What happened to relics of Syria’s Jewish history? Assad’s collapse spurs efforts to assess the damage.

(JR) — The fall of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad has opened up a sea of uncertainty about Syria’s future — and about the treasures of its past, including the remnants of its Jewish history. A 13-year civil war has cost the country more than 600,000 lives and saw some 100,000 people “forcibly disappeared” into prisons […]

Continue Reading

Polish police murdered Jews during the Holocaust with gusto and even without Nazi orders, new book claims

Writing a comprehensive history of Polish citizens during the Holocaust is a hefty task. A Polish law that criminalizes any mention of Polish responsibility for or complicity in Nazi crimes makes it even harder. That makes the groundbreaking research conducted by acclaimed Holocaust historian Jan Grabowski for his new book, “On Duty: The Polish Blue […]

Continue Reading

Andorra, where non-Catholic houses of worship are illegal, gets its first full-time rabbi

The last few years have brought a string of Jewish milestones for Andorra, a tiny, landlocked microstate in the Pyrenees where non-Catholic houses of worship are prohibited by law. Last year, a Jewish lawmaker joined the legislature for the first time. And this summer, the lawmaker’s brother told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the local […]

Continue Reading

Once shuttered by the Nazis, Vienna’s 115-year-old Hakoah Sports Club has found new life with a roster of promising athletes

For more than six decades, Simon Panzer has come to swim meets across Austria wearing a Star of David on his chest. The symbol represents two aspects of Panzer’s identity: his Judaism, and his membership in Hakoah Sports Club, which was founded by Jews in the Austrian capital in 1909. The club, like others across […]

Continue Reading