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About a decade or so ago, I was living in Poland for a few months and on a spare weekend, stayed in an AirBnB in Warsaw, on Smocza Ulica. This is a long street
by globalise83 2y ago
About a decade or so ago, I was living in Poland for a few months and on a spare weekend, stayed in an AirBnB in Warsaw, on Smocza Ulica. This is a long street lined with 50s concrete block apartments, surrounded by lawns and trees. While walking around the neighbourhood I read a sign about a Yiddish poem written about one of the former Jewish residents, a girl called Khaye, who was eventually murdered in Treblinka and then incinerated. Much of that quarter of the city is in fact literally built on the rubble of the old Jewish neighbourhoods, and many of the remains of the former inhabitants still lie buried beneath the apartment blocks, burned alive in the terrible retribution of the German occupiers who decided to burn every single block of the Jewish Ghetto after the walled-in Jews attempted an uprising. Anyway, I looked into the history of this particular poem, and it led me to a modern song by the famous Israeli singer Chava Alberstein which I find very beautiful and sad. https://open.spotify.com/track/5JHgN8sWvcrG1u4rrk4yQM https://open.spotify.com/track/5JHgN8sWvcrG1u4rrk4yQM
- H8crilA 2y agoIt was much more than the Ghetto that got entirely destroyed, to the point where new street layout has been implemented after the war since there was no reason to use the old layout. Well, apart from property claims, some of which are still being contested in courts to this day. Around 150k to 200k people died in the Warsaw Uprising alone. But yes, the Ghetto got hit especially bad. One of the reasons why the Germans wanted Warsaw so exceptionally destroyed was their feeling of racial superiority. The Fuhrer got extra angry when he found out those occupied Poles still dare create rebellions, and ordered a systematic levelling of the capital. I'll let you ponder whether we've actually learned a lesson from those times.
- kolinko 2y agoIf I remember correctly, even today, city-center Warsaw has lower population density than before the war.
- bobthepanda 2y agoThis is generally true of most places since living standards have risen and household sizes have dropped dramatically
- Log_out_ 2y agoAnd stalin watched.A uprising fought down by your neighbor who you jumped the the country together with,is a uprising you dont have to trample yourselves.
- antifa 2y agoSome say Stalin is still watching, even to this day, just standing outside the window, watching.
- MichaelMoser123 2y agoמײַן שװעסטער חיה מיט די אױגן גרינע, אַ דײַטש האָט אין טרעבלינקע זי פֿאַרברענט. און איך בין אין דער ייִדישע מדינה דער סאַמע לעצטער, װאָס האָט זי געקענט. פֿאַר איר שרײַב איך אױף ייִדיש מײַנע לידער אין טעג די שרעקלעכע פֿון אונדזער צײַט. בײַ גאָט אַלײן איז זי אַ בת־יחידה ־ אין הימל זיצט זי בײַ זײַן רעכטער זײַט. :-(