Post by Bonobo on Jul 14, 2018 18:04:06 GMT 1
The marches of the Living take place in Auschwitz but also in other places. Płońsk shows that Polish Jewish/Israeli relations can be very good.
www.timesofisrael.com/in-ben-gurions-polish-hometown-residents-dance-the-hora-ahead-of-israels-70th/
PLONSK, Poland – Hundreds of townsfolk, local dignitaries, young dancers dressed in traditional brightly-colored peasant garb, and a marching band assembled Sunday to celebrate the life of Israel’s first prime minister David Ben-Gurion in his Polish birthplace, Plonsk, ahead of the Jewish state’s 70th birthday.
The event was organized by Limmud FSU, the March of the Living, and the municipality of Plonsk, and included a long list of notable attendees, including Israel’s ambassador to Poland Anna Azari, Plonsk city mayor Andrzej Pietrasik, and Polish Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich.
Beginning at the town hall, the crowd marched through the narrow streets of Plonsk first to David Ben-Gurion Square, where they laid wreaths at the spot where the prime minister was born in 1886.
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The home is no longer standing, as it was made of wood and deteriorated naturally over time.
Ben-Gurion is a source of great pride to the people of Plonsk, a small town of 22,000 situated 67 kilometers (41 miles) northwest of Warsaw. Since 1996, the city has been twinned with Ramat Hanegev, the region in Israel’s south where Israel’s first prime minister quietly spent his last years.
“He has an important role in Polish history, as in Israeli history,” mayor Pietrasik told The Times of Israel. “David Ben-Gurion’s establishment of the State of Israel makes him a very important figure here for us.”
The march culminated in a ceremony at which dozens of local children decked out in full costume danced the polka, as well as the hora, before inviting everyone to join in.
Costumed children dance the hora in Plonsk, April 15, 2018. (Yaakov Schwartz/Times of Israel)
Israeli Ambassador Anna Azari compared Ben-Gurion to the father of modern Poland, Józef Piłsudski, who picked up the pieces of a shattered kingdom after World War I. Azari said that the event marked her first celebration of Israel’s independence this year, and that there was no more appropriate place to do so than in front of Ben-Gurion’s old stomping grounds.
Mayor Andrzej Pietrasik of the city of Plonsk dances the hora along with notables and attendees Sunday, April 15, 2018, in honor of Israel’s 70th year of independence. (Yaakov Schwartz/Times of Israel)
The event fell between Yom Hashoah, or Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, and the Jewish state’s Independence Day, which begins on Wednesday evening and continues through Thursday night.
Plonsk was once the home of a vibrant Jewish community, which was devastated during the Holocaust.
“Before World War II, half of the residents of Plonsk were Jews. By the end of the war, there remained only a few. Plonsk, in which Jews and Poles had been living together for hundreds of years, and accepted this town as their home, had become evidence of our most brutal history,” said Pietrasik.
The mayor said the city of Plonsk honors the memory of its Jewish citizens by maintaining the few institutions that remain and celebrating the legacy of Ben-Gurion.
He said Plonsk continues to back initiatives to foster warm relations with the Jewish community around the world and in Israel.
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www.timesofisrael.com/in-ben-gurions-polish-hometown-residents-dance-the-hora-ahead-of-israels-70th/
PLONSK, Poland – Hundreds of townsfolk, local dignitaries, young dancers dressed in traditional brightly-colored peasant garb, and a marching band assembled Sunday to celebrate the life of Israel’s first prime minister David Ben-Gurion in his Polish birthplace, Plonsk, ahead of the Jewish state’s 70th birthday.
The event was organized by Limmud FSU, the March of the Living, and the municipality of Plonsk, and included a long list of notable attendees, including Israel’s ambassador to Poland Anna Azari, Plonsk city mayor Andrzej Pietrasik, and Polish Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich.
Beginning at the town hall, the crowd marched through the narrow streets of Plonsk first to David Ben-Gurion Square, where they laid wreaths at the spot where the prime minister was born in 1886.
Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories
Free Sign Up
The home is no longer standing, as it was made of wood and deteriorated naturally over time.
Ben-Gurion is a source of great pride to the people of Plonsk, a small town of 22,000 situated 67 kilometers (41 miles) northwest of Warsaw. Since 1996, the city has been twinned with Ramat Hanegev, the region in Israel’s south where Israel’s first prime minister quietly spent his last years.
“He has an important role in Polish history, as in Israeli history,” mayor Pietrasik told The Times of Israel. “David Ben-Gurion’s establishment of the State of Israel makes him a very important figure here for us.”
The march culminated in a ceremony at which dozens of local children decked out in full costume danced the polka, as well as the hora, before inviting everyone to join in.
Costumed children dance the hora in Plonsk, April 15, 2018. (Yaakov Schwartz/Times of Israel)
Israeli Ambassador Anna Azari compared Ben-Gurion to the father of modern Poland, Józef Piłsudski, who picked up the pieces of a shattered kingdom after World War I. Azari said that the event marked her first celebration of Israel’s independence this year, and that there was no more appropriate place to do so than in front of Ben-Gurion’s old stomping grounds.
Mayor Andrzej Pietrasik of the city of Plonsk dances the hora along with notables and attendees Sunday, April 15, 2018, in honor of Israel’s 70th year of independence. (Yaakov Schwartz/Times of Israel)
The event fell between Yom Hashoah, or Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, and the Jewish state’s Independence Day, which begins on Wednesday evening and continues through Thursday night.
Plonsk was once the home of a vibrant Jewish community, which was devastated during the Holocaust.
“Before World War II, half of the residents of Plonsk were Jews. By the end of the war, there remained only a few. Plonsk, in which Jews and Poles had been living together for hundreds of years, and accepted this town as their home, had become evidence of our most brutal history,” said Pietrasik.
The mayor said the city of Plonsk honors the memory of its Jewish citizens by maintaining the few institutions that remain and celebrating the legacy of Ben-Gurion.
He said Plonsk continues to back initiatives to foster warm relations with the Jewish community around the world and in Israel.
