I am sad to write that Chris Schwarz, the founder and director of the Galicia Jewish Museum passed away this week from prostate cancer.

I had the privilege to meet Chris Schwarz through my work. He was an extraordinary human being. If you are ever in Krakow, go to the Galicia Jewish Museum to see his amazing, life’s work.

From the Galicia Jewish Museum website, a description of the museum and their permanent exhibition. [The catalogue of the permanent exhibition Photographing Traces of Memory is beautifully produced in English and Polish and is highly recommended.] :

The Galicia Jewish Museum exists to celebrate the Jewish culture of Galicia and to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust, presenting Jewish history from a new perspective.

The permanent exhibition, Traces of Memory, is a contemporary look at the Jewish past in Poland.

The exhibition features the work of photographer Chris Schwarz, with texts by Prof. Jonathan Webber (UNESCO Chair of Jewish and Interfaith Studies, University of Birmingham, UK). Over a period of twelve years, they traveled together town by town and village by village, gathering material that offers a completely new way of looking at the Jewish past that was destroyed in Poland. The exhibition pieces together a picture of the relics of Jewish life and culture in Polish Galicia that can still be seen today, interpreting these traces in a manner which is informative, accessible, and thought-provoking.

The exhibition is divided into five sections, corresponding to the different ways in which the subject can be approached:

Section 1 is entitled Jewish Life in Ruins, with all the sadness of confronting the past.
Section 2, Jewish Culture as it Once Was , displays remaining signs of the original culture.
Section 3, Sites of Massacre and Destruction shows the horror of the Holocaust.
Section 4, How the Past is Being Remembered recognizes the efforts to preserve the traces of memory, and
Section 5, People Making Memory Today, shows people involved in recreating the memory of the Jewish past in Poland today.

A talented photographer, Chris came to Poland on an unrelated job, filming a documentary. He noted that the remains of Jewish life in Galicia were going undocumented. He was concerned that the existing iconography of the Holocaust and Jewish life [in Poland] were very limited. He then proceeded to make it his life’s work to rectify the situation.

In addition to producing and hosting high quality exhibitions and housing an excellent bookstore, the gallery has since become a center of community life, with concerts and classes, and a newsletter that chronicles local Jewish activities and culture.

I hope they continue to go from strength to strength in fitting tribute to Chris.

Chris Schwarz went about his chosen path in a thoughtful, humble way, with a sense of humor and irony, a clear purpose, and a wonderful, sensitive way with people. He was a special human being. He will be greatly missed.

Found an old website of his which describes work he has done.

Update: From the August Newsletter of the Galicia Jewish Museum:

Messages of condolences can be sent to
info@galiciajewishmuseum.org
from where they will be taken and placed in the official Book of Condolence at the Museum.

Obituary from The Times Online

Obituary from The Boston Globe (NY Times News Service)

On Tuesday, we went to see the apartments by the Marina. Hartlepool has a very cute Marina not far from the center of town. It has a bunch of restaurants and is a really pleasant place to hang out. It is one of the only places with buildings of flats (as opposed to over stores, or parts of houses / houses to rent.

We got to the office of Live Smart Homes at 2:05. We had made an appointment. We were left to sit and wait in their overly warm office entrance while crappy music played.

We overheard a young woman listen to a complaint about a leak in one of the buildings while we waited.

After about 15 minutes, which felt much longer, a woman came out from the back to take us to view a one-bedroom flat.

We enter the building entrance to the right of their office. There are workmen making a huge racket, apparently refurbishing some flats.

We enter the flat.

To the left there are two closets. One is mostly taken up by a hot water heater. One is mostly taken up with a clothes dryer.

To the right there is a serviceable bathroom. One of the marketing highlights is that new tenants get a fresh shower curtain.

There is a shoebox of a kitchen – with a washing machine [clothing], microwave, half size fridge built in. Only one person would be able to fit at a time, and with no place to sit, I guess you’re not really meant to eat at home.

