The Peretzniks (2009) - full transcript
LODZ, POLAND
Hanka Blumsztajn
My name is Hanka
Blumsztajn – now I live in Israel,
in Petach Tikvah, which
means the Gates of Hope
Jerzy Borensztajn
Jerzy Borensztajn – I live in Tel Aviv now
Lilka Rozenbaum
I'm from Lodz, from the Peretz school,
now I live in Boston
Paulina Lajfer
I'm from Lodz, now
I live in the State of New York
Henryk Chmielnicki
My name is Heniek Chmielnicki,
I live in New York now
Mira Lejb
Currently I live in the US
Freda Rozenbaum
I live in London, and partly in Tel Aviv,
Ewa Rozenbaum
My name is now Ewa Yerushalmi I live in
London and in Israel, I sort of divide my time
Marek Rozenbaum
My name is Marek Rozenbaum. Currently
I live in Israel in Ramat Ha'Sharon
Henryk Lewkowicz
Now I live in Ottawa, Canada
Golda Tencer
I live in Warsaw now. I stayed.
My emigration was only to Warsaw
Janusz Tencer
I live in Sweden now
Jurek Dancygier
I live in New York, in Manhattan
Beniek Chencinski
I live in Toronto now, in Canada
Sarenka Kagan
I live in Israel, in Jerusalem
The Peretzniks
A film by Slawomir Grunberg
Based on an idea by Golda Tencer
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL
My name is Sara Kagan, though
friends always called me Sarenka.
That's you there in 3rd grade,
the end of school year…
After the war, like
many Jewish children,
I found myself at the
orphanage in Helenowek.
I was sent to the Peretz School
right after it was opened.
When I graduated in 1957, many Jews from
Lodz chose to emigrate, mainly to Israel.
I stayed.
I returned to Peretz after graduating
from university…this time as a teacher
- Everyone remembers right?…
- You were a good kid, polite…
I decided to go to Israel only after
they closed down the school in 69
Who? Heniek? Great!
- Of course!
- Shalom
My behavior at school
was 'unsatisfactory' …
This film is about my Jewish
school, its students, and the people
who created it and who are now
scattered all around the world.
Oh, this is Tosia…
Not Tosia but Tonia
In 1st grade nothing was
taught in any other language
but Yiddish, they even
taught Polish in Yiddish
I was neither Polish nor Jewish, I was
just Sara, I was simply a human being
I don't think we
considered ourselves Jews.
We felt that we were
Poles of Jewish origin.
I was 100% Polish and
100% Jewish and I never
thought one conflicted
with the other in any way
I never had any identity issues.
I think we had a Christmas tree with real
candles on it
I always felt Polish,
Poland was my homeland.
For me… the Polish army…
I was a true Polish patriot
I am a Jewish child and a Polish flower
Pre-war Lodz was one of the economic
and industrial centers of Europe
It was also a meeting point for many
different cultures and nationalities.
This so called 'Promised Land' was
inhabited by Poles, Jews and Germans,
but also Czechs, Russians, Austrians,
English, French, and the Italians.
Both culture and business
flourished in Lodz
In both areas, Jews were
among the successful ones.
Before the war they accounted
for about 1/3 of the city's population.
World War II brought about the most
tragic events in the history of Lodz Jews.
The Lodz Ghetto became the
second largest after the Warsaw one,
and it existed longer than any
other ghetto in Nazi-occupied Europe.
60 thousand Jews perished
in the Lodz ghetto alone.
Another 130 thousand Lodz Jews
were murdered in death camps.
After the war Lodz turned out to be
one f the least destroyed Polish cities
A handful of those who
survived in the ghetto
were now joined by some
50 thousand Polish Jews,
who survived the war
mainly in the Soviet Union.
Slowly, Jewish life in Lodz
was being revived.
LODZ, POLAND
In 1945 the Yitzchak Leyb Peretz
Jewish School was established in
Lodz, Named after one of the
leading Yiddish writers in Poland.
KILINSKI STREET
More and more kids
were enrolling in the
Peretz School and, despite its shabby
building on Kilinski Street 49,
the school was soon considered the best
Jewish teaching facility in post-war Poland.
We used to always walk to
school in groups, of 2 or 3.
We walked in groups because it was more
fun, and because sometimes it was… safer.
The school meant everything.
It was a place for study,
for fun, for frienship…
Ballet, shows, culture.
It was everything.
The Peretz School was
my love, my home, my life.
I never found
anything like it in my life.
It was everything, it was our entire world
The school was my entire life
It was my family, it was my home
We were a very close-knit bunch, the things
we did together …you would not believe
We all knew each other
inside out… really, and
we had an immense
tolerance for one another.
Everyday together… it created friendships,
which are important forever
The school provided meaning in my life
It was no regular school, for me
it was a way of life, really.
Back, when the Jewish
school was 'really Jewish' we
didn't go to school on
Saturdays, but on Sundays.
As we walked to school, we saw
empty streets you know…
On Sundays everyone's
either in church or sleeping or
something, and there we
were with our school backpacks.
Getting to school by tram on
Sunday with a schoolbag wasn't easy.
Only Jewish kids had bags like
those, you could see them from afar…
The whole tram would laugh
and murmur something
Our parents asked for
us to have classes on
Saturdays, instead of
Sundays, like everybody else.
Those Jews of Lodz who sent their
children to a Jewish school did so
partly in order to familiarize them
with elements of Jewish tradition,
but partly also in order to
protect us from the outside
world. And so the school
became our only reality
TEL AVIV, ISRAEL
(singing in Polish language)
Oh, I'm so happy…
20 years... Hanka, you haven't aged at all…
Here's my sweetheart
You must take a look at me here.
I was always tall and beautiful,
and for being so beautiful
they cut off my head of like this...
This is me in kindergarten
Graduation at the Peretz Jewish School
Graduation at the Peretz Jewish School
As I was leaving Poland, everyone asked
me „Why are you going, kid?”,
I just put my head down, I had nothing
to say, I was a young girl…
I have friends all over the world,
I don't know if we would be so close
now if we had stayed in Poland.
Our life stories are so
alike, though I live in Israel,
Heniek is in Canada, and
Golda stayed in Poland.
When I go back to Poland, I see the willow
trees, forests… My God how I miss that…
In Israel, I see the red sunshine and
those colors you know, like in van Gogh
the colors in Israel are beautiful.
In Poland on the other hand you have so
much green and the houses are grey.
In Israel... In Israel everyone is nervous
and obnoxious, but when there is war or
shootings, everyone is suddenly together.
And I don't know where I am, I am
completely divided between two worlds,
and at age 60 I still don't know who I am,
maybe you can tell me…?
In 1956 most of our classmates left Poland.
They opened the borders then
and allowed emigration.
And so the Jewish population shrunk
instantly from 80 thousand to 30.
