Jewish Scene
'I thought I was the last Jew left'
Roi Mandel
Published: 14.03.12, 08:22
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34 Talkbacks for this article
1. Poland holocaust
observer ,   Egypt   (03.14.12)
Six million Polish citizens perished. Half of these Polish citizens were non-Jews.
2. All my love to this hero!
Esteban ,   Argentina   (03.14.12)
3. Observer
talyah ,   israel   (03.14.12)
What's your point?
4. It tears the heart
Vik ,   Oakland, CA, USA   (03.14.12)
These stories tear the heart, but yet the jewish soul still stands; and the flame that was dimmed, now grows grand
5. NEVER AGAIN!
A Jerusalemite ,   Jerusalem, Israel   (03.14.12)
6. Observer only Jews were targetted for annihilation.Muslim SS
PETER SM ,   AUSTRALLIA   (03.14.12)
was on that side. Then Arabs launched their own war of annihilation. When are you going to give back all the Jewish property stolen by Egypt and your other brothers.?
7. No 1 - as Talya says just what is your problem.
Emma ,   London   (03.14.12)
Are you saying that the Holocaust was not so bad because it was not just Jews who suffered? Of course other people suffered no-one is denying that but the Nazi war was against the Jews (much like yours is today). Even when they were losing the war and could have put much needed resources and man-power into their war effort, they used those resources in their war of extermination against the Jews. It is a lesson that we Jews will never forget. So when people like Hamas and Ahmadinajad says he is going to exterminate Jews we tend to take them seriously. The difference is this time we have the means to defend ourselves and the sooner people like you accept that and that we are not going anywhere, the better life will be for you.
8. #6
Tomek ,   Poland   (03.14.12)
What about Slavs, Chinese, Gypsies, homosexuals, mentally ill, communists, Jehovah's witnesses, etc.? I know that most of the 50 million victims of WWII do not fit your narrative. As a side note, I found it particularly distasteful when some Israelis were lecturing Russia on the need to establish a holocaust memorial day. My instant idea was that the Russians should commemorate the Jewish victims of WWII on the same day when Israel commemorates the 20 million Soviet victims.
9. Moving story.
Dan ,   Switzerland   (03.14.12)
I miracle he could survive. My father, 77, survived the Holocaust in a similar way in occupied Holland, as the only member of his family.
10. I thought I was the only Jew left
Joan ,   USA   (03.14.12)
He was wrong when he said there were no heros in his story. His mother was a hero.
11. No 8
Emma ,   London   (03.14.12)
The 20 million Russians who died did not die on Israeli soil. The Jews in Russia that were murdered were murdered on Russian soil and were murdered for the sole reason that they were Jews. The Jews were targetted in a way no other ethnic group in Russia were. In the case of the Ukraine and Lithuania which at the time were part of Russia, they were targetted in the most part with the collaborationist Ukranians and Lithuanians something for which even today these people are very proud and far from apologising, celebrate.
12. Never again!
Joe ,   BELGIUM   (03.14.12)
Never again!
13. wow... goosebumps
ester   (03.14.12)
14. #8 is actually making a valid point
observer   (03.14.12)
The Russians as such didn't target Jews, it was the Litviner and Ukrainian collaborators. Whilst Jews and Roma were turned over by their neighbours, which is bad enough, most of the others were turned over by their own people, which is even worse. As for a holocaust memorial - the Soviets haven't even gotten around to commemorating the 20 million Russians that Stalin murdered, let alone those that the Germans and their allies murdered. To demand a holocaust memorial of the Russians shows just how self- centred the holocaust business is.
15. #3 mr. myopia, #8 tomek, re: numbers
solomon ,   bklyn   (03.14.12)
1. 3 million Polish Jews were killed by the nazis. Between 1.8 and 2.1 million non-Jewish Polish citizens were killed by the nazis during the course of the war, about four-fifths of whom were ethnic Poles with the remaining fifth being ethnic minorities of Ukrainians and Belarusians. 2. Almost 12 million people [civilians and POW's] were killed by the nazis; 6 million of them were Jews. We should never forget those 6 million who were not Jews.
16. Tell me Observer, just what is your problem
Emma ,   London   (03.14.12)
Why do you hate Jews and Israelis so much? Given that you do, why are you on an Israeli website, is to spread your vile propaganda. You obviously do not care what anyone pro-Israel and pro-Jewish has to say. Do you really think you are influencing people with your disinformation and hatred? I know in advance that your posts are going to be nasty so in future, I will not waste my valuable time and energy reading them and answering them. In point of fact there are memorials to Jewish that took place in WWII but the Soviets deliberately oamitted that it was Jews were massacred.
17. # 8 Tomek ! of course,the majority of
J.K. ,   Brooklyn USA   (03.14.12)
Germany's victims were none Jews,but never in human recorded history,did one nation sentence to death another nation,just because of it's ethnicity,there are historians who believe,that Germany vent to war with poland in order to exterminate polish Jews,yes,it's silly to demand from the Russians to commemorate the extermination of the Jews,Russia is the land of pogroms,during ww 1 when Russia conquered a part of Austria,it's assumed,that 200,000 Jews were killed by Russian troops,in the Ukraine,250,000 Jews were killed by petlura during the civil war,so,i don't expect much from the Russians.