The bedroom is completely taken up by a double bed. The room is so small you can’t really stand at the foot of the bed. You can stand to the side of the bed, across from which is the built-in closets, covered with mirror doors. Ugly, but serviceable, and your only clothing storage space.

The living room is almost completely taken up by a not-too-comfortable two-seat sofa covered in cheap blue fabric. Across from it is a “fireplace”, with electric heater. In the corner is another marketing highlight, you get a small TV over a VCR (VIDEO Machine) in the corner of the room. Is this 1990? Does anyone still have videos, that they use?!

The best part of the living room is the hideous wallpaper. Flowers on the bottom half of the walls, split by a wallpaper border and intense stripes on the top half. It is ugly and makes the room look even smaller.

I think it would be psychologically damaging to assaulted by this aesthetic every day. I might become the woman in The Yellow Wallpaper, completely insane, minus the post-partum depression.

Are they worried people will make the walls dirty? [Dirt would probably get lost in the busy design of it.] Kevin’s theory is that they bought it cheaply in bulk. The aesthetic is of an anonymous, ugly hotel, that you don’t mind staying in for a night because it’s cheap and you’re surprised by how clean it is.

Here’s the problem…it’s not cheap…Non-refundable credit checks at £75 each [£150 total] which include a change of locks. £500 security deposit. £425 Rent per month [Slightly larger one-bedrooms are £435, 2 bedrooms start at £465.].

The water bill is included, as is a membership for 2 to the nearby Springs gym [£60-£100 value]. Any home repairs are done by the management company. Council Tax is not included and is an additional £95 a month nor is the Electric Bill.

This is a lot of money for a shoe box, even one that is centrally located. As described above the one bedroom we looked at was really one medium-sized room divided into the different areas with walls. Two people could not live in it.

The sad thing is it would be much better as a studio without the wall separating the bedroom and living room. And, it would look larger if you painted the walls a light color and/or added a mirror. I am not a decorator…even I know this stuff!

I could really only see it as an option for a single person without a lot of stuff, who is almost never home, possibly blind.

Thankfully, we have another option. There is a small three-bedroom house we can rent for less money that is less central. No contest.

Free download of The Yellow Wallpaper or purchase from amazon below.

The Yellow Wallpaper

My friend Shayna is teaching International Sports Law in London for the summer so I went down for a visit.

I took the bus….it is a long bus ride but also the cheapest option if you don’t book the train way in advance.

She is staying in Hendon near Golder’s Green. This is a very Jewish area. There are tons of kosher restaurants and bookstores. It is very much like areas of Brooklyn and Queens in NY only with different accents except for the Israelis.

We did a few organized activities for tourists and some on our own. Here’s a breakdown:

On Thursday, we did a walking tour of Old Kensington. It was supposed to include the roof gardens / Kensington gardens and picturesque streets and homes.

The guide was pretty terrible. It might have been his first time leading this walk. We walked around a place where rich and famous people used to live.

He would point out the little plaques/signs on their former homes. He would read some famous facts about them from a book. Gee, I know how to read too.

Also, I don’t really care the Princess Diana ate at a specific restaurant or shopped for toys in a specific store. I guess I am not the target audience.

I ended up mostly ignoring him and taking pictures and sadly the roof garden was closed that day. The tour ends in Kensington Gardens (adjacent to and formerly part of Hyde Park).

Toilets were not on the itinerary, so Shayna and I wondered if the Consulate of Fiji would let us in and eventually found one in the park.

We had fun walking around there to get back to a train. I took pictures of geese and swans and the Elfin Oak (which sounds cooler in theory than it actually is).

On Friday we went to Hampstead Heath. We wanted to get to Parliament Hill for a view of London.

Apparently London doesn’t believe in putting maps at Hampstead Heath. We found one posted as we exited near the entrance marked Parliament Hill. Enter the huge nature area from somewhere else and you’re on your own. Asking people for directions has them pointing in vague directions, which is as helpful as it sounds.

It didn’t matter because it was a gorgeous day. We had a nice walk and eventually even made it to Parliament Hill (in a really roundabout route). The actual Parliament Hill view is not so special but the wander was great.