50 thousand Jews left.
One of the people, who left in 1956
was Daniel Libeskind,
NEW YORK, USA
one of the most renowned contemporary
architects.
We were among the first
Jews to leave to Israel,
it was kind of an expulsion but we were
kind of a happy to be part of it.
I remember the people that
moved into our apartment had
already slept in the apartment
while we were there sleeping,
to make sure that they
get the possession of
the apartment. So had
nothing except of fear...
During the time, when Jews were allowed
to leave Poland for Israel,
a wave of Jewish repatriants
returned from the Soviet
Union, which was
forbidden by Stalin until then.
A new crowd of kids
appeared at the Peretz School
and you could now hear
Russian in the hallways.
ASHKELON, ISRAEL
Wow, so many years, so many years..
At the end of the 60s and the beginning of
the 70s some 20 thousand Jews left Poland.
Now, every two or three
years, Polish Jews from
all over the world reunite
in Ashkelon in Israel.
The Peretniks are always well represented.
40 years, but I recognized them,
I recognized them, I did
Most Peretzniks lived
in the very heart of
Lodz, just a few blocks
away from each other.
And the school was the actual
central to their lives.
The school was a kind of oasis for us.
Lodz was quite antisemitic at the time
and the school gave us a feeling
of security
As Jews, we grew up in
an atmosphere of a potential
war, even the Polish
population felt this way
At school, we could talk
freely about who we were,
but God forbid that someone
should hear us outside
I felt safe there, at the school
It was like a little Jewish nook in Lodz,
which wasn't very friendly
I don't think I even knew of
any other schools,
I always say that I crossed over to the
'Aryan side' only after graduation
It was a kind of
seclusion within our own
community where we knew
nothing bad could happen,
while outside
it could be dangerous
The Peretzniks' favorite
Polish literature teacher
- Mrs. Kwiatkowska
Lives in Lodz till this day.
Come in.
We have green tea here, I see…
No, this is mate, not green tea!
Don't dare to spill it!
Let's see what we're saying here
- We talk about them all the time
- I remember all the teachers.
Polish was taught by Mrs. Kwiatkowska
Who I was a bit of a nuisance
for sometimes…
- Once, but seriously
I liked her very much nevertheless
Mrs. Kwiatkowska – she was romantic.
She taught us beautiful Polish literature,
She taught us how to explore it,
- Hania Blumsztajn?! Oh God...
- to discover this beautiful literature.
And I am still a romantic myself, and I
follow my heart and not my head,
This is Mrs. Kwiatkowska's influence.
We absolutely loved her,
she was a great teacher.
I remember dancing with Mrs. Kwiatkowska,
she was a very tall woman, and I was…
I was just as tall at age 12 as I am now,
She was so much taller than me,
I was a big deal for me,
And I still carry very
pleasant thoughts of her
- Is this Faszczyk? I liked him a lot.
She was a very good and warm
person and teacher
I think it stuck with all of us, and that's
why we are so close, that romanticism…
And that's why most of us do not
have the most normal lives,
but we have interesting ones.
TORONTO, CANADA
After the war, Jewish
parents were reluctant to tell
their to tell their children
about the Holocaust,
about lost grandparents, uncles,
cousins, or siblings,
Nor did they tell them about the events,
which took place in Poland after the war,
Such as Kielce pogrom.
This is our classroom… and is this Sarenka?
The Peretzniks were brought up somewhat
unaware of what the outside world was like.
- Sarenka was in your class?
- Oh wait, I've got this once...
Only as teenagers did they begin to
understand why were so well protected,
watched-over, kept in a Jewish school, and
fed a mandatorily second breakfast.
- This is Lucek.
- That's me.
- And this is me..
At our school, there were children
of intelligentsia.
None at all,
there were no doctors or lawyers,
they didn't send their children to the
Jewish school.
Who was at our school? Only the poor.
When in sixth grade the teacher asked Ester
Baum, why she hadn't come to school,
She said that her father was getting
her shoes repaired
And why didn't you put on another pair?
'They're the only pair I own.'
Children of the intelligentsia or the
richer kind were sent to Polish schools.
(jazz music)
They said that the State of Israel should
be established in Birobijan,
then in Uganda, and later on Madagascar,
and so we chose… Canada
(laugh)
Most of us had no family,
no grandpas no grandmas, I didn't even know
that such things existed, I
only had parents
All of my polish friends had grandmas
and grandpas...
I didn't even know who
is a 'grandma' or 'grandpa'...
Since a was a little kid I always
thought that in a Jewish family
there is no notion of
grandparents, there are only parents.
All of a sudden it turns
out that there are other kids
like me, who have no aunts
or uncles or anybody else
Family was replaced by friends
This bond we shared somehow replaced
the family we were missing
The school was a
kind of children's home,
yeah, that's how it was…
laughter through tears
LODZ, POLAND
Most of the boys had a crush on the young
physics teacher Miss Wanda Minich
Thank you so much, it's very nice of you…
I was very young and for me to have contact
with people who experienced so much…
It was shocked that they could
be very happy
Oh! Miss Wanda, the physics teacher, we
used to drop pencils on the floor,
so that we could get under the tables
and peep on that lady,
she was the prettiest…
She was our physics teacher, I know!
I know exactly, she would appear in our
dreams, not only mine…
(laugh)
Miss Wanda was our physics teacher and
she was a very beautiful woman
and us kids we were simply crazy about
her and would do anything to please her.
Unfortunately, she was my teacher only for
a while, I was very sorry because of this…
I am absolutely shocked,
really never thought
that I was perceived in this way...
I was a just an
ordinary young girl and that's it
When I was younger I used to say I didn't
want to be Jewish.
First of all I didn't know what
Jewish meant.
I would ask my mom in the
street „is this a Jew?” „Yes”
"And this?” „No” „And this?” „No” „So
how do you know who is Jew?”
Then I would ask if our cat was a Jew,
because we had a cat.
I asked my mom „Mommy when do I have
my first communion?”
And so mom said I have good news and bad
news, the good, bad news is you are Jewish.
As a child I didn't understand
what any of this was about, but I
knew you weren't supposed to talk
about being Jewish or about Israel
When I was 6 or 7 I thought we must
have moved to Poland from
a foreign country and
that's why they hate us
They would call us 'dirty Jew'
or would say that your parents
drew blood for matzah
I didn't want to be Jewish in Poland
back then.
I even...
remember myself in front of the mirror
asking my mother „do I like look a Jew?”
„No, no, it's just that all Jews look
like you” I was very unhappy
„look at this fat Jewess”…
my mother was very big…
„How fat she grew on Polish blood”
When I heard that Jews killed Christ
I used to say it couldn't have been
us, maybe the Rubinsteins from upstairs
'cos they're not very nice, but it
surely wasn't us who killed Christ
My father definitely
didn't kill Christ because
he's back from work
every day exactly at 5pm
XXVII Lyceum by the name of Peretz.
