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Last update - 08:42 24/02/2008
Neo-Nazi turns ultra-Orthodox after discovering Jewish roots
By Anshel Pfeffer
Tags: Holocaust, Poland 

Before learning about his Jewish roots, Pinchads Zlotosvsky from Poland was a skinhead with uncompromising contempt for Jews, the 32-year-old ultra-Orthodox Jew told Haaretz last weekend during Shavei Israel's annual conference for hidden Jews in Lodz.

The transition in Zlotosvsky's life occurred after his mother told him she comes from a Jewish family. Her parents, she said, sent her to a monastery when she was a small child so that she would survive the Holocaust.

All her relatives were murdered, as far as Pinchas Zlotosvsky knows.
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"I realized I was Jewish according to Judaism. I couldn't look myself in the mirror for a whole week after I found out," he recalls. After he recovered from the shock, he spent the past few years rediscovering his Jewish roots. He has also become very active with the Jewish community.

Zlotosvsky's return to Judaism is something he has in common with many of the participants in the conference, which saw the restoration of the Rabbinic Association of Poland for the first time since the 1930s. Attending the ceremony was Israel's chief rabbi, Yona Metzger, and, of course, Poland's chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich.

Official data mentions some 3 million Jews living in Poland prior to World War II. Today, official figures list only 4,000 Jews as residing in Poland, but the actual figures at least in terms of Halakha, or Jewish law are probably higher. The discrepancy stems from the fact that thousands of Jews who survived the war preferred not to reveal their Jewish identity for fear of anti-Semitic persecution by the local population.

Indeed, there were pogroms against Jews after the war, with the authorities turning a blind eye to lynching and murders, and even, at times, taking part in the killing of people who had managed to survive the Nazi purge.

Another significant portion of the hidden Jewish population consists of people like Pinchas Zlotosvsky's mother, whose parents sent them to monasteries to be raised as Christians. Despite efforts by international Jewish organizations to locate these people, not all have been found, and many are assumed to have remained Christian.

One reason for this is that many adoptive families were believed to have been reluctant to tell the children the truth about their origins.

Anti-Semitism is still prevalent in Poland, according to the rabbis who came to the conference from Lodz, Warsaw, Krakow, Wroclaw and other parts of the country. But in parallel, they spoke of a newfound acceptance of Jews especially in major cities. This atmosphere of openness, the rabbis said, encourages some hidden Jews to retrace their roots.

Freund's organization is better known for its controversial efforts to locate the people who might have come from the 10 tribes of Israel in remote corners of the world. The conference, which was also attended by 150 Polish men and women aged 18-40, is part of the organization's efforts to locate hidden Jews in Poland.

Michael Freund, Chairman of Shavei Israel, said, "Jewish life in Poland has been growing stronger in recent years, as many young Poles have begun to discover their family's Jewish ancestry, which was often hidden out of fear of persecution by the Nazis and the Communists."

Related articles:
  • Historian threatens to reveal Polish atrocities against Jews if tried for slander
  • Landmark Jewish-Polish museum to open in central Warsaw
  • Polish radio seeks to lose anti-Jewish image
  • Poland's 1st woman rabbi embarks on mission to build modern Jewish life

