The Chief Rabbi of Poland, Michael Schudrich, was instructed by the Conference of European Rabbis to coordinate the flight of refugees from Ukraine, as well as border relief measures. The Jewish Service is planning the evacuation of Ukrainian Jews.
DW reached out to Rabino Sudrich in Warsaw and asked him about the situation on the Polish-Ukrainian border, where he had spent the previous days.
Rabbi Michael Schudrich: It’s heartbreaking. We are all shocked to see that this could happen in 2021.
But what we can do is be there for people crossing the border into Poland to greet them, take them to a place where they can sleep, where they can get food, where they can get medical care, where they can get legal advice and in the future we also want to provide psychological counseling.
They are mostly women with young children who come and tell us that their journey to safety was horrible. They had to leave almost everything behind, so they need clothes, children’s toys, medicines, all these things. We can offer all this here – also kosher food for those who want it.
And so, while it is wonderful that people come here to help us and bring us clothes and other things, it is much more efficient to send money.
DW: What did the people who fled the city of Kharkiv in Poland say now?
Michael Schudrich: They are still shocked and angry. But also grateful that they came out alive. There is a wide range of emotions.
We have set up a day center for refugees. Many people have been accepted as refugees, but most of us have small homes. And if you take three more people, it gets even smaller. So we wanted to give the refugees a place to go during the day. Where they can meet and talk, use the internet, find toys for children.
It was unbelievable to see the faces of these children – how they start smiling again after what they spent the last week or so. It shows us that in a way there is human hope no matter what happens.
Did you start working on rescue plans to evacuate people from Ukraine long before Putin started the war on February 24? When did you start waiting for this war to take place?
I am not a prophet. But Russia brought about 100,000 troops to the Ukrainian border, so I thought it would be better to prepare and then prove myself wrong than to be completely ill-prepared.
But what I thought might happen was nothing compared to this reality now. I do not know anyone who believed that Putin was just going to bomb and destroy these cities – one city after another.
In preparation for the refugee arrivals, I contacted the Warsaw Jewish Committee and the Lodz Jewish community, which owns small hotels, as well as Teshka, a secular cultural organization with facilities outside Warsaw, and asked if they were ready to attend. these places for refugees. Everyone, of course, said yes.
And now people have taken refugees into their homes. And we are trying to rent apartments, which is very difficult because there are no apartments left in Warsaw and Krakow or near the Przemysl border. But we will find them a place.
We have the experience from the 20th century when Germany unleashed a genocide. And now we are again faced with this phenomenon.
But I feel that people have learned something from the events of that time. Can you imagine? If Hitler had faced the same kind of sanctions as Putin does now, World War II could have turned out differently.
Where do refugees want to go? The Jewish Agency has stated that it wants to evacuate tens of thousands of people in Israel. What exactly is planned there?
When one wants to leave Ukraine, one has to do it more or less alone. The Jewish communities here are trying to help organize things. We want to help them when they get here, where they want to go.
We are pleased to receive donations through the Warsaw Jewish community. We also have the FJC in New York, and there are other organizations and we make sure that all the money really goes to the refugees.
And then we have to figure out what to do next.
While you’re here: DW editors bring together what’s happening in Germany and around the world in regular email newsletters. You can register here.
Add Comment