Krakow, Poland
Photo: API
Polish youth who recently discovered Jewish roots to visit Israel
Twenty-two young Poles to participate in a special educational seminar for Poland's 'Hidden Jews from the Holocaust'
A special group consisting of 22 Polish young people, all of whom only recently discovered their Jewish roots, will arrive in Israel
on Sunday for a special three-week long, Polish-language seminar being organized by Shavei Israel.
This seminar is the first of its kind, and it will take place in Jerusalem and be held entirely in Polish. As part of the program, the participants will travel throughout Israel, study Hebrew, and learn about Jewish history, culture and religion, as well as the history of the State of Israel.
The participants, most of whom are in their 20s, come from an array of cities in Poland, including Krakow, Lodz, Lublin, Przemysl, Wroclaw, Zawiercie, and Warsaw.
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Shavei Israel has arranged for Polish-speaking Israeli educators to teach the youth, and to guide them on their visits to various parts of the country.
Today, there are approximately 4,000 Jews registered as living in Poland, but experts suggest there may be tens of thousands of other Jews in Poland who to this day are either hiding their identities or are simply unaware of their family heritage.
In recent years, a growing number of such people, known as the "Hidden Jews of Poland", have begun to return to Judaism and to the Jewish people.
According to Michael Freund, Founder and Chairman of Shavei Israel, "Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, an increasing number of Polish youth have begun to rediscover their families' Jewish heritage, which was often hidden out of fear of persecution by the Nazis and the Communists.
"Many are seeking to reconnect with their Jewish roots and with the State of Israel, so we organized this special seminar for the ‘Hidden Jews’ of Poland in order to facilitate this process. Sixty years after the Holocaust, what could be more meaningful than bringing young Polish Jews back to the Jewish people? It is an exciting and historic task," Freund said.
