tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5655049990370776608.post588640943451017290..comments2023-10-09T09:38:29.576+02:00Comments on Jewish Heritage Travel: Poland -- My Ruthless Cosmopolitan column about Henryk HalkowskiRuthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5655049990370776608.post-38901758657839631912009-01-23T22:42:00.000+01:002009-01-23T22:42:00.000+01:00I taught in Krakow for two years in the mid-1980s,...I taught in Krakow for two years in the mid-1980s, a Jewish Fulbrighter from Brooklyn in grim, Solidarity-in-hiding, nothing-in-the stores Poland. Somehow I discovered Henryk or he discovered me. He "ran," or rather he "was" a Jewish club, with a tiny office in the Old City, an office filled with Henryk's books, old scavenged prayer books, articles Henryk was reading, articles Henryk was writing. I used to stop in regularly, and he started phoning me regularly. Henryk knew how he stood out -- the only Jew in Krakow (or perhaps the only one willing to admit he was a Jew) under the age of about 60. He lived with his mother, on the main boulevard, a few blocks north of where I lived. After a meal, or after a visit to my place, I'd offer to walk him home. When we'd get to his house, he'd offer to turn around and walk me home. And again, back to his house, and back to mine, talking and talking and talking, Henryk explaining the world to me through his Polish- Jewish eyes, eyes that seemed to have read everything and seen everything, that knew that everything was at once tragic and funny. Henryk would be astonished at how much I didn't know, of European philosophy, history, literature, and he made it his project to educate at least this one poor New Yorker: I was given a two-year course in Polish history, Jewish history, Polish-Jewish history. Henryk, trained as an architect, also knew all about Catholic Krakow, and once took me, on a bone-chilling January day, on a tour of all the churches of Kazimierz, of which there are quite a few. <BR/>So many times, over the years, I'd ask Henryk, "why do you stay here?" And the answer was always the same --"I'm a Polish Jew. This is my place." Henryk,defying history,took his stand. It took incredible courage to do this in Poland. He was attacked and beaten by skinheads in the Main Market Square. Eventually, he became quite well-known. Anyone passing through Krakow with an interest in Kazimierz and things Jewish knew to get in touch with him. But I think he was a terribly lonely man. <BR/>I'll remember him, every Christmas in Krakow, phoning me and wishing me a "Merry so-called Christmas." He always had a new joke, a new book for me to read, a new writer I'd never heard of. <BR/>We who knew him will always cherish his memory. Henryk was a mensch.<BR/><BR/>Ray NeinsteinAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com