Dec 11, 2024 | History Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers We cannot do what we do without your support By the end of World War Two, Poland’s cities lay in ruins – mostly infamously the capital, Warsaw, where 85% of buildings were destroyed and whose historic Old Town was rebuilt almost from scratch after 1945 no Polish town – and probably none anywhere in Europe – suffered more in this regard than Jasło which saw 97% of its buildings destroyed during the German occupation While its Nazi administrator promised that no Poles would ever return to Jasło despite the traumas of the war and a dearth of materials heroically defied the odds and rebuilt the town from rubble After the German-Soviet conquest of Poland in 1939 Jasło found itself in the Kraków district of the General Government established by the German occupiers It was administered by the sadistic Kreishauptmann The majority of Jasło’s approximately 2,500 Jews a quarter of the town’s population at the outbreak of war from which they were sent to the Belzec death camp or murdered in mass executions in the local Jewish cemetery or nearby Warzyce Forest Gentz took pleasure in personally shooting Jews in the ghetto, much like the Austrian commandant of Plaszow concentration camp Amon Göth – depicted in the film Schindler’s List – famously fired at inmates from his villa’s balcony for target practice Jasło’s non-Jewish population were also subjected to Gestapo terror At a forced labour camp in the nearby village of Szebnie and disease resulting from the camp’s appalling sanitary conditions tells Notes from Poland that it is impossible to estimate the number of Jasło residents killed between 1939 and 1945 so local authorities could not always establish who had been killed posters commanding all of Jasło’s residents to evacuate the town within 48 hours under penalty of death were plastered all over town almost every building was systematically destroyed “The Poles should know they’ll never return to Jasło Not a stone will remain,” Gentz proclaimed That wasn’t an empty threat: of 2,283 buildings in Jasło just 39 remained intact after the operation had ended The exact reasons for the destruction of Jasło are something of a mystery “No documents explaining the occupiers’ decision to destroy the town have been found,” says Świątek Due in part to the local petroleum industry German settlers had been brought in to populate Jasło Certain parts of the town were closed off for Poles with signs reading Nur für Deutsche (“Only for Germans”) The mere 3% of Jasło that survived the war was the Ulaszowice neighbourhood feeling the advancing Red Army’s breath on his neck had arrived at the conclusion that if Jasło would not be a German city A second hypothesis is that, as with Warsaw, the destruction of Jasło was German revenge for the audacity of the local resistance. On the night of 5-6 August 1943, five members of the Home Army broke into the town’s prison – the largest in Subcarpathia – disarmed the guards and the success of these “Slavic subhumans” and “Polish bandits” as the Nazi ideology routinely slurred the Polish resistance was a profound embarrassment to Gentz and his comrades Wiesław Hap – a local historian and teacher were forcibly uprooted from the area during the war – tells Notes from Poland that in the aftermath of its destruction The decision to rebuild what had been lost was made in February 1945 only five months after Gentz’s evacuation notice in the ruins that were once the mayor’s house Not only was the town’s infrastructure a pile of rubble; the people of Jasło were themselves ruined by five years of war After the fall of the Warsaw Uprising – which began 80 years ago today – the German occupiers expelled the city's entire population However, some survivors decided to remain among the ruins. They became known as "Robinson Crusoes" and this is their story https://t.co/UuVbfbcpQ4 — Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) August 1, 2024 the town council petitioned the newly installed communist authorities for funds to rebuild Jasło the engineer Marian Jaroszewski presented to the council a blueprint to rebuild the town based on the prewar arrangement of streets a delegation representing the municipal government left Jasło for Warsaw where they presented Jasło’s tragic fate and asked several ministries for funds for reconstruction the Polish government provided significant financial support and tons of building materials for reconstruction The Polish Red Cross and the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration helped get Jasło’s residents back on their feet The most intensive reconstruction efforts took place in the 1940s and 1950s when houses and industrial plants were rebuilt reconstruction efforts focused on building housing in lots that had become empty after the wartime annihilation there are still efforts to reconstruct the architectural details of various buildings have won the prestigious International Architecture Award in the restoration category Another Polish project, the Water Factory in Szczecin, won in the sports and recreation category https://t.co/rYXOGAG4jQ — Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) September 21, 2024 about 500 former inhabitants returned to Jasło Others began to gradually return and rebuild their houses but most of its new inhabitants came from nearby villages and towns to work as craftsmen and in industry Some of the town’s Jews survived labour and concentration camps or in hiding as most left for Palestine or the United States right after the war and never returned to Jasło the rebuilding of Jasło and its inhabitants’ resolve was immortalised in “A Song About New Jasło” (“Piosenka o nowym Jaśle”) The first verse (translated by the present author) goes: notes that Jasło’s “tragedy had a huge impact on the identity patriotism and love for their city of its inhabitants” which according to Gentz was supposed to cease to exist saying that it is “high time” for these “mostly nameless” heroes to be commemorated with a plaque While not all of Jasło’s pre-destruction