Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on April 13, 2022

WH slams 'horrific' attack on Ukraine train station

WH press secretary Jen Psaki calls the missile attack on a train station in eastern Ukraine "another horrific atrocity" by Russian forces but stops short of calling it a war crime. (April 8)

AP

As the son of Holocaust survivors, the sight of certain Ukrainian refugeestore at Michael Korenblit's heart the most during his recent visit to Poland.

"Seeing the children being pushed across the border in strollers and aHolocaust survivor being wheeled across in a wheelchair, I thought 'What is the matter with man that we would let this continue to happen?'" he said.

Korenblitwas part of a Jewish Federations of North America delegation that visited Poland on April 5-8. The Edmond resident is president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Oklahoma City.

A spokeswoman for the Jewish Federations of North America said the organization launched a series of ongoing aid missions to the Ukraine border to evaluate the developing needs on the ground, show solidarity, meet with refugees and bring those stories back to their local communities. She said Jewish Federations have raised more than $43 million in emergency aid thus far.

More: How to talk to kids about the Russia/Ukraine conflict

Eric Fingerhut, Jewish Federations president and chief executive officer, said Jewish Federations have a clear strategy for saving Jews around the world.

"We could not have predicted the war in Ukraine, but we are there to help because we know that maintaining a highly professional, well-funded global 911 is essential. The skill and expertise we have been witnessing in the relief efforts in Ukraine and in the bordering countries is the result of years of experience, training, relationship building, and fundraising," he said.

Korenblit said he wasparticularly interested in the trip because his parents were born inHrubieszow, Poland, and they were sent to Nazi concentration camps. Korenblit said he wanted to bear witness to the humanitarian crisis resulting from Russia's war on Ukraine because no one bore similar witness to the Holocaust.

He said what he saw in Poland shocked him, although he had knownthe situation was bleak in the wake of Russia's invasion in February.

"It was a pretty incredible, very intense journey for 96 hours," he said.

"I'm not sure if any of us realized how bad it was. We knew it was bad but ...you'redismayed by the situation, you're angry, you're sad."

Korenblit said he was pleased toseenumerous humanitarian relief agencies lined up near the border to help meet the needs of Ukrainians fleeing their country.

He said the Jewish Federations delegation of 28 people met with the Jewish Agency for Israel, an organization that has been aiding refugees inPoland. He said the agencyestimated that there were numerous Jewish Ukrainian refugees and that some of those were Holocaust survivors.

The agency is helping all refugees, Jewish and non-Jewish, as they make their way to safety. Agencyleaders briefed Korenblit's delegation about the work they are doing, including renting out a hotel and turning it into a refugee center with a school for refugee children.Korenblit said many of the children used crayons and pens to draw and write about their experiences.

More: Biden says Russia is committing 'genocide'; Putin says peace talks at 'dead end'

The Jewish Federation delegation got to hear some of the refugees' stories during theirvisit to the center. Korenblit said he was touched by refugees from the city of Mariupol who said they think the Russians' ultimate aim was to "starve them to death."

Many Jewish refugeeswere being guided through the process of emigrating to Israel and one family from Maripol, Ukraine, talked of completing their paperwork to resettle in Israel only to have their home destroyed by a bomb, and the paperwork along with it, just before they could flee the city. Korenblit said volunteers were helping the family complete the necessary documents again.

"They were able to get out," he said. "The motherexplainedwhat happened and there was a tremor in her voice as she was talking."

He also met a woman from Odessa, Ukraine, who had been conducting a seminar far from home when the war broke out.

"She's married with a child waiting for her at home," Korenblit said.

It was at a border crossing in Medyka, Poland, that Korenblit saw the heartbreaking scenes of families pushing children in strollers or leading the youngsters by the hand as they crossed the border. It was there that he witnessed an older man being wheeled over the border in a wheelchair and he later learned the man had survived the Holocaust only to be forced to flee his war-torn Ukrainian home.

More: Mapping and tracking Russia's invasion of Ukraine

He saidMedyka was about 91miles from his parents' hometown. Korenblit's parents Meyer (also known as Majir) and Manya Kornblit eventually made their way to Ponca City after World War II. Korenblit chronicled their experiences in Poland and how they survivedNazi death camps in his book "Until We Meet Again." Meyer Kornblit died in 2012 at age88, while Manya Kornblit died in 2008 at age 83. The couple were married for 62 years.

Korenblit and his group eventually visited the Kraczowa Krakowiec Refugee Center where they discussed the importance of bearing witness to Ukrainians' plight.

"Russia is saying that this didn't happen right now. It was important for us to be there to witness that it did happen, to bear witness to that," he said.

He said many members of the Jewish Federations delegation brought items to aid the refugees.Korenblit said he didn't have time to get such items because he was on the waiting list to join the delegation and onlylearned a few days before the trip that he would be going.

He said he and other members of the Jewish community have donated and will be donating funds for agencies that may choose to use the money to provide for refugees' immediate needs.

Korenblit said he left Poland with a vision that offered him a measure of positivity and it came in the form of some of the youngest refugees.

"There was one thing that brought us hope," Korenblit said.

"Thewalls of the refugee center were lined with drawings from the children."

Go here to see the original:

'What is the matter with man?' Jewish Federation OKC president bears witness in Poland - Oklahoman.com

Category: Jewish
Tags: