On Oct. 7, a remembrance in Kraków
Oct. 7Remember and Welcome

On Oct. 7, a remembrance in Kraków

'By virtue of having gone through what we've gone through, we have something to teach, and we are examples of Jewish resilience'

Outside the Kraków JCC, participants read names of individuals killed on Oct. 7, 2023, and of Israeli soldiers who’ve subsequently fallen in battle. (Photo by Adam Reinherz)
Outside the Kraków JCC, participants read names of individuals killed on Oct. 7, 2023, and of Israeli soldiers who’ve subsequently fallen in battle. (Photo by Adam Reinherz)

KRAKÓW, Poland — Mourning Jews in Poland is a familiar practice. Doing it one year after a pogrom in Israel is less common. With stacks of paper in hand, residents gathered outside the Jewish Community Centre of Krakow on Oct. 7 to mark last year’s Hamas attack on the Jewish state.

“A year ago, darkness befell Israel,” co-organizer Sara Tal Rehovi told attendees. Being here “brings a little bit of light to us all.”

Few statements were made outside the JCC. Instead, residents clutched stapled sheets bearing nearly 1500 names. Each name belonged to someone killed on Oct. 7, 2023, or to an Israeli soldier who was killed in battle.

For almost 70 minutes, the names were read, one by one.

More than 50 people attended the JCC’s event. Most stood silently. A single yahrzeit candle was placed on a table outside the building’s gate. Affixed to the fence were photographs of the hostages, a large sign reading “Bring Them Home Now” and the words “Stop by and say hi.”

An Oct. 7 commemoration brought more than 50 residents to the Kraków JCC. Photo by Adam Reinherz. (Photo by Adam Reinherz)

Participants stood on a small sidewalk between the gate and street. As names were read, cars passed. So did walkers; most pedestrians moved to the street so as to not disrupt the vigil. A middle-aged man passed through the group and said, “Free Palestine. Long live the resistance.”

Jonathan Ornstein, the JCC’s CEO, replied, “Why don’t you come in?”

While residents read names, Rehovi lit two rows of yahrzeit candles inside the JCC’s gate. By the time the reading concluded, the sun set. Kindled candles marked a path to enter the JCC.

Upstairs, the program continued.

“Tonight we commemorate more than 1400 victims of the massacre of the 7th of October — people of different religions: Jews, Arabs and other nationalities who lost their lives on that day,” co-organizer Karolina Aderet said. “We commemorate soldiers who died to save their country and left home for a peaceful future. We [remember] that all of the 101 hostages still in Gaza need to come back home now.”

Songs and speeches followed.

Ornstein called the program a “time for us to reflect, to come together, to think about what was lost, and I guess hopefully, to still be optimistic.”

The Oct. 7 massacre was the most deadly attack on Jews since the Holocaust.

That designation has local meaning, Ornstein told the Chronicle: “We have some experience here with dealing with tragedy, and dealing with genocide and attempted genocide, and somehow this Jewish community has come out on the other side.”

Kraków is about an hour’s drive from Auschwitz, a Nazi concentration and extermination camp. On the eve of World War II, nearly a quarter of Kraków’s 250,000 residents were Jewish; by January 1945, only 4,282 Jews remained.

“This community was at the epicenter of the Holocaust and is now being reborn with Jews, people finding out they’re Jewish, Jews and non-Jews working together to rebuild Jewish life,” Ornstein said.

Jonathan Ornstein, CEO of the Kraków JCC. (Photo by Adam Reinherz)

He pointed to Hebrew, Yiddish and Arabic classes, cultural events, Shabbat programming and a recent Rosh Hashanah dinner welcoming 220 community members as signs of Kraków’s burgeoning Jewish life.

“We have more than 1,000 Jewish members, but almost everything we do is open to the public,” Ornstein said.

During the past year, that work has involved addressing the events of Oct. 7 and the need to bring the hostages home.

“We’ve tried to be as vocal as possible,” he said. “We’re not shy.”

Doing so mirrors efforts to support Ukrainian refugees, he continued. Within days of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the JCC became a food pantry, “which turned into housing and a full range of social services. To date, we’ve helped 360,000 Ukrainian refugees, and we’re still helping 400 a day: women and children, 98% of whom are not Jewish.”

Located in Kazimierz, the heart of Kraków’s historic Jewish district, the JCC is a beacon to thousands, Ornstein said. “By virtue of having gone through what we’ve gone through, we have something to teach, and we are examples of Jewish resilience.”

Jews, he said, are “thriving not only in Tel Aviv and Pittsburgh and Miami, but we’re thriving in Kraków, down the road from Auschwitz, and this is a story that we need to make sure our young people know: that they don’t only define themselves by antisemitism and who’s against us, but that we will outlast all our enemies and we will continue to be here.”

Several participants of the JCC’s program recently arrived in Kraków. Before entering the building for the second part of the vigil, they read names beneath a large banner. Handwritten in Ukrainian were the words “Ласкаво просимо.” In English, they mean “welcome.” PJC

Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

read more:
comments