Monday, June 14, 2010

Poland asks prisoners to care for Jewish cemeteries

Poland asks prisoners to care for Jewish cemeteries

(ISJM) Here is a link to a BBC video report about prisoners in Poland providing labor to help maintain Jewish cemeteries.

This may sound a little odd, but remember that in America prisoners routinely are used for roadwork and other public works projects. It is a very old tradition. The bitter irony of course is that in many cases Nazi prisoners - often Jews themselves - were used to destroy Jewish cemeteries by uprooting gravestones during the years of the Holocaust. It should also be noted that many other groups in Poland - including youth groups, scout groups, and church groups carry out cleaning work at Jewish cemeteries.

Wednesday, 9 June 2010

Polish prisoners are helping to clean up some of the country's neglected Jewish cemeteries. Before World War II the graveyards were taken care of by Europe's largest Jewish commmunity. But 90% of Poland's Jews were murdered by the Nazis, and the population now numbers only several thousand.
Adam Easton reports from Warsaw.

(click on link below for video report)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/europe/10271705.stm

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