Kathleen's Journal

Jul. 7, 2008 - Poles revive Jewish culture in Krakow - Feature

Krakow,Poland - Benzion Miller, the son of concentration camp survivors, sings a prayer in memory of Krakow's Jews near the spot of his own family's painful history. The melody fills a square near the city's old Jewish district, three kilometres from the area of former Nazi death camps. Rows of empty, metal chairs line the square to symbolize the discarded furniture left behind by ghetto Jews before they were taken to Auschwitz. Miller's arms stretch out in disbelief as he sings, and his eyebrows squeeze together as if asking, "why?"Miller knows he's singing to "deaf ears" at the city's annual Jewish Culture Festival, because the largely Polish crowd doesn't understand Yiddish, but he says music has a way of getting through to convey his message of nostalgia and regret. The Brooklyn-based cantor says Poles attend the festival because they long to connect with the past, when Kazimierz was a vibrant Jewish district that boasted seven synagogues and Jewish culture inspired Polish artists ...
Originally from: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/217323,poles-revive-jewish-culture-in-krakow--feature.html
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