Poles apart
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The history of the Jews in Poland stretches over 1,000 years. It has produced centuries which, for Jews, are known as the Golden Age and seen the creation of the Hasidim. There were also pogroms though, when Russia ruled the country in the back half of the 18th century and again after the Second World War.
From the 1920s the Polish government excluded Jews from receiving government bank credits, public sector employment, and obtaining business licenses. From the 1930s limits were placed on Jewish enrolment in university education, Jewish shops, Jewish export firms, Shechita, Jewish admission to the medical and legal professions and Jews in business associations. While in 1921-22 25% of Polish students were Jews, by 1938-9 the proportion had gone down to 8%. The far-right National Democracy (Endeks) organized anti-Jewish boycotts. In 1938 the Polish parliament drafted anti-Jewish legislation similar to anti-Jewish laws in Germany, Hungary, and Romania. At its peak there were 3 million Jews in Poland; 80% of them were murdered in the Holocaust.
At the same time, the ranks of those appointed the Righteous Among the Nations for helping Jews during the Holocaust, contain more Poles than any other people. The Polish armed forces, numbering 185,000, fought heroically with the British throughout the Second World war. They were allowed to stay in Britain rather than go back to their now Communist country, so long as they didn’t try to join the ranks of British miners!
Rabbi Solomon Schonfeld had needed an armed guard when he went into Poland at the end of the war to help the pitiful survivors but in recent years Rabbi Barry Marcus was awarded the Knights Cross of the Polish Order of Merit for bringing 20,000 people to see Auschwitz, There are about 10,000 Jews in Poland now and legislation has been passed which prevents them getting compensation for their possessions confiscated by the Nazis. The Polish envoy to Britain who said this was unreasonable, has been fired.
So you can make a strong case for the prosecution when judging the Polish treatment of its Jews, and you can make a strong case for the defence. The question is what possible benefit can there be in going over the same ground again and again. You can’t change anything; you can’t bring back the dead; the facts aren’t going to change. There were people who behaved appallingly and people who were saints.
What the Polish government could do is repair what damage is left. The possessions which were confiscated by the Nazis come into that category. Just as the Greeks want the Elgin Marbles back and Jesus College, Cambridge has given back a Benin Bronze, if your ancestors have had something stolen by the government, they are entitled to have it back. Not sold, not bartered, not won in war, but stolen. In 1996 the British government agreed to this and returned the coronation stone of Scone to the Scots.
If governments are held to be able to recover their belongings, why not Polish citizens? Haven’t their families suffered enough?
Britain has benefited from its Poles, who are hard working and now approximately 700,000 strong. I do have my own Polish hero. My grandfather, Albert Schneider, had the sense to get out of Poland in 1880 and came to Britain. That saved me from a gas chamber, and it’s just a pity that all the Jews in Poland didn’t follow him. He was a good tailor and made some of the robes for the nobility attending the coronation of Edward VII. Well done Grandpa.
There is plenty of room for success
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Some thousands of Jewish youngsters are back at their universities now, contemplating a future more difficult than they deserve. They owe a great deal for their education, the quality of which has been undermined by covid. They need jobs in an economy which is bound to have been affected by Brexit. They can see inflation mounting, more antisemitic incidents and hundreds of thousands of new covid cases every day.
What can they see if they look on the bright side? To start with, the indomitable courage of their grandparents. So many of them came to this country as refugees, penniless, not speaking the language and also without jobs. The comfortable homes of most of our students are the result of the hard work of their grandparents and parents.
If the grandparents didn’t make the grade, so many of the parents did, starting off with practically nothing. Lord Alan Sugar began selling radio aerials and electrical goods off the back of a van. Sir Jack Cohen made Tesco what it is today, but began with a stall in Hackney market.
These are not exceptional Jews. They followed in the footsteps of their ancestors who, time and again, had to start from scratch as they suffered discrimination, pogroms and massacres. They were barred from many famous medical schools in many countries until well after the Second World War, but when they finally got in, they went on to collect over 200 Nobel prizes.
