May 18, 2023 | Society Large numbers of people have been gathering in prayer around a tree next to an apartment block in the Polish city of Parczew after an image that some say resembles Jesus or the Virgin Mary mysteriously appeared on its bark rejected the idea that the image has divine origin with a spokesman joking it looks more like Conchita Wurst – the drag queen who won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2014 – than Jesus or Mary a video first appeared on YouTube showing people gathered around the tree in Parczew As the news started to draw national attention, larger numbers of people began arriving each day at the site to pray or simply see the image for themselves Many have told reporters that they regard it as some kind of divine message Some believe the image – which is several metres above ground level – resembles Mary and have likened it to the Marian apparitions reported to have appeared in Fátima But others claim it is the son of God himself “This is really some kind of miracle or warning “It’s just some kind of tree disease,” said another visitor “The marks on the bark just happened to line up like that.” the Roman Catholic diocese of Siedlce issued a statement saying that “we are not dealing with a supernatural phenomenon [and] therefore the diocese will not start canonical proceedings” “If we trace the history of apparitions we do not see any on the bark of a tree,” the curia’s spokesman “There will be no reaction on our part because the church deals with serious issues Świątek joked that the image on the tree looks more like Conchita Wurst than Mary or Jesus while he suggested that “the apparition will disappear with the next rain” it remains on the tree despite downpours this week Conchita Wurst (Albin Olsson/Wikimedia Commons, under CC BY-SA 3.0) Poland is one of Europe’s most religious countries, with over 90% of the population officially classified as Catholic, 87% declaring themselves to be believers in God and 43% saying that they practice their faith regularly Main image credit: TV Dębowa Kłoda/YouTube screenshot Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications , , Karol Nawrocki even suggested that the state security services were involved in creating the scandal , , The 1,200 square metre national symbol was unfurled on the beach in Międzyzdroje , , The proportion of Poles saying the US has a positive influence on the world has also fallen to its lowest recorded level 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 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 While working on archivization of our correspondences we came across a letter from Mr Andrzej who asked us for one thing: ‘I am already an old I would very much like my Jewish family to have a slight trace left and I have no one to give these small souvenirs to.’ Andrzej’s dad was a Catholic his mother a Jewish woman who converted to Catholicism when the couple got married in 1930 in Kraków accepted her daughter’s decision to change her faith and they stayed close Her father Isaac was a rabbi and most likely never accepted the fact that his daughter left Judaism and they had no contact with each other his mother had to run away with the children after Józef (Andrzej’s father) escaped from Soviet captivity the family found each other and decided to wait out the war in Sokołów Małopolski They tried to save their mother’s family but in 1942 Czesława’s sisters found themselves in the Parczew ghetto from where her Sister Maria wrote the last letter just before the deportation to the death camp We do not give all the data and details that are in the letter because we do not know if Mr Andrzej would have wished it but we want to fulfil his will and publish photos of Sochaczewski family I hurry to write a couple of words to you We are being forced to obey and are going on the last transport to the execution after whom we looked until the last moment but I didn’t want you to write to some strangers who read other people’s letters we were hoping that we might stay alive I wish we would have gotten the papers last summer Maybe if I would have told you something you might have helped us but neither of us wanted to put you at risk Even though we suffer so much now Maybe in the afterlife will be better our life had been an endless misery anyway Both of us was always honest with you Maybe you would have been better off as well I would pay anything for us to stay alive We leave behind a lot of belongings We would readily leave it for you with someone who developed her photographs under blankets overnight Documentary filmmaker Julia Mintz has been collecting stories for over 20 years It was the story of a young girl who encamped in a ditch and exploded a Nazi train heading to the frontlines I want to make a movie about her,’” Mintz said in a phone interview but a member of a network of Jewish partisans numbering over 25,000 who fought Nazis and their collaborators in the woods of Belarus “I had known about the Bielski brigade – but I knew