Usually, everyone else
wore it sowed onto their unforms
but we normally kept it on
a rubber band and took it
off so as not to get into
a fight or be laughed at…
The kids would yell:
„Jew, a Jews is coming”
and I don't know if they would do anything
but I was afraid
it wasn't the nicest thing to be a Jew
in Poland at that time,
especially one like me,
who everyone could tell
My name was Yitzek,
if anyone looked at my nose
they could tell right away…
Most average people
wouldn't think at first glance
that I was a Jew, unless I met an 'expert'
to be a Jewish child in
Poland back then was
scary, It was scary
to walk down the street
there were street or
districts even where I
would never go, 'cos I
would be scared to go
we tried to walk out if the school in
groups, at least a few people
It was constant daily challenge to survive
the day in a way that was dignified
If someone said to me „you dirty Jew”
I didn't cross the street,
but rather let them know in my own way that
I will not have them talk to me like this
I didn't like fighting…
It wasn't a good place for me,
I don't know… I felt like a coward
but where was it written that people
are supposed to like us for being Jews…?
I met a girl and we started dating. When
she found out that I was Jewish,
I never tried to hide it so she found out
right away…
She said her parents wouldn't let
her be around me at all,
but I also had many
friends who were Polish…
First of all Poles are gentlemen,
secondly down with the Jews, bring on
the Jewesses – and so on…
I know that many boys suffered, they were
beaten up, nobody hit the girls,
they would pick on
us, oh what a pretty little Jewess,
this was no
compliment, it was an insult,
I had girlfriends who took me to church and
I brought them to synagogue so
there were no issues.
Personally, I suffered no antisemitism
in my neighborhood
I was dark, I had dark braids and everyone
knew I was Jewish
and nobody called me names, nobody
punched me…
Everyone knew we were Jews and there
were no differences
Personally, I didn't
feel anything, except
that they chased Jews
in the park with dogs…
But myself, I felt just fine
Toward the end of the 60s only some 30
thousand Jews were remaining in Poland.
However, their future in Poland was
suddenly put to question.
In June of 1967 the Six Day War broke
out between Israel and the Arab countries.
Under Soviet pressure, Poland broke
off diplomatic relations with Israel.
Israel's victory evoked anti-Israeli
attitudes in Poland,
which resulted in an official
antisemitic campaign.
- They must be condemned!
On Monday June 5th Israel opens aggression.
Other countries of the Arab world full
supported Cairo in the fight with Israel.
Suddenly there is war
and several hours of uncertainty and
fear about was's happening over there,
suddenly the is victory,
and this great joy…
Pro-Israeli attitudes were abvious then,
because Egypt was generally associated
with the Soviet Union,
and anything that was associated with the
Soviet Union evoked negative attitudes
On the second day of the Six Day War
I worked at the Polish special of the
Folks Shtyme daily
and the courier brought a special bulettin
with an instruction on the first
page: attention, attention:
change of the cover title.
The main article was now “Israel's
Agression on Arab Countries”
and you knew right away that the
general mood has changed,
and which side Poland was now on…
Archives: Robotnicy z transparentami:
"Deal with the Zionist Fighters"
"Cleanse the Party of all Zionists"
"Down with the new 5th Column"
During Israel's aggression against the
Arab states a number of Jews have expressed
the desire to go to Israel and
participate in the war against Arabs.
Without a doubt,
this category of Jews,
citizens of Poland,
are emotionally and mentally
tied to the State of Israel.
They are all surely Jewish nationalists.
When Gomulka gave that speech in June
67 about us being a 5th column
because we were pleased
with Israel's victory,
because we were pleased that Jews in Israel
didn't allow themselves to be killed,
liked they did in Poland,
I knew already that I had nothing
more to do in such Poland
At that time the press would publish
material about an alleged Jewish conspiracy
and secret dealings with Americans
or even Faschists.
Emigration to Israel was perceved
as an enthusiastic escape from Poland
under the wings of a
Zionist-fashist-american wealth.
The peak of the campaign was March 1968
The students who protested against the
regime were brutally attacked by militia.
The Communist Party's 1st Secretary
Wladyslaw Gomulka claimed
that the leaders of those protests were
students of Jewish origin.
This was meant
to justify the widespread
witch-hunt for Jews,
controlled directly
by the secret services.
Poles of Jewish origin were fired from
work by the score,
which was only one of the ways to urge
them to leave Poland.
These events affected
nearly entire Jewish population,
including those who had previously beed
unaware of their Jewish roots.
In 68 it became obvious that
Jewish existence in Poland
was coming to an end
– We got in a tram
and Ela was maybe 17 at the time,
I was 18, and
we heard the people say 'too bad Hitler
didn't get rid off them all…”
This cannot be about
me, when Gomulka yelled
about the 5th column
I kept saying to myself
that he means some other
people, some bad people
- Tthe press, especially in Lodz,
practically encouraged pogroms!
- I felt very good in Poland and I didn't
want to leave in 68
“you know, Mr. Chmielnicki,
we honestly don't need
people like yourself at
out Technical Academy”…
- All of a sudden it turns out that you
are a guest in your own country
- I felt that I wasn't wanted
in this Poland
I remember Gomulka's speech,
mom said we had to watch it
and then she said we might have to leave
"Wieslaw, Wieslaw, Wieslaw"
"Long live the secretary!"
I remember Gomulka's speech very well,
it was frightening,
shocking, suddenly your entire future
is put to question
Gomulka: Dear and respected comrades,
During the past 10 days important things
have taken place in our country.
A significant number of students in Warsaw
and in other academic centers
have been deceived and led astray by
anti-socialist forces.
In these events an active role was played
by academic youth of Jewish
origin or nationality
- It was this feeling of...
a complete loss of
shelter, of protection,
I felt as if I was thrown
into the lion's cage
"Off to Israel! Now!"
- At school we used to think that even when
the kids would throw stones at us
Gomulka: comrades, please remain calm
it didn't really matter
because we were protected,
by the constitution and
generally somehow protected
You always had this notion that
nothing bad can happen to us 'cause we were
Jews, that officially this was impossible
Gomulka: are there Jewish
nationalists in Poland
followers of the Zionist ideology?
"There are!"
Gomulka: Comrades, of course there are
And then a sudden breakdown,
this fake shelter disappeared
Gomulka: I suspect that this category of
Jews will leave our country sooner or later
"Today! Today!"
Gomulka: We are ready
to prepare emigration visas
for those who consider
Israel to be their homeland.
"Today!"
Gomulka: Attention, comrades
"Today!"
Gomulka: they haven't applied yet
When he said that Jews can apply to go
to Israel, the crowd yelled “Now!