inhabitants decided to return some of those who moved to other parts of Poland or emigrated maintained an interest in their native town in the United States – to help fund Jasło’s rebuilding and to aid its impoverished inhabitants is today barely distinguishable from other similar size towns in southeastern Poland although an official decision to rebuild was made in February 1945 by that time Jasło’s former residents had already begun to rebuild it spontaneously “The main aim was for people to find a place to live but its décor does not resemble its prewar beauty,” he says noting that many of the first rebuilt houses were “grey and unplastered” Warsaw’s Old Town was meticulously rebuilt using paintings by Canaletto the Italian court painter of the Polish crown Świątek notes that in Jasło a couple of buildings were faithfully reconstructed The reconstructed Church of St Stanislaus, Bishop and Martyr in Jasło (image credit: Henryk Bielamowicz/Wikimedia Commons, under CC BY-SA 4.0) and an only slightly damaged villa once inhabited by painter Apolinary Kotowicz and designed by the modernist/art nouveau architect Teodor Talowski Jasło can also boast of a few artefacts that survived the city’s destruction One is a statue of the 14th-century Czech martyr St John Nepomucene on the main market square – the figure was untouched Wartime damage can still be observed on some buildings in Jasło today (image credit: Filip Mazurczak) Others are now housed in the town’s park: the plate of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and a monument to Polish national hero Tadeusz Kościuszko The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in its present state was reconstructed in 2001 a memorial to local victims of the Holocaust has existed in the city’s Jewish cemetery while in the town square there is a monument to the victims of and participants in the Second World War Memorial to Holocaust victims in Jasło’s Jewish cemetery (image credit: Bonio/Wikimedia Commons, under CC BY-SA 3.0) The Regional Museum in Jasło has this year – on the 80th anniversary of its destruction – organised several initiatives to remind Poles of the town’s wartime losses One is an outdoor exhibit on the town’s main market square, featuring testimonies of residents who were displaced. Another is the online documentary Jasło 44 The bravery and resolve of Jasło’s shell-shocked starved survivors to rebuild their home is perhaps the best illustration of American novelist James Michener’s apt observation that “a Pole is a man born with a sword in his right hand , , , , , Apr 30, 2025 | , , , That response will include “large Polish and NATO exercises in Poland” Apr 29, 2025 | , , , Those employed in Poland work on average the third-longest hours in the European Union Apr 28, 2025 | , , , , Westinghouse and Bechtel were first chosen in 2022 as partners on the 192 billion zloty ($51 billion) project please consider helping us to continue and expand it [email protected] Copyright © 2025 Notes From Poland | Design jurko studio | Code by 2sides.pl Senior Research Fellow at the Global Europe Centre ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR Weronika Strzyżyńska is currently studying journalism at Goldsmiths as a Scott Trust Bursary recipient She  has written on issues immigration and Brexit for New Statesman and Prospect Agnieszka Wądołowska is managing editor of Notes from Poland She has previously worked for Gazeta.pl and Tokfm.pl and contributed to Gazeta Wyborcza ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland and assistant professor of history at the Pedagogical University of Krakow He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications The Independent and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR Stanley Bill is the founder and editor-at-large of Notes from Poland.He is also Senior Lecturer in Polish Studies and Director of the Polish Studies Programme at the University of Cambridge Stanley has spent more than ten years living in Poland He founded Notes from Poland in 2014 as a blog dedicated to personal impressions cultural analysis and political commentary He is committed to the promotion of deeper knowledge and understanding of Poland He is the Chair of the Board of the Notes from Poland Foundation ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR Professor of European Studies at Oxford University ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR Professor at the Institute of History of the Jagiellonian University ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR Executive Director of Taube Family Foundation ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR Associate Professor at the Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Science ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR in partnership with the Polish American Friends of Jasło will host the Sedona premiere of the powerful Polish film “Raze to the Ground,” directed by Marcin Głowacki This event marks the first artistic exchange with potential Sister City Jasło and coincides with the global premiere of the film in Jasło The film will debut in Jasło before an audience of 400 as part of the 80th-anniversary remembrance of the tragic destruction of the city during World War II Sedona has been invited to join in this important commemoration reflecting the growing cultural ties between our communities The Sedona premiere will take place at 9 AM on September 13 at the Mary D Guests are encouraged to arrive early to enjoy traditional Polish pastries and coffee starting at 8:30 AM Raze to the Ground is a dramatized documentary that commemorates the 80th anniversary of the destruction of Jasło and the 85th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s invasion of Poland produced by Bogdan Miszczak and directed by Marcin Głowacki delves into the historical events that led to the obliteration of nearly 97% of Jasło under the orders of Dr Gentz commanded the complete destruction of the town leaving behind a haunting legacy of war crimes The Sedona Sister Cities Association and the Polish American