that was a family camp,” Mintz said. “I had known about Hannah Senesh and a few others but I had no real understanding of the thousands and thousands of people that were part of the armed Jewish resistance during World War II there was no doubt in my mind that I needed to learn more.” RelatedFrom The YIVO Archives: The Unknown Memoir of Tuvia Bielski “Four Winters,” Mintz’s first feature documentary as writer tells the story of eight partisans reflecting on their time in the primeval forests grief and struggles with faith and moral uncertainty A veteran producer and production designer on films like “Mr Soul!” and “Soundtrack for a Revolution,” Mintz says she made “Four Winters” “upside down,” interviewing nearly three dozen partisans before she had secured financing for the film though largely young people when they fought for their survival in the wilderness Mintz wanted the partisans to tell their own stories and made a deliberate choice to not yield the floor to any historian talking heads people will pontificate and there’ll be all sorts of scholarly research that can contribute to this subject,” Mintz said “But this is the final telling and I wanted us to just have the opportunity to be with them in the intimacy and the rawness and the grit — and in the promise of witnessing and carrying their stories forward.” in which she tells a gutting story about how she burned down her own home with her family dead and her living in the wilderness the Nazis had set up a police headquarters The eight partisans detail how they ate (pork for one woman who preferred to remain kosher a chicken was acquired); smuggled ammunition (“women have more places to hide weapons than men,” one woman tells us); and even worshiped “We didn’t give up our faith,” Isadore Farbstein after a gentile villager threatened to expose him as Jewish Mintz chose to premiere the film around the High Holidays the yearslong production prompted her to reassess the narrative of the Holocaust not just from the perspective of the partisans “This film shatters the myth of Jewish passivity but it shatters it with the nuance of a new understanding,,” Mintz said “Part of that too is understanding what it was like to be inside the train and why people didn’t all jump out.” Mintz came to realize that the partisans managed to escape to the woods and take up arms through incredible strokes of luck The many more Jews who were deported or sent on death marches may not have acted to disarm their guards or flee for a very good reason: Doing so could endanger others Most of the partisans in the documentary have passed away who recounts his escape from a cattle car into the woods attended a recent screening at the Berkshire Film Festival which eschews narration and talking head experts Mintz read a letter from one of her subjects “Let the next generations know that Jews fought against the Nazi machine,” Palevsky wrote “They did not go like sheep to the slaughter All of our stories are an important part of history that can too easily be overlooked or forgotten.” RelatedDiscovering My Family’s Legacy as Jewish PartisansEd Zwick Turns His Lens on a Quartet of Jewish Partisans “Four Winters” opens Friday, Sept. 16 at Film Forum. Tickets and information can be found here PJ Grisar is a Forward culture reporter. He can be reached at [email protected] and @pjgrisar on Twitter.[email protected]@pjgrisar I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward American Jews need independent news they can trust At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S rising antisemitism and polarized discourse This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up Copyright © 2025 The Forward Association CA Immo exits non-core market Serbia with the sale of the 19,600 sqm office building Sava Business Center in Belgrade Both the sales price and the buyer are subject to confidentiality As the PBSA sector finally takes off in Poland it is now increasingly attracting international operators and investors Eurobuild CEE spoke to Xior's investment manager about why it has such confidence in the Polish market Residential developer Develia has signed a preliminary agreement to acquire all the shares in Bouygues Immobilier Polska the Polish subsidiary of Bouygues Immobilier ESA logistika has leased 15,000 sqm in Prologis Park Piotrków GLP has completed the development of its Wrocław V Logistics Centre and has received a BREEAM rating of Outstanding Panattoni has secured EUR 40 mln in financing from BNP Paribas for the development of Panattoni Park Sosnowiec IV Newgate Investment (NGI) and Redkom Development are developing a large retail park in Bydgoszcz Deutsche Hypo – NORD/LB Real Estate Finance has provided a five-year green loan to Olivia Seven for the refinancing of the Olivia Prime A office building in Gdańsk-Oliwa communications and security company Motorola Solutions has signed a five-year lease renewal 18,000 sqm at the Green Office complex in Kraków’s Podgórze district Falling interest rates and easing