Right away!” I remember that
After the March events in 68
my Polish friends
wanted me to move in with them, they
didn't want me to be alone,
they would take me to work and pick
me up afterwards everyday.
This was very significant.
The situation back then, even though
I didn't feel it so much,
was such that my Polish friends
actually began to fear for me.
The school being shut down
was very painful for me,
becouse everything broke apart, all my
life everything happened in that circle
around Piotrkowska, Prochnika
and Wieckowskiego Streets…
Eventually, the school had
to be shut down by by one
of its creators – the school
principal Jakub Blumenfeld
I remember a lot of
confusion, and constant talks
about whether the school
would or would not be,
Many of us and of our parents started
considering emigration.
And so, slowly, the school was becoming
more and more empty
There was no choice, one had
to pack up and leave
If you felt that you
had some dignity, there
was no way of staying
in Poland any longer
Not a month would go by without another
person leaving,
not a month without saying goodbye,
it was becoming sad… and empty
It was an expected procedure,
it was just a matter of time
We had to sign a form of
relinquishment of Polish citizenship
– I remember the guy was
holding my passport and
asking me “are you
sure you want it this time?
Are you sure you want to leave?"
And I said “yes, I should have done
so back in 57”
My parents didn't want to leave
Dad was on the floor and yelling that
he wouldn't leave Poland
Our parents made the decision to go
in order to save us
I remember my mom saying
“We have the passports
already, you just have to
sign” “I'm not signing” I said
Some people feel butterflies in the stomach
but I felt as if I was choking
It's as if I became an adult instantly
Leaving Poland was very traumatic
for me, very traumatic
I felt terribly lonely, terribly
embittered,
that's when I cried for the first time
My friends in Lodz were
saying goodbye to me
My father bought sausage
to sell some in Israel
and it was a top deal
My friends from the band “Trubadurzy”
were there, at the station
you could say I was one of the last
Jews to leave Lodz
Practically only on the train,
on the way to Vienna,
I realized what had happened
Nearly all of us left, to Israel, America,
other countries
Suddenly everything ends,
and into the great unknown
All of a sudden you leave and you must
change not so much how you define yourself,
because you're still a
Polish Jewess from Lodz,
but your identity. Your identity
becomes that of an immigrant,
and that is awful
We saw people to the
station, one after another
I took many photos,
possibly by the same bench,
and each time there were fewer
and fewer of us, because everyone left
As we were at the customs in 68 they
took this frame and broke it into pieces.
They said it might be of value and
cannot be taken out of the country.
My dad told them “it's
my son, can't you see…”
But they broke it to see if there
was maybe something inside of it
I was 15 when they expelled
me from country to another,
it changed my entire life
We were uprooted and
deprived of everything,
and the fact that we all
manage pretty well out
here, because most of
us more or less manage,
but that's another story
It's a different thing to
leave when you choose to.
We were made to.
Only grade tables and school
registers remain from the Peretz school
and they have been stored
by the principal of Asnyk school,
while waiting for some
Peretznik to find them one day.
- This is me.
8th grade – Lewkowicz
Henryk: B for skipping classes,
Potok – B for skipping classes,
Tajchman – C – for skipping classes
and lying to parents and teachers,
Chmielnicki – B – for
tardiness and impudence
Mrs. Kwiatkowska
Lewkowicz, why don't
you find my good grades
Impossible to find... I found my own
(laugh)
C+, C+ and I was
beginning to think I was unfair
but you had Bs in class and
Ds on tests, darling, no wonder!
So the year I failed I had a B in Polish
class from a very stringent teacher
- You see
-She wasn't all that
stringent, don't exaggerete
- You see? He's defending me now…
(laugh)
"Maj jidisze mejdele, zi is azjn szejn...”
LODZ, POLAND
"Maj jidisze mejdele, zi is azjn szejn...”
In our Jewish company there were
always a few people who were not Jewish
One such person was Jurek
Tworkiewicz, who performed
in the Jewish club
together with the band Sliwki
"My Jewish girl is so beautiful..."
Tworkiewicz! Are you Jewish or not?
That's how it was.
I absolutely didn't care, but there
must have been something to it,
and in the club they would ask how
come you stayed if everyone else left?
It was kind of a coincidence,
but a very lucky one
that we ended up playing at the
Jewish club, this young man here is me
As far as so called Polishness
goes, I was a representative
and when I say so called I mean
that as far as I can tell I'm Polish…
We became well-known in Lodz
and it continued till the infamous 68
when everyone started
leaving all of a sudden
and this terrible uproar
began, a tragedy,
which continues till this day for me…
“We spent so much time together, at
rehearsals, performances, and trips.
It was a wonderful time.
So many fascinating
things were happening
around us and each new
song was a new adventure.
The club was like second home for me”
- that's what you wrote.
- Yeah
“the students got out on the streets and
it came out as well
This time it didn't stay under cover.
Everyone could take a close look.
It straightened its crooked
posture…” I can't read
It's been so many years I
thought I could talk about it freely
but...
when I started reading
this it all came back to me
Almost everyone, all of
the great great people I knew
There was this song by “Skaldowie”
”the birds are restless,
some fly away and some stay..”
It was about the athmosphere of the time,
this exodus lasted for over a year and a half
First, there
were those that were made to
leave, almost thrown out,
and then there were others.
(guitar music)
When Peretzniks visit
Lodz, after al these years,
hey often visit their old
patios and backyards, where
they used to spend so much time together.
It may seem as if time stands still here
LODZ, POLAND
(softly music)
- I lived here for 21 years.
Whey would they expel a
handful of Polish Jews in 68?
Deprive them of
citizenship, of their homes…?
Why expel Poles – Jews born in Poland,
whose parents were born in Poland,
whose grandparents were born in Poland…?
Those parents consciously chose to
stay in Poland having survived the war?
Whoever was bothered
by a handful of Jews in
Poland, bothered by a tiny
number of Jewish schools?
It's unvelievable at times just
how much our lives changed
When I go to Poland I'm happy to be there
but at the same time I feel
sorry for what happened there
It's difficult form me to think of
Poland or of Poles as my enemy
In some way I feel it is still my home
I go to Poland a lot, I love Poland
When you go back you
feel it is still your home
We do have these strong notions
of Polish nature, Polish weather
I love this Polish landscape, it's positive
energy here, and I guess that
I feel good
There continues to be a Jewish
community in Lodz and generally
a minyan – 10 adult Jews - can
be assembled for the daily services.
(singing in Polish language)
NEW YORK, USA
Many years have gone by
since the emigration.
However, they still seem
to live in two different worlds:
that, in which they wake everyday, but also
that, which they sometimes dream about.
(singing in Polish language)
In Latin class Mrs.
Grosman used to say
'historia magistra vitae est', i.e.
history is the teacher of life.