Friends of Jasło are proud to sponsor this significant cultural event which aims to foster understanding and remembrance of shared history while strengthening the bonds between Sedona and Jasło Sedona News – Sedona recently had the honor of hosting distinguished guests from our Sister City partners in Poland and Canada Executive Director of artsPlace in Canmore Director of JDK Cultural & Arts Center in Jaslo immersing themselves in Sedona’s vibrant arts and cultural scene Their visit coincided with the renowned Sedona International Film Festival where they experienced the city’s deep appreciation for the arts They explored the inspiring exhibits at Goldenstein Galleries and the Sedona Arts Center engaging with local artists and cultural leaders A highlight of their stay was a Town Hall presentation at Sedona’s City Council Chambers where they shared insights about their communities and the exciting potential of Sister City collaborations along with many local leaders and Sister Cities supporters reinforcing the deepening bonds between our communities Their visit was not just a cultural exchange—it was a significant step forward in the journey toward full Sister City status for both Canmore and Jaslo This inspiring exchange highlighted the power of international friendship and the shared commitment to strengthening cultural and artistic ties The enthusiasm and connections forged during these four days promise a bright future for Sedona’s growing global partnerships Sie haben erfolgreich Ihre Einwilligung in die Nutzung von Transfermarkt mit Tracking und Cookies widerrufen Sie können sich jetzt zwischen dem Contentpass-Abo und der Nutzung mit personalisierter Werbung This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page — A man experiencing a mental health crisis was taken into custody Friday night after police said he was barricaded inside a Port St Lucie home with his 8-year-old son for about seven hours Crisis negotiators and a SWAT team responded to the home in the 900 block of Southwest Jaslo Avenue Lucie Police Chief John Bolduc said the situation started when they received a call from the man's wife saying he had purchased a gun and was threatening to harm himself Bolduc said at the time the man's wife was seeing a judge to get an ex parte custody order this grants temporary custody of a child to one parent without the other parent's input or consent Police said the judge also issued an order to have the woman's husband taken into custody to be evaluated under the Baker Act Bolduc said they were eventually able to get the man to safely release the child unharmed after the boy's mother arrived at the home The SWAT team later breached the residence and the man surrendered and was taken into custody "It took us the better part of seven hours to resolve it Police said Friday night they were still in the process of figuring out whether or not the man ever had a gun Lucie County Sheriff's Office also responded to the scene to provide assistance Eli Dershwitz is a Jewish American Olympic saber fencer when he won the US Men’s Saber National Championship he became the youngest male championship holder and is headed to Tokyo in 2021 for the delayed 2020 Olympics as the world no Here are 18 things to know about the 25-year-old Olympic fencer: to Jewish parents Renee Goetzler and Mark Dershwitz 2. His maternal grandparents are Holocaust survivors. As Eli explains “I am the grandson of two Holocaust survivors My maternal grandmother was born in Tarnow Poland and survived the war hidden in a barn with her family by a Polish gentile farmer and his family He and his family fled Poland and moved eastward before settling in Samarkand he walked into Zeta Fencing to watch his brother I can hit people over the head with a sword and not get in trouble.” He started fencing at age 9 4. “I’ve never been scared of anybody, whether I was a young kid coming up to the older levels or where I am now,” said Dershwitz “I don’t care if someone is ranked ahead of me or if they’re faster than me or if they’re taller than me That’s one of the reasons I fell in love with this sport.” Sally and Eli celebrated their b’nai mitzvah in November 2008 at Temple Israel 6. “I celebrate the Jewish holidays with my extended family and consider myself a proud member of the Jewish community,” Eli says “I feel proud to be a Jewish-American Olympic athlete The Jewish community has been very supportive throughout my journey to the Olympics and I look forward to representing them on the world stage.” He graduated from Dover-Sherborn High School in 2014 where he majored in history and graduated in 2019 (he took off the 2015-2016 school year to compete in the Rio Olympics) Here’s the Dershwitz fam at Eli’s college graduation: he was a member of the varsity Harvard Crimson fencing team where he became a First Team All-American and All-Ivy League He won back-to-back NCAA championships in 2017 and 2018 9. “I don’t think I’ve ever known anyone personally who was an Olympian. So, to have one in the family is nothing short of incredible,” his dad, Mark, says 10. After the 2016 Olympic games, he lost in the first round. “I tried so hard to stay calm and not freak out,” he recalls of 2016 “I’ve never gone back and watched that match Probably the worst I felt in my entire life.” “You start to question yourself and how it’s possible to work really hard and end up not performing at the end of the season at the biggest tournaments,” he said “It’s tough to go home and train after that.” Yet 13. Dershwitz was ranked No. 1 in the world in the summer of 2018. In Tokyo, he will aim to become the fifth U.S No American man has ever won gold in saber fencing 14. “Honestly, it all happened so fast,” he said, talking about the Tokyo delay. “I remember I qualified for the Tokyo Olympic Games on March 7 on my mom’s birthday — got to call her from Europe tell her all the good news with Tokyo getting postponed for an entire year we were really working together for so long and had to take a huge break.” “I never want to lose because I feel like I didn’t work hard enough.” Here’s a great interview with Eli: his sister Sally was working on the frontlines caring for patients THANK YOU to all #TheRealHeroes who are tirelessly & bravely working on the front lines.Special shoutout to my twin sister, Sally, as she continues to care for patients in need! 