Today, in this country, racialism is a criminal offence. The ancestors of our students didn’t have that advantage either. What the present students do have is some exceptional genes. To prevent them competing with the members of Christian Guilds, for centuries Jews weren’t allowed to trade in traditional fields. They were only allowed to work in occupations where there was a degree of risk.
So, because of this antisemitic legislation, they, perforce, learned to find the hole in the market. They invented things which have been of enormous value to the British economy over the centuries. For example, a refugee Jewish German banker, Siegmund Warburg, invented Eurobonds. Sir Ronald Cohen was a refugee from Egypt and is known as the father of British Venture Capital. Jews invented portable gramophones, Internet games and cargo insurance. They handled the majority of the Indian Diamond export industry in the 18th century and I haven’t even mentioned the Rothschild. Of course, they weren’t always successful. Samuel. Montagu made a fortune as a bullion broker, but he wasn’t able to convince the government to introduce decimal currency. That only happened 60 years after his death.
There are plenty of things which still need inventing. Electric cars are the latest, but Zimmers could be improved for the handicapped. We need faster growing trees, we need to cure cancer and somebody has got to start writing papers which explain how to use equipment, so that we ordinary people can understand. It is embarrassing to keep on asking the grandchildren for help.
Jordan Cashmyer Dead - ‘16 & Pregnant’ Star Dies at 26
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Jordan Cashmyer has sadly died.
The young former reality TV star, who appeared on 16 & Pregnant, passed away at the age of 26, via TMZ on Sunday (January 16).
Click inside to read more…
The medical examiner confirmed her death to the outlet, however, no cause or manner of death were revealed at the time.
Jordan and her boyfriend Derek Taylor and daughter Evie were featured on the reality TV show back in 2014. In the show, they were homeless as she was about to give birth, and Jordan‘s family did not approve of her relationship.
The couple broke up after the show, and Jordan‘s dad and stepmother eventually stepped in and shared guardianship at one point. Jordan temporarily signed away her custody rights to Derek‘s mother back in 2015.
She struggled with mental health issues, addiction and suicidal ideation, and worked at as strip club by 2017, going on to be arrested for drug possession.
Our thoughts are with Jordan Cashmyer‘s loved ones at this difficult time.
Bengals’ Zac Taylor hits Cincinnati bar to deliver game ball to fans after snapping playoff victory drought
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The Cincinnati Bengals recorded their first playoff victory in 31 years on Saturday, defeating the Las Vegas Raiders, 26-19. It came down to the very last play, as Raiders quarterback Derek Carr faced a fourth-and-goal from the Bengals’ 9-yard line. When Bengals linebacker Germaine Pratt stepped in the passing lane to intercept Vegas’ last gasp, Paul Brown Stadium went absolutely bonkers.
It marked quite the milestone for head coach Zac Taylor as well. He went a combined 6-25-1 over his first two seasons in Cincy, but went 10-7 in 2021 and the Bengals won the NFC North for the first time since 2015. Taylor knew how much this win meant to the city, so he showed up at a local Cincinnati bar and presented a game ball to the fans.
According to ESPN’s Ben Baby, coach Taylor appointed a few players to deliver game balls around town. One of those players was tight end C.J. Uzomah, who caught six passes for 64 yards and a touchdown against the Raiders.
Saturday was quite a moment for the Bengals, but they aren’t done just yet. Unless the Pittsburgh Steelers upset the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, Cincy is headed to Music City next week for a date with the No. 1 seed Tennessee Titans. If the Steelers win, the Bengals will play against the Bills in Buffalo next week.
Dallas Cowboys Misspell Linebacker’s Name on Jersey
Dallas Cowboys Misspell Linebacker’s Name on Jersey
YOU HAD ONE JOB
Leighton Vander Esch became Leighton Vander “Ecsh” during a game against the San Francisco 49ers.