And perhaps, this story will be a teacher
of life for others beside the Peretzniks…
Our parents, teachers and
memory of our life in Lodz. The Peretzniks
Hanka Blumsztajn
My name is Hanka
Blumsztajn – now I live in Israel,
in Petach Tikvah, which
means the Gates of Hope
Jerzy Borensztajn
Jerzy Borensztajn – I live in Tel Aviv now
Lilka Rozenbaum
I'm from Lodz, from the Peretz school,
now I live in Boston
Paulina Lajfer
I'm from Lodz, now
I live in the State of New York
Henryk Chmielnicki
My name is Heniek Chmielnicki,
I live in New York now
Mira Lejb
Currently I live in the US
Freda Rozenbaum
I live in London, and partly in Tel Aviv,
Ewa Rozenbaum
My name is now Ewa Yerushalmi I live in
London and in Israel, I sort of divide my time
Marek Rozenbaum
My name is Marek Rozenbaum. Currently
I live in Israel in Ramat Ha'Sharon
Henryk Lewkowicz
Now I live in Ottawa, Canada
Golda Tencer
I live in Warsaw now. I stayed.
My emigration was only to Warsaw
Janusz Tencer
I live in Sweden now
Jurek Dancygier
I live in New York, in Manhattan
Beniek Chencinski
I live in Toronto now, in Canada
Sarenka Kagan
I live in Israel, in Jerusalem
The Peretzniks
A film by Slawomir Grunberg
Based on an idea by Golda Tencer
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL
My name is Sara Kagan, though
friends always called me Sarenka.
That's you there in 3rd grade,
the end of school year…
After the war, like
many Jewish children,
I found myself at the
orphanage in Helenowek.
I was sent to the Peretz School
right after it was opened.
When I graduated in 1957, many Jews from
Lodz chose to emigrate, mainly to Israel.
I stayed.
I returned to Peretz after graduating
from university…this time as a teacher
- Everyone remembers right?…
- You were a good kid, polite…
I decided to go to Israel only after
they closed down the school in 69
Who? Heniek? Great!
- Of course!
- Shalom
My behavior at school
was 'unsatisfactory' …
This film is about my Jewish
school, its students, and the people
who created it and who are now
scattered all around the world.
Oh, this is Tosia…
Not Tosia but Tonia
In 1st grade nothing was
taught in any other language
but Yiddish, they even
taught Polish in Yiddish
I was neither Polish nor Jewish, I was
just Sara, I was simply a human being
I don't think we
considered ourselves Jews.
We felt that we were
Poles of Jewish origin.
I was 100% Polish and
100% Jewish and I never
thought one conflicted
with the other in any way
I never had any identity issues.
I think we had a Christmas tree with real
candles on it
I always felt Polish,
Poland was my homeland.
For me… the Polish army…
I was a true Polish patriot
I am a Jewish child and a Polish flower
Pre-war Lodz was one of the economic
and industrial centers of Europe
It was also a meeting point for many
different cultures and nationalities.
This so called 'Promised Land' was
inhabited by Poles, Jews and Germans,
but also Czechs, Russians, Austrians,
English, French, and the Italians.
Both culture and business
flourished in Lodz
In both areas, Jews were
among the successful ones.
Before the war they accounted
for about 1/3 of the city's population.
World War II brought about the most
tragic events in the history of Lodz Jews.
The Lodz Ghetto became the
second largest after the Warsaw one,
and it existed longer than any
other ghetto in Nazi-occupied Europe.
60 thousand Jews perished
in the Lodz ghetto alone.
Another 130 thousand Lodz Jews
were murdered in death camps.
After the war Lodz turned out to be
one f the least destroyed Polish cities
A handful of those who
survived in the ghetto
were now joined by some
50 thousand Polish Jews,
who survived the war
mainly in the Soviet Union.
Slowly, Jewish life in Lodz
was being revived.
LODZ, POLAND
In 1945 the Yitzchak Leyb Peretz
Jewish School was established in
Lodz, Named after one of the
leading Yiddish writers in Poland.
KILINSKI STREET
More and more kids
were enrolling in the
Peretz School and, despite its shabby
building on Kilinski Street 49,
the school was soon considered the best
Jewish teaching facility in post-war Poland.
We used to always walk to
school in groups, of 2 or 3.
We walked in groups because it was more
fun, and because sometimes it was… safer.
The school meant everything.
It was a place for study,
for fun, for frienship…
Ballet, shows, culture.
It was everything.
The Peretz School was
my love, my home, my life.
I never found
anything like it in my life.
It was everything, it was our entire world
The school was my entire life
It was my family, it was my home
We were a very close-knit bunch, the things
we did together …you would not believe
We all knew each other
inside out… really, and
we had an immense
tolerance for one another.
Everyday together… it created friendships,
which are important forever
The school provided meaning in my life
It was no regular school, for me
it was a way of life, really.
Back, when the Jewish
school was 'really Jewish' we
didn't go to school on
Saturdays, but on Sundays.
As we walked to school, we saw
empty streets you know…
On Sundays everyone's
either in church or sleeping or
something, and there we
were with our school backpacks.
Getting to school by tram on
Sunday with a schoolbag wasn't easy.
Only Jewish kids had bags like
those, you could see them from afar…
The whole tram would laugh
and murmur something
Our parents asked for
us to have classes on
Saturdays, instead of
Sundays, like everybody else.
Those Jews of Lodz who sent their
children to a Jewish school did so
partly in order to familiarize them
with elements of Jewish tradition,
but partly also in order to
protect us from the outside
world. And so the school
became our only reality
TEL AVIV, ISRAEL
(singing in Polish language)
Oh, I'm so happy…
20 years... Hanka, you haven't aged at all…
Here's my sweetheart
You must take a look at me here.
I was always tall and beautiful,
and for being so beautiful
they cut off my head of like this...
This is me in kindergarten
Graduation at the Peretz Jewish School
Graduation at the Peretz Jewish School
As I was leaving Poland, everyone asked
me „Why are you going, kid?”,
I just put my head down, I had nothing
to say, I was a young girl…
I have friends all over the world,
I don't know if we would be so close
now if we had stayed in Poland.
Our life stories are so
alike, though I live in Israel,
Heniek is in Canada, and
Golda stayed in Poland.
When I go back to Poland, I see the willow
trees, forests… My God how I miss that…
In Israel, I see the red sunshine and
those colors you know, like in van Gogh
the colors in Israel are beautiful.
In Poland on the other hand you have so
much green and the houses are grey.
In Israel... In Israel everyone is nervous
and obnoxious, but when there is war or
shootings, everyone is suddenly together.
And I don't know where I am, I am
completely divided between two worlds,
and at age 60 I still don't know who I am,
maybe you can tell me…?
In 1956 most of our classmates left Poland.
They opened the borders then
and allowed emigration.
And so the Jewish population shrunk
instantly from 80 thousand to 30.
50 thousand Jews left.