👩‍⚕️❤️#TeamUSA pic.twitter.com/v8JBxjOt5e — Eli Dershwitz (@EliDershwitz) May 9, 2020 But they also spent time in Maine together with their family: 18. “Fencing is my passion because I love the intensity and the competition spirit, I love the physical and mental battle that surfaces during competitions, but I also really love the experience that the sport’s given me,” Eli says Bonus: A custom Eli Dershwitz trading card Emily Burack (she/her) is Alma's deputy managing editor By submitting I agree to the privacy policy. ANS - “Agenzia iNfo Salesiana” is a on-line almost daily publication, the communication agency of the Salesian Congregation enrolled in the Press Register of the Tibunal of Rome as n 153/2007. This site also uses third-party cookies to improve user experience and for statistical purposes. By scrolling through this page or by clicking on any of its elements, you consent to the use of cookies. To learn more or to opt out, click "Further Information". / as though the one had never existed: an imaginary embryo In “A Greek Statue,” Szymborska considers a marble figure with only its torso remaining “People and other disasters” have chipped away at it but perhaps the most destructive and sinister force in the poem is time itself; little by little it has broken into dust something that was once imposing Time’s erasure seems more sly than merciful; her note that “it stopped midway / and left something for later” only underscores that it will never fully stop and the statue doesn’t stand a chance against it she evokes the Biblical story of Lot’s wife who is commanded by angels to flee the city of Sodom without looking back glancing behind her—and is turned into a pillar of salt “I looked back in desolation,” she imagines Lot’s wife saying “ashamed of running away in stealth.” Or maybe she was “struck by the silence You can zoom in on the page here Get important news about your town as it happens Get the top stories from across our network Are you sure you want to unsubscribe from daily updates Support is on the rise for a New Jersey family following the loss of their matriarch Malgorzata “Gosia” Rosinski, 43, of Califon, was being remembered as a devoted mother of three, according to her obituary on the William J A GoFundMe campaign launched by family friend Aneta Gnap has raised more than $36,000 as of press time and was known for her love of cooking and baking Rosinski was immensely proud of her Polish heritage but Her three sons were the center of her world Rosinski is survived by her husband of 15 years Kazimierz and Grazyna Lorenc; four siblings: Dorota Click here for Malgorzata Rosinski's complete obituary and here to donate to her family. Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article Area 6,890 square miles (17,846 square km) The Historical Museum in Sanok houses many Ruthenian icons and features cottages and other structures typical of the Ruthenians is located in an open-air museum near Krosno in Bóbrka The mass relocation resulted in the almost total depopulation of the lands in the Bieszczady and Lower Beskid mountains + Celestyna was born in Zabrzez, Poland, and was raised by relatives after her parents died. + In 1930, she entered the Congregation of the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate, receiving the religious name “Celestyna.” + Sister Celestyna worked as a kindergarten teacher and catechist. + During the early years of the Second World War she was director of an orphanage, served as local superior of her community, and continued her work as a catechist. + She was arrested by the Gestapo on February 19, 1942, and was charged with conspiring against the Nazis. + Sister Celestyna was imprisoned in Jaslo and Tarnów, Poland, before being sent the concentration camp at Auschwitz. There, she was sentenced to hard labor. She eventually developed tuberculosis and typhoid. She died from her illness and the abuse of the camps on April 8, 1944; it was Easter Sunday. Her body was burned in the camps crematorium. + Blessed Celestyna Faron—who was remembered for her charity and courage, even in the face of death—was beatified with other Polish Martyrs of World War II in 1999. O God, who gladden us today with the annual commemoration of blessed Celestyna, graciously grant that we may be helped by her merits, just as our lives are lit up by the splendor of her example of chastity and fortitude. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen. (from The Roman Missal: Common of Martyrs—For a Virgin Martyr) Saint profiles prepared by Brother Silas Henderson, S.D.S. Would you like to read more like this?Get Aleteia delivered to your inbox 2019Treasure Coast NewspapersTyler Jalil Robbins Fort Pierce; warrants for battery by strangulation Fort Pierce; warrant for violation of probation possession of a controlled substance without a valid prescription Miami; warrant for court order revoking pretrial release Lucie; warrant for second amended violation of probation delivery or possession with intent to sell Fort Pierce; possession of cocaine with intent to sell manufacture or deliver; possession of opium/derivative with intent to sell manufacture or deliver; possession of a synthetic narcotice with intent to sell 24 or older - sexual battery on victim 16 or 17 Fort Pierce; aggravated battery; warrant for grand theft of motor vehicle on Feb Fort Pierce; robbery - no firearm or weapon Lucie; possession of cocaine; possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine) without a prescription Fort Pierce; warrant for grand theft - motor vehicle Virginia; resisting an officer with violence Fort Pierce; driving while license suspended Fort Pierce; obstruction of justice - tampering in misdemeanor proceeding Lucie; possession of a controlled substance (THC) without a prescription Fort