An estimated eighty percent of American Jews are of Polish descent. Poland was once home to the largest Jewish population in Europe. Yet today, most American Jews think of Poland solely through the lens of the horrific realities of the Holocaust. On Monday, Nov. 18, at 1:30 p.m., author Louise Steinman will talk at the Central Queens YM & YWHA in Forest Hills, on her new book on a new movement toward Polish Jewish reconciliation, reclaiming the centuries of Jewish life in Poland. The Central Queens Y is located at 67-09 108 Street in Forest Hills. Louise Steinman’s talk is open to the public, with a $7 donation suggested.
During the Holocaust, three million Jews, nearly the entire Jewish population of Poland, were killed. However, while German-occupied Poland was the site of the largest extermination camps, with some Poles participating in the destruction of the Jewish communities, Poland was also the epicenter of European Jewish life for centuries.
Author Louise Steinman set out to examine today’s burgeoning Polish-Jewish reconciliation movement through the lens of her own family's history, joining the ranks of Jews of Polish descent who are confronting both the atrocities and the heroism of Polish Holocaust rescuers, and reclaiming the centuries of Polish Jewish history, as well as with their own families’ stories. At the same, Poland is seeing a resurgence of interest in Jewish life, including Jewish cultural festivals and the increasing popularity of klezmer music, as a younger generation of Polish non-Jews try to restore some sense of the culture that was lost in the Holocaust.
Louise Steinman codirects the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities at the University of Souther California and is the author of a previous, award winning memoir.
More information about this event or about the Fall Author Series is available at 718 268-5011, ext. 151, or online at www.cqy.org or at (718) 268-5011 ext. 151, or pkurtz@cqy.org.
During the Holocaust, three million Jews, nearly the entire Jewish population of Poland, were killed. However, while German-occupied Poland was the site of the largest extermination camps, with some Poles participating in the destruction of the Jewish communities, Poland was also the epicenter of European Jewish life for centuries.
Author Louise Steinman set out to examine today’s burgeoning Polish-Jewish reconciliation movement through the lens of her own family's history, joining the ranks of Jews of Polish descent who are confronting both the atrocities and the heroism of Polish Holocaust rescuers, and reclaiming the centuries of Polish Jewish history, as well as with their own families’ stories. At the same, Poland is seeing a resurgence of interest in Jewish life, including Jewish cultural festivals and the increasing popularity of klezmer music, as a younger generation of Polish non-Jews try to restore some sense of the culture that was lost in the Holocaust.
Louise Steinman codirects the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities at the University of Souther California and is the author of a previous, award winning memoir.
More information about this event or about the Fall Author Series is available at 718 268-5011, ext. 151, or online at www.cqy.org or at (718) 268-5011 ext. 151, or pkurtz@cqy.org.
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