Comments

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  David Paul Appell October 27, 2011 at 3:07pm

  If anyone is interested in Sephardic Jewish history in Spain, I recently posted on Jews in Majorca on the Iberostar blog: http://passportto.iberostar.com/2011/10/jews-in-spain-majorcas-secr...
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  Travel Harmony July 30, 2011 at 1:24am

  There are Jewish sites and communities to be found in most places.  I specialize in travel to Australia and New Zealand but also do a good bit of customized travel in Europe.  I try to point my Jewish clients to the communites  or get guides to take them on specific Jewish tours.  We are everywhere and its nice to be able to meet others Jews while travelling.
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  David Paul Appell June 27, 2011 at 9:21pm

  Did you hear the one about the Jewish gaucho?  No joke, actually - here's a piece from this past weekend's Washington Post that talks about an "Argentine Borscht Belt":
  
  http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/jewish-gaucho-tradition-fades-i...

   

  All I can say is "oy, che...!"
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  Buzzy Gordon June 25, 2011 at 5:53am

  A terrific article, on several levels:  http://www.jidaily.com/thetouristsdilemma/e

  jidaily.com
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  José Balido May 11, 2011 at 4:46pm

  Great article about Mallorca, Buzzy! I wasn't aware of that community and its history of persecution. Ironic, considering that recent DNA studies reported in the New York Times have shown that 20% of Iberians have Jewish heritage. Anecdotally, my grandmother always told me that her grandparents used to cover mirrors when someone in the family died, which to me implies they may have been descended from conversos, likely without even realizing it.
  
  I do wonder why it is that governments never come out and apologize? Whether it's the Japanese for the rape of Nanking, or Americans for slavery, or the Spanish for the Inquisition, they hem and haw and never come out and say "We're sorry." Could it be that an apology opens the way for reparations demands? Or are they really not that sorry?
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  Buzzy Gordon May 11, 2011 at 12:56am

  The infamous Spanish Inquisition changed history in two hemispheres over the course of centuries (the Roman Inquisition lasted well into the 19th century!). One of its most heinous acts took place in Mallorca in 1691. Now the government there is taking a historic step to atone (short of apologizing). http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/07/world/europe/07iht-spain07.html?_...
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  Sam Scribe April 30, 2011 at 10:09pm

  I like these posts, too, Margaret. Like David Paul, I knew nothing about Stutthof. 

   
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  David Paul Appell April 30, 2011 at 7:32pm

  Thank you for sharing this about Stutthof, Margaret, I had never heard of it before.  I did visit Auschwitz in the 1990s and found it a searing experience.
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  Margaret Andrzejewska-Bancewicz April 30, 2011 at 7:05pm

  STUTTHOF TOUR ex-GDANSK 

   Stutthof was the first concentration camp built by the Nazi Germany regime outside of Germany. Completed on September 2, 1939, it was located in a secluded, wet, and wooded area west of the small town of Sztutowo. The town is located in the former territory of the Free City of Danzig, 34 km east of Gdańsk. Stutthof was the last camp liberated by the Allies, on May 9, 1945.
  The Camp was the place where an estimated 65. 000 inmates from 25 countries were exterminated during WWII. The death rates were extremely high from malnutrition, typhus and exhaustion. The traumatic exhibition shows the record of human suffering.

  http://www.ToursByLocals.com/StutthofCamp
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  Margaret Andrzejewska-Bancewicz April 30, 2011 at 7:02pm

  JEWISH HERITAGE TRAIL IN GDANSK

  Already in 15th century the first Jews frequently visited Gdansk and "Jewish Lane" existed on the bank of the Motlawa.
  They traded in grain and timber, were engaged in the liberal professions, employed in crafts. You will also learn about this population in the Free City of Gdansk , Polish Jews and Jewish emigres from Soviet Union visiting Sopot as a popular sea resort in the mid-war period, about their emigration who passed through Gdansk on their way to the US or Palestine, about the kindertransporten, two synagogues burnt down and two others demolished, houses and shops looted on the Crystal Night and the saddest episode in the Nazi Times - the Jewish getto, deportations and about those who managed to survive the war. Last but not least you will hear about their post-war history and present times. You will admire the remnants of Lesser Gieldzinski collection of art and listen to the anecdotes. You will also visit the old cemetary and an interesting exhibition in the National Museumhttp://www.ToursByLocals.com/GdanskJewishTour