Pierce; warrants for possession of cocaine on Feb Fort Pierce; warrant for failure to appear criminal mischief. Arrested in Indian River County Fort Pierce; warrants for lewd/lascivious conduct by person 18 or older obscenity - sell/lend/transmit obscenity harmful to a minor By 2018-03-14T09:06:00+00:00 PKP IC hopes the service will reduce operating costs on the lightly-used and slow route in the Bieszczady Mountains region of southeast Poland The arrangement will also help to mitigate PKP IC’s current shortage of diesel locomotives SKPL is an unusual example of a private company active across the freight passenger and rolling stock leasing sectors in Poland Commercial Director Albert Mikołajczyk sets out the company’s response to a changing local rail market and its plans for the future to Benjámin Zelki POLAND: A diesel multiple-unit formerly used by Dutch national operator NS that PKP Intercity is leasing from SKPL entered revenue service on the Kraków – Jelenia Góra line on November 18 The launch forms part of a wider roll-out of the secondhand trains on routes around .. POLAND: Long-distance operator PKP Intercity has signed a contract with Poznań-based FPS H Cegielski for the design and manufacture of up to 81 TSI-compliant coaches for operation at 200 km/h FPS had been announced at the end of last year as sole bidder for the tender issued in June 2017; .. Site powered by Webvision Cloud This article was published more than 9 years ago this 11 metre tall Ark was shipped to Toronto and reassembled in the Forest Hill Jewish Centre being built on in Forest Hill Village The synagogue is modelled after a synagogue in Poland that was burned down.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail When Rabbi Elie Karfunkel was approached by John Kaplan to start a traditional synagogue in Forest Hill one family showed up on opening night: the Kaplans "And half of them told me they were moving away!" the rabbi says they couldn't even make minyan (a quorum of 10 Jewish men) for prayers and had to crowdsource from the coffee shop below But the congregation gradually grew every sabbath and by the time 2007 rolled around With more than 100 families in the Orthodox Jewish synagogue The small space above the Starbucks and across from a dentist's office was bursting at the seams this is probably people's impression of the services: it's like going to a dentist." They wanted something more for Forest Hill standing in the marble entrance of the Albert and Temmy Latner Forest Hill Jewish Centre only days from Monday's parade celebrating its opening The $20-million synagogue on Spadina Road is named after the late Albert Latner donated $3-million to the project for it to be named after his wife There's a lot to accomplish in the few days preceding the parade and even more in the weeks before the high holiday of Rosh Hashanah the Jewish New Year – carpets need to be laid seating installed and finishing touches applied to the piece de resistance: the ark "We're working day and night," operations manager Kamran Hashmi says The centre – the synagogue – couldn't be newer but "new" isn't exactly the right word for it It's a replica of the Great Synagogue of Jaslo in Poland one of hundreds destroyed by the Nazis in 1939 It took three years to draw the plans before ground was broken in 2011 a season that holds many milestones for the centre in Forest Hill as well as the one it is modelled after: The Great Synagogue was built in September and destroyed by the Nazis in September 34 years later A grand opening is also scheduled for this year's Rosh Hashanah – beginning Sept The idea of a replica came to the rabbi's wife and worked with the notion of fitting in with the neighbourhood And they wanted it to be an inclusive space The synagogue was named "centre," so that everyone can feel welcome The fire department saved Jaslo's old synagogue when the Nazis first attempted to burn it down but they were unable to save it the second time the shul's symbolism is twofold: "The message [that] the Jewish people are eternal and not going anywhere … but also the message [that] not everyone in Europe is bad People have risked their lives to help the Jewish people," he says referring to the hardships the Jewish people have endured the rabbi and his colleagues wanted to make the synagogue feel like a house a weekday chapel – and somehow intimate feel of the three levels of seating manage to give off that feeling The marble entranceway the rabbi is standing in does The doorway is small and leads to a round marble floor whose pattern is matched by the one of the lower ceilings in the building which towers over the neighbouring brick homes One of them is soon to be the Karfunkel family's; it is on one of the four lots purchased to build the synagogue and was originally intended to be an extension of the parking lot The lobby leads to the shul's main prayer room up three storeys and seats about 500 "tuchuses," Yiddish for bums Two floors of balconies overlook the sanctuary – an architectural trait of historical Eastern European shuls The galleries almost make you feel closer to the ark you're on the third balcony and you get to see it," the rabbi says It's not the largest synagogue built after the Second World War but "it's the most complicated," said Doron Klein who flew to Toronto from Israel to help finalize the project Though it is not a perfect replica of the old ark in Jaslo the rabbi calls it a "poetic licence." A blurry picture of it found through Google led Israeli designer Avraham Fried to research historical synagogue architecture in Poland to come up with its closest interpretation Below the sanctuary is a 3,890-square-foot banquet hall with a five-metre ceiling how are you going to get the weddings and the bar mitzvahs?" the rabbi says of the basement a small pool of holy water observant married Jewish Orthodox women are required to dip themselves in once a month who grew up a block from the synagogue he commissioned the centre is unique because of its placement in the neighbourhood "The Jewish life experiences have traditionally occurred