One of the people, who left in 1956
was Daniel Libeskind,
NEW YORK, USA
one of the most renowned contemporary
architects.
We were among the first
Jews to leave to Israel,
it was kind of an expulsion but we were
kind of a happy to be part of it.
I remember the people that
moved into our apartment had
already slept in the apartment
while we were there sleeping,
to make sure that they
get the possession of
the apartment. So had
nothing except of fear...
During the time, when Jews were allowed
to leave Poland for Israel,
a wave of Jewish repatriants
returned from the Soviet
Union, which was
forbidden by Stalin until then.
A new crowd of kids
appeared at the Peretz School
and you could now hear
Russian in the hallways.
ASHKELON, ISRAEL
Wow, so many years, so many years..
At the end of the 60s and the beginning of
the 70s some 20 thousand Jews left Poland.
Now, every two or three
years, Polish Jews from
all over the world reunite
in Ashkelon in Israel.
The Peretniks are always well represented.
40 years, but I recognized them,
I recognized them, I did
Most Peretzniks lived
in the very heart of
Lodz, just a few blocks
away from each other.
And the school was the actual
central to their lives.
The school was a kind of oasis for us.
Lodz was quite antisemitic at the time
and the school gave us a feeling
of security
As Jews, we grew up in
an atmosphere of a potential
war, even the Polish
population felt this way
At school, we could talk
freely about who we were,
but God forbid that someone
should hear us outside
I felt safe there, at the school
It was like a little Jewish nook in Lodz,
which wasn't very friendly
I don't think I even knew of
any other schools,
I always say that I crossed over to the
'Aryan side' only after graduation
It was a kind of
seclusion within our own
community where we knew
nothing bad could happen,
while outside
it could be dangerous
The Peretzniks' favorite
Polish literature teacher
- Mrs. Kwiatkowska
Lives in Lodz till this day.
Come in.
We have green tea here, I see…
No, this is mate, not green tea!
Don't dare to spill it!
Let's see what we're saying here
- We talk about them all the time
- I remember all the teachers.
Polish was taught by Mrs. Kwiatkowska
Who I was a bit of a nuisance
for sometimes…
- Once, but seriously
I liked her very much nevertheless
Mrs. Kwiatkowska – she was romantic.
She taught us beautiful Polish literature,
She taught us how to explore it,
- Hania Blumsztajn?! Oh God...
- to discover this beautiful literature.
And I am still a romantic myself, and I
follow my heart and not my head,
This is Mrs. Kwiatkowska's influence.
We absolutely loved her,
she was a great teacher.
I remember dancing with Mrs. Kwiatkowska,
she was a very tall woman, and I was…
I was just as tall at age 12 as I am now,
She was so much taller than me,
I was a big deal for me,
And I still carry very
pleasant thoughts of her
- Is this Faszczyk? I liked him a lot.
She was a very good and warm
person and teacher
I think it stuck with all of us, and that's
why we are so close, that romanticism…
And that's why most of us do not
have the most normal lives,
but we have interesting ones.
TORONTO, CANADA
After the war, Jewish
parents were reluctant to tell
their to tell their children
about the Holocaust,
about lost grandparents, uncles,
cousins, or siblings,
Nor did they tell them about the events,
which took place in Poland after the war,
Such as Kielce pogrom.
This is our classroom… and is this Sarenka?
The Peretzniks were brought up somewhat
unaware of what the outside world was like.
- Sarenka was in your class?
- Oh wait, I've got this once...
Only as teenagers did they begin to
understand why were so well protected,
watched-over, kept in a Jewish school, and
fed a mandatorily second breakfast.
- This is Lucek.
- That's me.
- And this is me..
At our school, there were children
of intelligentsia.
None at all,
there were no doctors or lawyers,
they didn't send their children to the
Jewish school.
Who was at our school? Only the poor.
When in sixth grade the teacher asked Ester
Baum, why she hadn't come to school,
She said that her father was getting
her shoes repaired
And why didn't you put on another pair?
'They're the only pair I own.'
Children of the intelligentsia or the
richer kind were sent to Polish schools.
(jazz music)
They said that the State of Israel should
be established in Birobijan,
then in Uganda, and later on Madagascar,
and so we chose… Canada
(laugh)
Most of us had no family,
no grandpas no grandmas, I didn't even know
that such things existed, I
only had parents
All of my polish friends had grandmas
and grandpas...
I didn't even know who
is a 'grandma' or 'grandpa'...
Since a was a little kid I always
thought that in a Jewish family
there is no notion of
grandparents, there are only parents.
All of a sudden it turns
out that there are other kids
like me, who have no aunts
or uncles or anybody else
Family was replaced by friends
This bond we shared somehow replaced
the family we were missing
The school was a
kind of children's home,
yeah, that's how it was…
laughter through tears
LODZ, POLAND
Most of the boys had a crush on the young
physics teacher Miss Wanda Minich
Thank you so much, it's very nice of you…
I was very young and for me to have contact
with people who experienced so much…
It was shocked that they could
be very happy
Oh! Miss Wanda, the physics teacher, we
used to drop pencils on the floor,
so that we could get under the tables
and peep on that lady,
she was the prettiest…
She was our physics teacher, I know!
I know exactly, she would appear in our
dreams, not only mine…
(laugh)
Miss Wanda was our physics teacher and
she was a very beautiful woman
and us kids we were simply crazy about
her and would do anything to please her.
Unfortunately, she was my teacher only for
a while, I was very sorry because of this…
I am absolutely shocked,
really never thought
that I was perceived in this way...
I was a just an
ordinary young girl and that's it
When I was younger I used to say I didn't
want to be Jewish.
First of all I didn't know what
Jewish meant.
I would ask my mom in the
street „is this a Jew?” „Yes”
"And this?” „No” „And this?” „No” „So
how do you know who is Jew?”
Then I would ask if our cat was a Jew,
because we had a cat.
I asked my mom „Mommy when do I have
my first communion?”
And so mom said I have good news and bad
news, the good, bad news is you are Jewish.
As a child I didn't understand
what any of this was about, but I
knew you weren't supposed to talk
about being Jewish or about Israel
When I was 6 or 7 I thought we must
have moved to Poland from
a foreign country and
that's why they hate us
They would call us 'dirty Jew'
or would say that your parents
drew blood for matzah
I didn't want to be Jewish in Poland
back then.
I even...
remember myself in front of the mirror
asking my mother „do I like look a Jew?”
„No, no, it's just that all Jews look
like you” I was very unhappy
„look at this fat Jewess”…
my mother was very big…
„How fat she grew on Polish blood”
When I heard that Jews killed Christ
I used to say it couldn't have been
us, maybe the Rubinsteins from upstairs
'cos they're not very nice, but it
surely wasn't us who killed Christ
My father definitely
didn't kill Christ because
he's back from work
every day exactly at 5pm
XXVII Lyceum by the name of Peretz.