18. # 15 solomon ! were do you get your numbers from ?.
J.K. ,   Brooklyn USA   (03.14.12)
1.3 million jews killed by the Germans,your number is wrong,before the war there were 3.3 million Jews in poland,only about 70,000 thousand Jews survived,which means that the Germans killed 3,2 million polish Jews.
19. #8 & #14
yosef ,   williamsburg   (03.14.12)
The Soviets ded not target Jews?? Which day of which year are you refering to? The Russians always target Yids in one way or another and history proves that...what type of relativist revisionist history are you guys reading?
20. #18 jk - I was afraid this would happen
solomon ,   bklyn   (03.14.12)
We agree. I wrote that 3 million Polish Jews were killed by the nazis. The number "1." is the number of my statement, followed by "2." I tried to space it far from the 3 million number, but didn't do a good job. ie I wrote 3 million, NOT 1.3 million. I should have set it up differently. Sorry for the confusion.
21. Six million Ukrainian Christians killed by Jewish Bolsheviks
observer ,   Egypt   (03.14.12)
Six million Ukrainian Christians killed by the Jewish Bolsheviks in the Holodomor. In 2008, the Knesset declined to recognize the Armenian massacre how a country of great democracy like Israel failed to make the minimum required by the friendly Armenian people. Because Israel has been in constant fear that Turky would divulge the no secret that the Young Turks were crypto-Jews. The US has issued a Congress' understanding recognizing the Armenian massacre.
22. Ukrainian Holodomor
observer ,   Egypt   (03.14.12)
Six million Ukrainian Christians killed by Jewish Bolsheviks.
23. Last Jew alive
Shoshanna H. Kaye ,   Irvington NJ USA   (03.14.12)
May this man live for many more years! Amazing how many details he still remembers after all this time. I guess they are burned into his psyche. Thank you for printing this!
24. # 21 biased observer ! we know why muslim
J.K ,   Brooklyn USA   (03.14.12)
Turks wished to kill Armenians,but crypto Jews, or none crypto Jews,didn't hate Armenians,by the way, crypto Jews existed only in Spain,Portugal,and in muslim persia,not in Turkey,it was a Jew named Henry Morgenthau who saved the Armenians in Constantinopol in 1915. the Ukrainians were killed by a christian,named Djugashvily stalin,so,stop blaming the Jews,and to what religion belonged the mob, who raped a female reporter,L Logan, at Tahrir square believing,she is a Jew ?.
25. ???
SK ,   Boston, MA   (03.14.12)
I hope that now that democracy has come to Egypt you will have free and unfettered access to information and that you will no longer remain so confused about who killed whom during WW II. Israel can hardly risk angering the Turkish government when it is one of its few allies in the region. The United States is hardly in the same position visavis the Turkish government. The failure in this case lies with Turkey, which should acknowledge its actions and offer reparations to the Armenian people. Once it does so, other countries can also do so without fear of repercussions.
26. Blame the Jews ...
SK ,   Boston, MA   (03.14.12)
It's amazing how Jews can be responsible for both Bolshevism in the Ukraine and fascism in Latin America as well as secularism in Russia and religious fundamentalism in Israel. Is there no limit to what the Jewish people can do? If Jews were the primary beneficiaries of Communism, please explain why Jews were marked as such on their identity documents in all communist countries and also experienced severe discrimination there. Were there no Christian communists in the Ukraine? The ideals of socialism were wonderful. They inspired people of every faiths to try to overthrow monarchies and feudal societies. There were communists in every Muslim country. All of them were Muslim, and yet you do not blame Islam for their behavior. How socialism came to such a terrible and repressive end is a sad story involving deception and oppression and the abuse of power. Everyone who supported those abuses bears the blame for the repression endured by the inhabitants of the former USSR. Like every other group under socialism, Jews benefited if they supported the state without question and they suffered if they tried to do anything else. To blame one group for a worldwide ideology that went terribly wrong is hardly fair -- no better than blaming Islam for religious fundamentalism and medieval practices.
27. the names are interesting
Justine   (03.14.12)
The article says it was a traditional Jewish family, yet his father's first name was Mistislav (Mscislaw?) - an almost ostentatious Slavic name - his sister was named Wanda, and on the picture it says his name was Wlodek. So they were careful to emphasize links to the Polish society. Poland has lost much in losing such people.
28. His mother is a real hero!
(03.14.12)
His mother was a real hero: tram story or the story of walking amidst Germans during the mass killing is really very heavy. The rest of it is also staggering. We value little simple fight for survival of one individual person. But this is really all what is in life!
29. Nobody denies other victims of Nazis but only the Jews as a
PETER SM ,   AUSTRALIA   (03.15.12)
were to be wiped out. Polish Catholics were not killed for being Polish Catholics, Russians not just for being Russians Gypsies suffered horribly but were not rounded up with the same insane ruthless vigor as the Jews
30. Observer You need to read some history books
PETER SM ,   AUSTRALIA   (03.15.12)
There are plenty of properly doccumented books on Stalin and his inhuman rule " Stalin in the Court of the Red Tzar" by Mintefiore is well researched history and well accepted.
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