on Bathurst Street … so this centre offers the opportunity to kind of be like your congregation close to home," he says Asked to explain how so many Orthodox Jewish families from Forest Hill populated the congregation within a decade Kaplan says they may have switched from other shuls the Forest Hill Jewish Centre is their first shul "We're sort of the little synagogue that grew," Mr Report an editorial error Report a technical issue Editorial code of conduct Welcome to The Globe and Mail’s comment community. This is a space where subscribers can engage with each other and Globe staff. Non-subscribers can read and sort comments but will not be able to engage with them in any way. Click here to subscribe If you would like to write a letter to the editor, please forward it to letters@globeandmail.com. Readers can also interact with The Globe on Facebook and Twitter Welcome to The Globe and Mail’s comment community This is a space where subscribers can engage with each other and Globe staff We aim to create a safe and valuable space for discussion and debate If you do not see your comment posted immediately it is being reviewed by the moderation team and may appear shortly We aim to have all comments reviewed in a timely manner Comments that violate our community guidelines will not be posted UPDATED: Read our community guidelines here We have closed comments on this story for legal reasons or for abuse. For more information on our commenting policies and how our community-based moderation works, please read our Community Guidelines and our Terms and Conditions This article was published more than 6 years ago Lena made a promise with God during the Second World War that if she and her family survived her brother and parents miraculously survived that is exactly what she spent her life doing Lena excelled in school and grew up in a family that valued education and intellect A lifelong love of music meant she was still playing and composing her own songs just days before her death Lena worked as a journalist where she met Sigmond Shore also a survivor who lost his entire family in the Holocaust Given the instinctual reaction of survivors to make the most out of life Lena was always quick to recount this story saying it was already time for her to dance at their weddings Lena and Sigmond moved from Poland to Paris where Sigmond worked as a diplomat and Lena a journalist while also continuing her studies at the University of Paris abandoning the Communism of Eastern Europe deciding upon Montreal where they could speak French and live in one of the largest Jewish communities in Canada Both sons knew that they had a “funny mother,” a description that Lena quite liked Lena wrote poetry and composed her own songs And the bulletin boards of her sons’ classrooms held press clippings about her published books And once Michel and Jacques were well on their way in university she moved to Philadelphia with her second husband to focus on her writing and begin her career as a “professor to teachers.” Lena loved an audience and she found this in the classroom Her ability as a philosopher to build bridges between people was remarkable and her persistent stubbornness in getting her messages across – whether in her novels Despite surviving the atrocities of the Holocaust Building Bridges may be her best-known book but she considered her guide to meaning and happiness Lena founded her Center for the Advancement of Human Potential and created 28 accredited interdisciplinary courses linked to Gratz College in Philadelphia An endowment program in her name is now being established she would start up conversations with strangers (she was fluent in six languages) asking questions about life guidance and her two cents of what mattered most in life Jacques Shore is Lena’s son and Sigmond and Emily Shore are two of Lena’s grandchildren To submit a Lives Lived: lives@globeandmail.com Lives Lived celebrates the everyday, extraordinary, unheralded lives of Canadians who have recently passed. To learn how to share the story of a family member or friend, go to tgam.ca/livesguide Getting permission to chop down a tree for the building of an intersection is not unusual. What is slightly rarer is the discovery that that tree was bequeathed to the city by the most famous dictator of the last century. An oak tree that had been growing in the Polish city of Jaslo for almost 70 years now faces the chop as its links with Hitler are revealed. The controversial oak tree that is dividing opinion in the Polish city of Jaslo. Ironically though, just as much as the tree represents Nazism, so too does it symbolize Polish resistance. When Hitler ordered the destruction of Jaslo in 1944, the towering oak tree was one of the few things to survive the devastation. Speaking to Polish newspaper Nowiny24, city councillor Krzysztof Czelusnik defended the tree, saying, "Hitler was the guilty one, why should the oak suffer for that?" And he is not alone in his opposition to Kurovska's plans. The campaign to save the oak is led by 80-year-old Kazimierz Polak, who witnessed it being planted firsthand. He is organising a petition to challenge plans to fell the tree, which he watched being brought into the city in a box wrapped in the swastika flag in 1942. The oak, originally from Hitler's birthplace of Braunau am Inn in Austria, was given to the city on the occasion of the Führer's birthday and was part of attempts to 'Germanize' the town. Above and beyond its historical significance, Polak argues that the tree should be allowed to stand as an example of natural beauty in the city. Appealing to local authorities he said, "It is growing healthy and tall. Let it grow." Kurovska remains unconvinced and is concerned that Jaslo could gain publicity for the wrong reasons, arguing: "If we keep it, we will walk in the city center remembering this is Hitler's tree." She also claims to have received e-mails from local residents who are both for and against the tree's survival. The town will decide the fate of Jaslo's oak over the coming weeks. One thing is for certain though: