those who spoke quite frequently about it so i can't remember if i was 11 or 13 i would say certainly by 13 and i but i can't tell you you know from what age but. certainly when i was in high school. this was something that you know i'll call henry would tell me about how important was this for your idea to be interested in the snow. and the clear road. absolutely yes to what extent. you know the ideas that you just i very much it took away from that i think

took away from that that you just you can't be indifferent as something is wrong you have to try to fix it. was ok. it's december christmas in warsaw the capital of catholic poland the jewish community is celebrating hanukkah the festival of lights the opening event is as always open to the public more songs jews are no longer a client a stein community. simply put it was the place i was supposed to be. michael sitrick has dedicated the past 30 years of his life to reestablishing jewish religious life in poland he's committed to keeping memory alive and to working for the present and the future. well looks like it's still the place i'm

supposed to. enter the conflict zone with tim sebastian it's not as if sons who suddenly moving for a long time about a post i make but the politicians didn't seem to take much notice the lack of preparation is now becoming clear my guess is me from brussels as the european commission a home a fast young handsome boy to your family you get it so roth conflicts

. and 30 minutes on d w. how to. discover your concept discover with the bauhaus. school a legend off the 100 years the ideals of the box and more relevant today than they were a. 100 years ago visionaries. people understood design is a way of shaping society. with this. future.

3 part documentary stories we made. for you. this is. from berlin tonight agreement here in germany the country is about to take the biggest steps yet to reopen its economy and lift the lockdown german chancellor angela merkel announcing that all stores and restaurants will soon be allowed to reopen if the coronavirus makes a comeback she says the water restrictions will return to also coming out bringing

back the bundesliga german football is set to kick off later this month after the german government signs off on a plan to.