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      1.   Not according to genetics and culture 01:31  |  Not a jew 24/02/08
      2.   Speaking of "skin-heads and Nazis. 02:23  |  Maureen Ann 24/02/08
      3.   What for? Poland is a waste land as far as Jews are concrened 02:29  |  Genuine Tosefta 24/02/08
      4.   Poland & contempt for Jews. 03:21  |  curious 24/02/08
      5.   Hey..."Not a Jew"... 04:33  |  A Jew 24/02/08
      6.   Skinhead-turned-Haredi Great Zionist material 04:50  |  Chas. 24/02/08
      7.   Skinhead-turned-Haredi Great Zionist material 04:51  |  Chas. 24/02/08
      8.   To #3 04:54  |  The Facts 24/02/08
      9.   skinhead turns 05:06  |  Karliner 24/02/08
      10.   Maureen Ann 05:09  |  Nissim Mizrahi 24/02/08
      11.   Anti-Semitism in Poland 05:22  |  Average Polish Goy 24/02/08
      12.   #7 Chas, Get tyour facts straight. Haredi Israelis 07:30  |  Max Zinger P.Chimist 24/02/08
      13.   Especially for Nissim Mizrahi. 08:50  |  Maureen Ann 24/02/08
      14.   #11 Google "ZOG" 09:18  |  samos 24/02/08
      15.   The Jews in Poland should go to Lodz and 09:27  |  dovale 24/02/08
      16.   to Nissim #10 about Mauron #2 09:41  |  don 24/02/08
      17.   Not acceptance of jews, but tourism from jewish sites gives money 09:43  |  Alain 24/02/08
      18.   #16 Don. One to you! 09:53  |  Maureen Ann 24/02/08
      19.   #14, thanks 10:22  |  Average Polish Goy 24/02/08
      20.   "What for? Poland..." by Tosefta 10:49  |  Ruben Siedner 24/02/08
      21.   Maureen Ann 10:57  |  Ruben 24/02/08
      22.   #1 Mitochondrial dna - interesting 11:07  |  MaryRose 24/02/08
      23.   From one fanaticism to another 11:15  |  Ulf 24/02/08
      24.   Maureen Anne - you are one muddled lady 11:39  |  Zelkha 24/02/08
      25.   Maurreen Anne no. 18 11:43  |  Aliza 24/02/08
      26.   # 1 the answer to that question is simple, oh you "not a jew" 12:10  |  eric 24/02/08
      27.   #3 Philistine invaders 12:22  |  rehovot 24/02/08
      28.   ALL YOU ANTI RELIGIOUS WILL SOON LEARN FROM HIM TOO! 12:36  |  Ani 24/02/08
      29.   # 1 not a jew 12:39  |  danny 24/02/08
      30.   #12 big zionist 12:41  |  Ani 24/02/08
      31.   About the mothers gene 12:53  |  petra 24/02/08
      32.   #1 13:25  |  Moshe 24/02/08
      33.   #4 13:29  |  Moshe 24/02/08
      34.   above 14:02  |  moisherabaynu 24/02/08
      35.   Fact or journalistic invention? 14:32  |  Konrad 24/02/08
      36.   "Anti-Polonism is still prevalent in Haaretz" 14:55  |  Marek Edelman 24/02/08
      37.   To Maureen Ann...why do u hate Israel and Jews so much? 14:55  |  spade 24/02/08
      38.   #2 Maureen Ann - Sites have been around for years 15:29  |  * BEN JABO 24/02/08
      39.   This guy in so hero 15:39  |  Theodor 24/02/08
      40.   Poland 15:46  |  mark 24/02/08
      41.   Anyone who has never read 16:43  |  Mark Lincoln 24/02/08
      42.   Testing 16:45  |  Jeff 24/02/08
      43.   Re: This guy is no hero 16:53  |  Gil62 24/02/08
      44.   Fanatics are Fanatics 17:34  |  MIKE 24/02/08
      45.   Hopefully, G. Levy and A. Haas will find out they are Jews too... 20:36  |  Mr. Ami Goldman 24/02/08
      46.   The Rest Of Neo-Nazis Shall Become Toads 21:13  |  Yosemite 24/02/08
      47.   One would think he would have become a Zionist 21:14  |  Colin Wright 24/02/08
      48.   hahahahahaha 21:19  |  kay 24/02/08
      49.   Mike 21:26  |  kay 24/02/08
      50.   #7, Chas, Skin-head more appropriate for Hamas 22:02  |  David 24/02/08
      51.   #11 Average Polish Goy, Your post is written in good faith but . 22:59  |  Max Zinger P.Chimist 24/02/08
      52.   EVERYONEONE, READ THIS...HILARIOUS 23:45  |  James 24/02/08
      53.   #21 Thanks Ruben, but... 23:47  |  Maureen Ann 24/02/08
      54.   # 36 Marek Edelman, You twist the truth, Mr. Edelman 00:02  |  Max Zinger P.Chimist 25/02/08
      55.   #24 Hi Zelkha. Muddled? 00:24  |  Maureen Ann 25/02/08
      56.   #25 Aliza. So what about Russia? 00:27  |  Maureen Ann 25/02/08
      57.   #37 Spade. Who knows? 00:31  |  Maureen Ann 25/02/08
      58.   unsurprising 02:42  |  Zaf 25/02/08
      59.   #1 REason For IT 02:51  |  TOBIA 25/02/08
      60.   #53 Maureen`s knowledge of world affairs 04:00  |  fiona 25/02/08
      61.   Neo Nonharedism vs Neo Nazism 04:01  |  Yechiel 25/02/08
      62.   #22 re:Mitochondria MaryRose 04:04  |  US Citizen 25/02/08
      63.   Maureen Ann loosen up 05:53  |  Jared Malone 25/02/08
      64.   #60 Fiona, Humble One, of no city, no state. 06:33  |  Maureen Ann 25/02/08
      65.   #55 Maureen Anne 07:15  |  Zelkha 25/02/08
      66.   #64 Jared Malone. 07:16  |  Maureen ann 25/02/08
      67.   #35, Konrad 07:24  |  John Bull Capistrano 25/02/08
      68.   Are there psychiatrist in Poland?? 07:30  |  Army MD 25/02/08
      69.   #65 Zelkha. 08:26  |  Maureen Ann 25/02/08
      70.   Ignore Maureen Ann 09:03  |  Myself 25/02/08
      71.   Maureen Anne 10:47  |  Zelkha 25/02/08
      72.