the tree that survived World War II will not go down without a fight. a volume whose best-known poems concern the civil war in El Salvador That conflict was just beginning when Forché travelled to the country “The Colonel” describes the poet’s dinner at the home of a military man good wine”—the officer leaves the room and comes back with a grocery bag full of human ears He tells the poet that human-rights workers can go fuck themselves then raises his glass in an ironic salute and says The excitement generated by Forché’s early work—Denise Levertov called her “a poet who’s doing what I want to do,” and Jacobo Timerman suggested that she was the next Neruda—grew out of a sense that she was reinventing the political lyric at a moment of profound depoliticization While her contemporaries wrote poems of domestic unhappiness and the supermarket sublime (so this story goes) Forché was making engagé poetry out of Reagan-era dirty wars Forché herself shied away from such claims The poetry that interested her was not political but was what she called a “poetry of witness.” This was not the work of partisans but of those who stood in solidarity with “the party of humanity.” Witness poetry was testimonial rather than polemical Twelve years after publishing “The Country Between Us,” Forché edited an impressive anthology which argued for the poetry of witness as a coherent tradition in twentieth-century poetry Forché located the intellectual origins of witness poetry in the work of European philosophers and poets—Walter Benjamin Edmond Jabès—whose lives and writings were marked by the experience of the Holocaust such thinkers conceived of the poem as a stay against oblivion “an event and the trace of an event.” Witness poetry also made ethical claims on its readers “that-which-happened.” As Wisława Szymborska writes in “The Hunger Camp As Jaslo”: In ordinary inkon ordinary paper: they were given no food,they all died of hunger How much grassfor each one?” Write: I don’t know.History counts its skeletons in round numbers Alongside poets whose primary trauma was the Holocaust The anthology made it possible to link the fractured stanzas of Celan (“no one / bears witness for the / witness”) to the lyrics of Mahmoud Darwish whose verse establishes a counter-history of Palestine If the poetry of witness is in some sense an invented tradition then Forché’s anthology was nevertheless a valuable one By placing such disparate poets together in one book which is what anthologies do at their best Now Forché has collaborated with Duncan Wu a professor of English Romantic poetry at Georgetown “The Poetry of Witness: The English Tradition 1500-2001.” The collection begins with verse by Thomas More and ends with a ghazal by Agha Shahid Ali mainly from the English and American civil wars and the two world wars while others take up the cause of abolitionism or women’s rights There are a number of poems composed in prison some in sight of the gallows (Wyatt’s “Sighs are my food It isn’t always clear why these poems belong in the same book Each editor has written a separate prefatory text and it is difficult to make the two match up “Reading the Living Archives,” repeats many points made in her introduction to “Against Forgetting.” She enlists the philosophies of Emanuel Lévinas and Jacques Derrida to her notion of witness poetry but makes no mention of English-language verse it is hard to see how Lévinas’s notion of witnessing as “the owning of one’s infinite responsibility for the other” could help one to determine a selection of poems Perhaps Forché’s essay wasn’t written with the present anthology in mind Duncan Wu’s introduction sets out the editorial criteria more straightforwardly he emphasizes the poetry of witness as a type of political verse “The poems in this book are acts of resistance,” he claims “Some of our authors defy injustice to the extent of incurring the wrath of those willing to impose the ultimate sanction of death; some face risks whether on the battlefield or in the forum of public debate.” This seems an overstatement It is true that Marvell’s “An Horatian Ode Upon Cromwell’s Return from Ireland,” arguably the finest piece of political rhetoric in English It manages to elegize Charles I and to register Marvell’s doubts about Cromwell’s scorched-earth tactics in Wexford and Drogheda But to call it an act of resistance stretches the sense of that phrase There is something frustratingly vague about the notion of a poetry of witness Does the poet of witness need to have direct experience of the events in question as seems to be the case with “The Colonel,” or can witnessing take place at a distance Some of the most powerful poetry of witness—Charles Reznikoff’s “Testimony,” for example or the pages devoted to the Armenian genocide in Les Murray’s “Fredy Neptune,” neither of which appear in this volume—does not rely on having been present at the events in question Is there a common scale of experience between a solitary death Wu’s conflation of witness poetry with political verse may add to the confusion “The Poetry of Witness” includes many works by nineteenth-century women’s-rights advocates and critics of slavery “motivated by their willingness to denounce religious or political injustice,” as Wu writes But is denouncing the same as bearing witness And why are only these movements represented in the anthology seem to recognize—is a politically neutral action There is nothing inherently progressive about being a witness he held extreme views.”) The editors’ decision to include the voices of heroic liberalism also means there is too much verse that is by all conventional criteria—vividness of language oppressed;Oh born to rule in partial law’s despiteResume thy native empire over the breast one senses that both editors are ultimately concerned about the poetry and poets of today as many anthologists are and should be: a tradition needs heirs “The concentration of contemporary poets on the realm of the personal poets commonly discussed experiences shared by the larger community in which they lived.” Lots of critics