Usually, everyone else
wore it sowed onto their unforms
but we normally kept it on
a rubber band and took it
off so as not to get into
a fight or be laughed at…
The kids would yell:
„Jew, a Jews is coming”
and I don't know if they would do anything
but I was afraid
it wasn't the nicest thing to be a Jew
in Poland at that time,
especially one like me,
who everyone could tell
My name was Yitzek,
if anyone looked at my nose
they could tell right away…
Most average people
wouldn't think at first glance
that I was a Jew, unless I met an 'expert'
to be a Jewish child in
Poland back then was
scary, It was scary
to walk down the street
there were street or
districts even where I
would never go, 'cos I
would be scared to go
we tried to walk out if the school in
groups, at least a few people
It was constant daily challenge to survive
the day in a way that was dignified
If someone said to me „you dirty Jew”
I didn't cross the street,
but rather let them know in my own way that
I will not have them talk to me like this
I didn't like fighting…
It wasn't a good place for me,
I don't know… I felt like a coward
but where was it written that people
are supposed to like us for being Jews…?
I met a girl and we started dating. When
she found out that I was Jewish,
I never tried to hide it so she found out
right away…
She said her parents wouldn't let
her be around me at all,
but I also had many
friends who were Polish…
First of all Poles are gentlemen,
secondly down with the Jews, bring on
the Jewesses – and so on…
I know that many boys suffered, they were
beaten up, nobody hit the girls,
they would pick on
us, oh what a pretty little Jewess,
this was no
compliment, it was an insult,
I had girlfriends who took me to church and
I brought them to synagogue so
there were no issues.
Personally, I suffered no antisemitism
in my neighborhood
I was dark, I had dark braids and everyone
knew I was Jewish
and nobody called me names, nobody
punched me…
Everyone knew we were Jews and there
were no differences
Personally, I didn't
feel anything, except
that they chased Jews
in the park with dogs…
But myself, I felt just fine
Toward the end of the 60s only some 30
thousand Jews were remaining in Poland.
However, their future in Poland was
suddenly put to question.
In June of 1967 the Six Day War broke
out between Israel and the Arab countries.
Under Soviet pressure, Poland broke
off diplomatic relations with Israel.
Israel's victory evoked anti-Israeli
attitudes in Poland,
which resulted in an official
antisemitic campaign.
- They must be condemned!
On Monday June 5th Israel opens aggression.
Other countries of the Arab world full
supported Cairo in the fight with Israel.
Suddenly there is war
and several hours of uncertainty and
fear about was's happening over there,
suddenly the is victory,
and this great joy…
Pro-Israeli attitudes were abvious then,
because Egypt was generally associated
with the Soviet Union,
and anything that was associated with the
Soviet Union evoked negative attitudes
On the second day of the Six Day War
I worked at the Polish special of the
Folks Shtyme daily
and the courier brought a special bulettin
with an instruction on the first
page: attention, attention:
change of the cover title.
The main article was now “Israel's
Agression on Arab Countries”
and you knew right away that the
general mood has changed,
and which side Poland was now on…
Archives: Robotnicy z transparentami:
"Deal with the Zionist Fighters"
"Cleanse the Party of all Zionists"
"Down with the new 5th Column"
During Israel's aggression against the
Arab states a number of Jews have expressed
the desire to go to Israel and
participate in the war against Arabs.
Without a doubt,
this category of Jews,
citizens of Poland,
are emotionally and mentally
tied to the State of Israel.
They are all surely Jewish nationalists.
When Gomulka gave that speech in June
67 about us being a 5th column
because we were pleased
with Israel's victory,
because we were pleased that Jews in Israel
didn't allow themselves to be killed,
liked they did in Poland,
I knew already that I had nothing
more to do in such Poland
At that time the press would publish
material about an alleged Jewish conspiracy
and secret dealings with Americans
or even Faschists.
Emigration to Israel was perceved
as an enthusiastic escape from Poland
under the wings of a
Zionist-fashist-american wealth.
The peak of the campaign was March 1968
The students who protested against the
regime were brutally attacked by militia.
The Communist Party's 1st Secretary
Wladyslaw Gomulka claimed
that the leaders of those protests were
students of Jewish origin.
This was meant
to justify the widespread
witch-hunt for Jews,
controlled directly
by the secret services.
Poles of Jewish origin were fired from
work by the score,
which was only one of the ways to urge
them to leave Poland.
These events affected
nearly entire Jewish population,
including those who had previously beed
unaware of their Jewish roots.
In 68 it became obvious that
Jewish existence in Poland
was coming to an end
– We got in a tram
and Ela was maybe 17 at the time,
I was 18, and
we heard the people say 'too bad Hitler
didn't get rid off them all…”
This cannot be about
me, when Gomulka yelled
about the 5th column
I kept saying to myself
that he means some other
people, some bad people
- Tthe press, especially in Lodz,
practically encouraged pogroms!
- I felt very good in Poland and I didn't
want to leave in 68
“you know, Mr. Chmielnicki,
we honestly don't need
people like yourself at
out Technical Academy”…
- All of a sudden it turns out that you
are a guest in your own country
- I felt that I wasn't wanted
in this Poland
I remember Gomulka's speech,
mom said we had to watch it
and then she said we might have to leave
"Wieslaw, Wieslaw, Wieslaw"
"Long live the secretary!"
I remember Gomulka's speech very well,
it was frightening,
shocking, suddenly your entire future
is put to question
Gomulka: Dear and respected comrades,
During the past 10 days important things
have taken place in our country.
A significant number of students in Warsaw
and in other academic centers
have been deceived and led astray by
anti-socialist forces.
In these events an active role was played
by academic youth of Jewish
origin or nationality
- It was this feeling of...
a complete loss of
shelter, of protection,
I felt as if I was thrown
into the lion's cage
"Off to Israel! Now!"
- At school we used to think that even when
the kids would throw stones at us
Gomulka: comrades, please remain calm
it didn't really matter
because we were protected,
by the constitution and
generally somehow protected
You always had this notion that
nothing bad can happen to us 'cause we were
Jews, that officially this was impossible
Gomulka: are there Jewish
nationalists in Poland
followers of the Zionist ideology?
"There are!"
Gomulka: Comrades, of course there are
And then a sudden breakdown,
this fake shelter disappeared
Gomulka: I suspect that this category of
Jews will leave our country sooner or later
"Today! Today!"
Gomulka: We are ready
to prepare emigration visas
for those who consider
Israel to be their homeland.
"Today!"
Gomulka: Attention, comrades
"Today!"
Gomulka: they haven't applied yet
When he said that Jews can apply to go
to Israel, the crowd yelled “Now!
Right away!” I remember that
After the March events in 68
my Polish friends
wanted me to move in with them, they
didn't want me to be alone,
they would take me to work and pick
me up afterwards everyday.