monetary policy across the eurozone and CEEi are boosting investor confidence in the region’s commercial real estate market reveals Colliers in its ‘Beyond Real Estate | Economy’ report Panattoni is to build the Panattoni Park Mainz Süd in Erbes-Büdesheim bei Alzey Axi Immo has presented its latest report “Warsaw Office Market – Q1 2025 The market opened in 2025 on a steady footing with a notable increase in leasing activity and a modest decline in vacancy landlords continue to focus on upgrading existing assets and prioritizing quality over quantity Convenience store chain Żabka has officially opened a new logistics centre in Kąty Wrocławskie The first stage of the development will serve 1,500 stores in the Wrocław area Romanian Post has leased over 5,000 sqm of logistics space in CTPark Bucharest to serve as its temporary regional courier and logistics hub for Bucharest JLL has announced the sale and leaseback of two properties by a manufacturing company in a deal worth over PLN 1 bln Warehouse developer CTP is adding 2,000 sqm to its Clubco coworking development in Brno pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank has extended an investment facility to PineBridge Benson Elliot for the Diuna Office Park in Warsaw The hotel market in Bucharest continued its recovery in 2024 while the ADR has finally surpassed the milestone of EUR 100 Torus has announced its All.inn students’ residence concept that is soon to appear on ul BIG Poland has acquired the Multishop Suwałki retail park comprising 13,000 sqm of retail space The company now owns nine fully commercialized retail parks in Poland Slate Asset Management has sold three OBI retail stores to the Lindner Group from Germany Cushman & Wakefield has conducted a survey the findings of which are presented in the report From Shopping to Experiences: A Customer’s View on Shopping Centres and Retail Parks Cushman & Wakefield notes that despite evolving shopping trends both retail formats continue to hold strong appeal Multi Poland has taken on the management of the Galeria Przymorze shopping centre in Gdańsk The store offers lifestyle and sporting clothing and is to open this spring According to the "Quo Vadis E-commerce" report released by Cushman & Wakefield the online commerce continues to be a growth driver for the industrial & logistics real estate sector generating significant opportunities for developers and investors the investor behind the Projekt Góraszka shopping and entertainment complex in Wiązowna on Warsaw’s eastern outskirts has obtained a building permit for a mixed-use development Poznan-based company Scallier is opening another facility under the Funshop Park brand in Romania According to the latest report “At a Glance: Modern Retail Market in Poland Q4 2024” from BNP Paribas Real Estate Poland Poland’s retail market experienced record growth in 2024 Cushman &Wakefield has summarised the situation on the Polish retail market Over half a mln sqm of new retail space came on stream last year marking the highest new supply level in Poland since 2015 This robust development activity occurred amid rising demand from new retailers and improving consumer sentiment which boosted retail sales A new retail park with a total area of 24,000 sqm is set to be developed in Otwock under the name Świderek The investment will be led by Redkom Development Empik has opened a flagship store in the revitalised former Cepelia pavilion in the centre of Warsaw the modernist building has regained its former glory and once again impresses with its original appearance and modern interior Trei Real Estate Poland has opened its 40th Vendo Park The investment was created in Wrocław and has 5,000 sqm Vendo Park Wrocław is the first facility under this banner in the capital of Lower Silesia The retail park was built on a plot of approx An 800 sqm Biedronka grocery store is to open on the ground floor of the Moje Bielany residential complex which is being developed by CeMat A/S at ul Wólczyńska 121 in Warsaw’s Bielany district Spring has very much sprung and everywhere is bathed in the first warm sunshine of the year I have in the back of my mind the terrifying fo .. The Polish warehouse market has finally stabilised after the post-pandemic boom but new challenges and opportunities are on the horizon for the sector UBM Development has been given the go-ahead for the first wooden office building in Poland: Timber Park in Poleczki Business Park in Warsaw The office market in Warsaw is currently experiencing a period of stability in terms of supply and take-up Recent data on overall tenant activity indicates that clients in the cap .. Receive all the latest information from the world of real estate by e-mail the construction of the Aura residential building designed by Robert Konieczny's office KWK Promes According to a report by research company Spectis “Construction companies in Poland 2025-2030” the total revenues of the 300 leading construction gro .. 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