tell the same story Whereas poetry was once a public art addressed to a broad audience it has become—since around the sixties—the concern of a coterie Rather than discussing the experiences of the larger community poetry has retreated into the workshops of Master’s programs where its death throes go on unnoticed by the rest of the culture Robyn Creswell is poetry editor of The Paris Review and an assistant professor of comparative literature at Brown University. Above: The El Salvadoran Army Patrols the Playa del Cuco District; January, 1981.Photograph by Alain Keler/Sygma/Corbis. the Association of Salesian Cooperators (SSCC) of the Krakow Province (PLS) experienced the Lent retreat on the theme every sinner has his future." The retreat was attended by more than 50 people from the local SSCC centers of: Odessa and also members of a group being formed in Świętochłowice The program included Mass with a homily by Fr Provincial Vicar and Delegate for the Salesian PLS Family watched a performance of the Passion of Christ whose theme was the transformation of two characters after their encounter with Jesus Parallel to the performances were the two lectures by Fr Kostka on the feeling of love in the relationship with loved ones accompanied by some reflections by the participants Then there was the presentation of the Salesian Missionary Volunteers by the person in charge the SSCC Council of the Krakow Province also met to discuss the thematic plan for the upcoming Days of Spirituality 2023 ANS - “Agenzia iNfo Salesiana” is a on-line almost daily publication the communication agency of the Salesian Congregation enrolled in the Press Register of the Tibunal of Rome as n 153/2007 This site also uses third-party cookies to improve user experience and for statistical purposes By scrolling through this page or by clicking on any of its elements Peace Square below Trenčín Castle along with the Trenčín Garrison Club became the venue for the 75th anniversary commemorations of the battle at Jaslo and Artillery Rocket and Missile Forces Day on 15 January 2020 Representatives of all SVK Armed Forces artillery units and veteran associations (i.e Riflemen and Artillerymen Guild Bratislava SVK Generals Club) gathered in Peace Square for a commemoration ceremony During the playing of the SVK national anthem an artillery gun salute was fired in the background from between the old and new railway embankments at the River Váh Poland - June 2021 - The congress of the Salesian Cooperators Association (ASC) of the Province of Krakow took place from 4 to 6 June which could not be held in 2020 due to the pandemic The event began with the Eucharist in the new chapel of the Salesian Youth House and was followed by a conference by Fr Wojciech Krawczyk on the theme "How the young of Valdocco lived the Eucharist" Then there was the traditional "good night" by Fr Witold Majcher On 5 June the new ASC Provincial Council was elected Tadeusz Bednarczyk (from the ASC Local Center in Oświęcim-Zasole) presided over by the Superior of the Krakow Province (PLS) six aspirants made their promises: two from Jasło New petrol stations that have recently joined the AVIA chain are located in Cracow and Płock AVIA has finished the presentation of 8 new stations that have undergone rebranding developing in Poland the chain of petrol stations under the AVIA brand informed the it had increased the number of stations to 30 The new stations appeared in the following locations: Ropczyce The AVIA station in Płock in turn is located at 57 Graniczna next to No 62 national road that connects Płock and Warsaw The station offers 4 stands for refuelling with standard diesel oil and 95 petrol The station shop is opened between the hours 6:00 – 18:00 but the station is fitted with the refuelling machine that allows for 24-hour refuelling We care about the Polish industry and strengthening the country’s fuel security We have allocated over PLN 88 million in funding from the Strategic Investment Programme for the construction of a transport route from the Jedlicze refinery to the Jasło-Krosno national road The Prime Minister visited the Jedlicze refinery where a new bioethanol production plant will be built The investment will strengthen Poland’s position in the European market of new-generation biofuels and create new jobs have signed an agreement concerning the construction of the complex and the financing of the investment This will be the second plant of this type in Europe (the first is in Romania) and the first in Poland Orlen plans to invest more than PLN 1 billion in a new plant for the production of bioethanol – ethyl alcohol It is produced from biomass and is an additive to petrol sewage systems and new water intakes to go hand in hand with the jobs being saved,” said the Prime Minister during the visit The Prime Minister stressed that unemployment was very high before 2015 He recalled that the Jedlicze refinery was to be closed down at that time layoffs were to affect more than 200 people where more than 200 people were to go on strike such a refinery also provides work for local companies cooperators and residents,” pointed out the Prime Minister this investment perfectly demonstrates the change in policy after 2015 Orlen’s investments go hand in hand with those of the government several hundred jobs have been saved here at the Jedlicze refinery The Krosno District has received more than PLN 88 million in funding from the Government’s Strategic Investment Programme to build a new road The road will connect the DK28 in Potok with the Orlen Południe refinery and then with the district road in Jedlicze The activities will also include the construction of a road viaduct over railway line No 108 Stróże-Jasło with all the necessary technical infrastructure This will translate into a direct connection between the Jedlicze plant and the S19 through which there is access to the plant We agreed that an investment in a special link of several kilometres to national road No ‘Credibility’ is our middle name,” concluded Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki