Keywords: Central Committee of Jews in Poland; statistics; search for missing persons; registration of persons
The Department of Statistics and Records (WEiS) was one of the biggest organizational units of the Central Committee of Jews in Poland (CKŻP) and also one of those that worked for the longest period of time. Its tasks focused on three areas: the keeping of records (registration of survivors), statistics, and search for missing persons (information). The registration of survivors among Polish Jews embraced over 200,000 persons, whose personal data were kept in the Central File in Warsaw and in the form of alphabetical lists compiled in the years 1945-1947 and released in three series („Alphabetical list of Polish Jews”). At the same time, WEiS was collecting statistical materials concerning various areas of life of the Jews in Poland, including reports on the operation of local CKŻP branches, and preparing aggregate statistical reports. The WEiS search and information campaigns elicited a huge volume of correspondence concerning the missing persons and containing data about tens of thousands of people. The collections of the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw contain the Central File (some 280,000 cards), files and other registration lists, materials and statistical compilations as well as tens of thousand of letters from all over the world concerning the search for missing persons. In 2005, thanks to support from The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., the WEiS archives were cleaned up and catalogued.
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Keywords: anti-Zionism; Marxism; Trotskyism; New Left; Israel
The article deals with the criticism of the nationalist-cum-religious nature of the State of Israel, developed by the Israeli New Left organisation commonly known by the name of its press organ “Matzpen” (Hebr. compass). The development of Matzpen’s anti-Zionist concepts is shown from the birth of that organisation to Yom Kippur war (of 1973). The views of Matzpen are juxtaposed to the classic anti-Zionist document of Marxist Left that was independent of the Kremlin, namely, the resolution “Israel vs. the Arab Revolution,” passed by the U.S. Socialist Workers’ Party (SWP) in 1971. The position of Matzpen, which acknowledged Israel’s right to existence, was to become a minority view among the New Left organizations, compared to the denial of such right, represented, for example, by the aforementioned SWP. Despite its small size, Matzpen and its activists staying in the West were profoundly significant for the New Left, providing it with evidence that radical anti-Zionism free of any suspicions of anti-Semitic inspiration was possible.
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Keywords: Brest Litovsk; Jews in Belarus; Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth; local diets
Brest-Litovsk (in Polish, Brześć) is one of the bigger cities in Belarus. In early modern times it was also known from its famous Jewish kehilla, which was regarded as one of the most influential ones in Lithuania. Jewish merchants from Brest Litovsk traded mostly in honey, furs, wax, wood, but also clothes and Oriental spices. The Jews of Brest-Litovsk frequently acted as tolls- and duties-lessees. Brest-Litovsk’s economic importance found its expression in the strong representation of its community on the Lithuanian Council (Vaad Lita) in the first half of the 17th century. Brest Litovsk Diet’s (sejmik) records constitute the main archival source for this article. They provide only an incomplete image of the social and ethnic relations in Lithuania in the seventeenth and the first half of the eighteenth century. In Brest Litovsk’s Diet acts are marked by a rather unfavourable attitude towards Jews. The majority of the Diet’s legislation concerns various economic matters and the enforcement of the existing laws. The gentry (szlachta) wanted Jews to pay Jewish poll tax (poglowne), but not in lump sums. Execution of Jewish debts was also frequently seen as a remedy for impoverished Brest-Litovsk voivodship, especially after the wars with Cossacks, Russia and Sweden. Confiscation of the Jewish real estate was also adopted as a protective measure. The extremely high indebtedness of the Jews led the provincial Diet to attempt to ease the tax burden for Jews. In Brest-Litovsk, we can find numerous regulations forbidding Jews from leasing tax and estates, and concerning Christian servants in Jewish houses. The gentry demanded to levy an additional tax on Jews who were employing Christian servants.
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August Grabski - Thy Brother's Blood Crieth unto Me from the Ground (Jan T. Gross,The Fear, Anti-Semitism in Poland after Auschwitz); August Grabski - Gross Chutzpah or Great Chutzpenik? (Norman G. Finkelstein, Wielka hucpa. O pozorowaniu antysemityzmu i fałszowaniu historii); Jan Doktór - Jeffrey L. Roth, Inheriting the Crown in Jewish Law. The Struggle for Rabbinic Compensation, Tenure, and Inheritance Right; Hanna Kozińska-Witt – Synchrone Welten. Zeitenräume jüdischer Geschichte Hrgs. Dan Diner; Katarzyna Kozyra - Emanuel Nowogródzki, Żydowska Partia Robotnicza Bund w Polsce 1915 – 1939; Hanna Kozińska-Witt – Katrin Steffen: Jüdische Polonität. Ethnizität und Nation im Spiegel der polnischsprachigen jüdischen Presse 1918-1939; Rafał Żebrowski - Klara Rosenfeld, From Lwów to Parma: A Young Woman's Escape from Nazi-Occupied Poland; Feliks Tych - Kurt I. Lewin, Przeżyłem. Saga Świętego Jura spisana w roku 1946 przez syna rabina ze Lwowa.
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Keywords: Hungary; Prime Minister Viktor Orban; IMF; Fidesz; election law; economy; government; Socialist Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai; RABA; ombudsman;
It’s one thing to keep crashing a country’s economy, it’s another thing altogether to undermine its democracy.
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Keywords: Polish soccer league; Poland; Silesia; University; Historical center; soccer; Euro 2012; tourism;
As soccer fans gear up for a trip to Poland, they should know a bit about one of the country’s most successful cities.
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Keywords: Central and Eastern Europe; TV shows; media
EUscreen is a collection of TV shows and other audiovisual material provided by public broadcasters and archives from 20 countries.
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Keywords: Bulgaria; strike; farmers; subsidy cuts; Georgia; Lazika; economic center; Russian President Dmitry Medvedev; Czech Republic; Temelin nuclear power plant; U.S. energy giant Westinghouse; Serbia; privatization process; Bosnia; film; James Braddock
Plus, Saakashvili founds a new city and Jolie defends her Bosnian war movie against plagiarism claim. Around the Bloc is TOL's daily digest of the important, the trivial, the tragic, the weird, and the sober from its coverage region.
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Keywords: eurozone crisis; Greece; GDP; post-communist Europe; EU members; 2008 global financial crisis; Czech Republic; Italy; Slovenia; Slovakia; Estonia; currency union;
As the eurozone crisis escalates, post-communist Europe is cooling on the euro. Should we be alarmed? Or even surprised?
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Keywords: Kazakhstan; conflict; education; Peace Corps volunteer; FLEX student exchange exam; equal access to justice
As these students lose their Peace Corps teacher, what will happen to the dreams that he urged them to chase?
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Keywords: Uzbek woman; RFE; suicide; human rights; Gulsumoy Abdujalilova; Muhammad Salih; Slovak hospitals; government; Latvia; Russian as second language; Serbia; Hungary; ethnic Hungarians; Stefan Fule; the EU enlargement commissioner; Belarus; civil society;
Plus, a drive to make Russian an official language in Latvia picks up steam and Serbia opens the way to restitution. Around the Bloc is TOL's daily digest of the important, the trivial, the tragic, the weird, and the sober from its coverage region.
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Keywords: Kyrgyzstan; education; Osh; law; ethnic violence; June 2010; government; professors; students; Uzbek language; Russian-language institution; Education Ministry; President Roza Otunbaeva; Almazbek Atambaev; human rights; society; traditions; UNICEF;
Critics call it discrimination, but city officials say the idea came from Uzbeks themselves.
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Keywords: Russia; elections; Prime Minister Vladimir Putin; demonstration; Bosnia; WWF’s Danube-Carpathian program; Kosovo; NATO troops; German Chancellor Angela Merkel; EU; Ingushetia; Muslim; Chechnya; alcohol; Lithuania; human rights; Arturas Zuokas;
Plus, Belgrade compromises on Kosovo border posts and Vilnius clamps down on beggars and alms-givers. Around the Bloc is TOL's daily digest of the important, the trivial, the tragic, the weird, and the sober from its coverage region.
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Keywords: Russia; demonstrations; United Russia party; South Ossetia; Georgia; President Eduard Kokoity; Anatoly Bibilov; former Education Minister Alla Dzhioyeva; Bosnia; land mine explosions; Serbian President Boris Tadic; economy; Tajikistan; energy shortages;
Plus land mines continue to claim lives in Bosnia, and Serbia’s president talks up a Kosovo partition. Around the Bloc is TOL's daily digest of the important, the trivial, the tragic, the weird, and the sober from its coverage region.
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Keywords: Moldova; Justice Ministry; Religion; Islam; tolerance; Eu; church; Christian; Orthodoxy; immigrants; Humanist Party; UN high commissioner for human rights; Navanethem Pillay; refugees; former Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin; Islamic League;
The leaders of the country’s first official Islamic organization keep a low profile amid an Orthodox backlash.
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Keywords: European market; security of supply; energy; energy industry; Vladimir Putin; Gazprom; Gas Industry; Kremlin; Sakhalin Energy; Beltransgaz
As Russian gas gets scarcer, Europeans should expect to pay a premium for it.
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Keywords: nuclear power plant; radioactive fallout; Chernobyl plant; nuclear energy; Alyaksandr Lukashenka; state propaganda
Is there any better proof of a nuclear comeback than Belarus’ plans for a new plant?
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Keywords: Bosnia and Herzegovina; renewable energy; windmill; electricity; Hydropower; UN Environmental Program; Union of Innovators
For one entrepreneur, making the windmill was the easy part. Getting it to catch on has been another matter.
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Keywords: radioactive material; border checkpoints; nuclear smuggling; uranium; International Atomic Energy Agency; dirty bomb; reactors; nuclear energy
Kazakhstan’s goal to become the global leader in uranium production could put strains on non-proliferation efforts.
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