This was very significant.
The situation back then, even though
I didn't feel it so much,
was such that my Polish friends
actually began to fear for me.
The school being shut down
was very painful for me,
becouse everything broke apart, all my
life everything happened in that circle
around Piotrkowska, Prochnika
and Wieckowskiego Streets…
Eventually, the school had
to be shut down by by one
of its creators – the school
principal Jakub Blumenfeld
I remember a lot of
confusion, and constant talks
about whether the school
would or would not be,
Many of us and of our parents started
considering emigration.
And so, slowly, the school was becoming
more and more empty
There was no choice, one had
to pack up and leave
If you felt that you
had some dignity, there
was no way of staying
in Poland any longer
Not a month would go by without another
person leaving,
not a month without saying goodbye,
it was becoming sad… and empty
It was an expected procedure,
it was just a matter of time
We had to sign a form of
relinquishment of Polish citizenship
– I remember the guy was
holding my passport and
asking me “are you
sure you want it this time?
Are you sure you want to leave?"
And I said “yes, I should have done
so back in 57”
My parents didn't want to leave
Dad was on the floor and yelling that
he wouldn't leave Poland
Our parents made the decision to go
in order to save us
I remember my mom saying
“We have the passports
already, you just have to
sign” “I'm not signing” I said
Some people feel butterflies in the stomach
but I felt as if I was choking
It's as if I became an adult instantly
Leaving Poland was very traumatic
for me, very traumatic
I felt terribly lonely, terribly
embittered,
that's when I cried for the first time
My friends in Lodz were
saying goodbye to me
My father bought sausage
to sell some in Israel
and it was a top deal
My friends from the band “Trubadurzy”
were there, at the station
you could say I was one of the last
Jews to leave Lodz
Practically only on the train,
on the way to Vienna,
I realized what had happened
Nearly all of us left, to Israel, America,
other countries
Suddenly everything ends,
and into the great unknown
All of a sudden you leave and you must
change not so much how you define yourself,
because you're still a
Polish Jewess from Lodz,
but your identity. Your identity
becomes that of an immigrant,
and that is awful
We saw people to the
station, one after another
I took many photos,
possibly by the same bench,
and each time there were fewer
and fewer of us, because everyone left
As we were at the customs in 68 they
took this frame and broke it into pieces.
They said it might be of value and
cannot be taken out of the country.
My dad told them “it's
my son, can't you see…”
But they broke it to see if there
was maybe something inside of it
I was 15 when they expelled
me from country to another,
it changed my entire life
We were uprooted and
deprived of everything,
and the fact that we all
manage pretty well out
here, because most of
us more or less manage,
but that's another story
It's a different thing to
leave when you choose to.
We were made to.
Only grade tables and school
registers remain from the Peretz school
and they have been stored
by the principal of Asnyk school,
while waiting for some
Peretznik to find them one day.
- This is me.
8th grade – Lewkowicz
Henryk: B for skipping classes,
Potok – B for skipping classes,
Tajchman – C – for skipping classes
and lying to parents and teachers,
Chmielnicki – B – for
tardiness and impudence
Mrs. Kwiatkowska
Lewkowicz, why don't
you find my good grades
Impossible to find... I found my own
(laugh)
C+, C+ and I was
beginning to think I was unfair
but you had Bs in class and
Ds on tests, darling, no wonder!
So the year I failed I had a B in Polish
class from a very stringent teacher
- You see
-She wasn't all that
stringent, don't exaggerete
- You see? He's defending me now…
(laugh)
"Maj jidisze mejdele, zi is azjn szejn...”
LODZ, POLAND
"Maj jidisze mejdele, zi is azjn szejn...”
In our Jewish company there were
always a few people who were not Jewish
One such person was Jurek
Tworkiewicz, who performed
in the Jewish club
together with the band Sliwki
"My Jewish girl is so beautiful..."
Tworkiewicz! Are you Jewish or not?
That's how it was.
I absolutely didn't care, but there
must have been something to it,
and in the club they would ask how
come you stayed if everyone else left?
It was kind of a coincidence,
but a very lucky one
that we ended up playing at the
Jewish club, this young man here is me
As far as so called Polishness
goes, I was a representative
and when I say so called I mean
that as far as I can tell I'm Polish…
We became well-known in Lodz
and it continued till the infamous 68
when everyone started
leaving all of a sudden
and this terrible uproar
began, a tragedy,
which continues till this day for me…
“We spent so much time together, at
rehearsals, performances, and trips.
It was a wonderful time.
So many fascinating
things were happening
around us and each new
song was a new adventure.
The club was like second home for me”
- that's what you wrote.
- Yeah
“the students got out on the streets and
it came out as well
This time it didn't stay under cover.
Everyone could take a close look.
It straightened its crooked
posture…” I can't read
It's been so many years I
thought I could talk about it freely
but...
when I started reading
this it all came back to me
Almost everyone, all of
the great great people I knew
There was this song by “Skaldowie”
”the birds are restless,
some fly away and some stay..”
It was about the athmosphere of the time,
this exodus lasted for over a year and a half
First, there
were those that were made to
leave, almost thrown out,
and then there were others.
(guitar music)
When Peretzniks visit
Lodz, after al these years,
hey often visit their old
patios and backyards, where
they used to spend so much time together.
It may seem as if time stands still here
LODZ, POLAND
(softly music)
- I lived here for 21 years.
Whey would they expel a
handful of Polish Jews in 68?
Deprive them of
citizenship, of their homes…?
Why expel Poles – Jews born in Poland,
whose parents were born in Poland,
whose grandparents were born in Poland…?
Those parents consciously chose to
stay in Poland having survived the war?
Whoever was bothered
by a handful of Jews in
Poland, bothered by a tiny
number of Jewish schools?
It's unvelievable at times just
how much our lives changed
When I go to Poland I'm happy to be there
but at the same time I feel
sorry for what happened there
It's difficult form me to think of
Poland or of Poles as my enemy
In some way I feel it is still my home
I go to Poland a lot, I love Poland
When you go back you
feel it is still your home
We do have these strong notions
of Polish nature, Polish weather
I love this Polish landscape, it's positive
energy here, and I guess that
I feel good
There continues to be a Jewish
community in Lodz and generally
a minyan – 10 adult Jews - can
be assembled for the daily services.
(singing in Polish language)
NEW YORK, USA
Many years have gone by
since the emigration.
However, they still seem
to live in two different worlds:
that, in which they wake everyday, but also
that, which they sometimes dream about.
(singing in Polish language)
In Latin class Mrs.
Grosman used to say
'historia magistra vitae est', i.e.
history is the teacher of life.
And perhaps, this story will be a teacher
of life for others beside the Peretzniks…
Our parents, teachers and
memory of our life in Lodz. The Peretzniks