Sunday was a great day with flawless weather. First half of the day was a 3 1/2-hour cycling tour.

I highly recommend a tour with The London Bicycle Tour Company (located at Gabriel’s Wharf, +44 (0) 20 7928 6838). [They also rent bikes out if you want to go on your own.] We did the Royal West Tour. It was a great way to see famous sites (and orient yourself in London), get a bit of exercise and be outside in the sunshine.

The guide was great. He did not talk your ear off, just identified what we were seeing with an interesting fact here and there.

Our group finished the regular route a bit early and our guide took us to see a bit more so we would get our full 3 1/2 hours. After the bike tour we returned to the Thames River for a while to take some more photos including ones of Star Wars Stormtroopers out and about in conjunction with a local exhibit.

Sunday night we went on a Jack the Ripper tour with Donald Rumbelow. He is the author of The Complete Jack the Ripper, and is recognized as the expert on the subject. He is also a really good guide.

Because he is well-known there were about 70 people or so out for the tour. You can go with other companies for smaller tours. But he knows his stuff, speaks clearly and makes sure the whole group can hear and is happy to sign copies of his book at the end of the tour.

It did feel a bit weird at times, touring in the wake of a serial killer. It was interesting and will correct misconceptions if you’ve seen any movies based on the Ripper.

I don’t really think it is appropriate for young children. The few that were brought on the tour, thankfully, ended up not really paying attention to what was being said.

So London Walks was 1 for 2 for the walks I went on. Shayna had gone on a few more and had some good experiences.

I would like to return to London and do my own tour to check out Banksy graffiti.

It’s really expensive to visit London (and England in general)…thankfully we didn’t have hotel costs. We did eat out a couple of times at Kosher restaurants and visit some Kosher bakeries.

Isola Bella Cafe (63 Brent Street, Hendon, +44 (0) 20 8203 2000) had really good Thai food. It is a bit of an everything restaurant (people at a table across the aisle were having burgers and fries.)

I ordered a Thai meal special and had yummy corn soup, veggie pad thai and salad, and fried bananas with ice cream for desert. Shayna had a Thai meal special with vegetable soup (a bit salty), fish (good) and chips (fries), and a different fried fruit with ice cream.

The food was really good and the portions are huge (which makes you feel a bit better about the prices in pounds). This is easily a place where two people can share a meal. We ended up taking most of the pad thai home (along with most of the fried bananas) and having it as part of another meal. It reheated well. (Time Out Review)

Coby’s (115a Golders Green Road, +44 (0) 203 209 5054) is an Israeli cafe with cute Israeli waitstaff. I had Melawach which I hadn’t had in ages with grated tomato and a hard boiled egg. Shayna had an Israeli breakfast. Desert was a yummy chocolate crepe with coffee ice cream. this was also a thoroughly enjoyable meal. You have to time a meal to Coby’s well, it tends to get crowded. Definitely go inside, even though all the tables outside were packed when we went, we found a great table inside. [Time Out Review]

Mr. Baker {119-121 Brent Street, Hendon, +44 (0) 20 8202 6845) is a large bakery and a great source for whole wheat pitas and rugelach and other pastries. They also have tables and chairs so you can eat in. [Time Out Review]

We also visited The Cake Company (2 Sentinel Square, +44 (0) 208 202 2327) to look at Kosher wedding cakes. They have some really ornate and fun ones on their websites. It was also not to far from where Shayna was staying.

The woman was very helpful and noted that there are two options, fruitcake or sponge cake…For the fruitcake, I was picturing sponge cake with fresh fruit in it or something (like a yummy fruit tart in cake form)…Not fruitcake, the joke at Christmas-time, stale, hard and filled with dried fruit.

We told her we had never had some so she gave us each a slice. The looks on our face were pretty comical as we each tried a bite (I’m guessing mine was at least as comical as Shayna’s). Shayna had hers first and then gave me the rest of hers. I tried a bite of mine and then held the remainder of both our slices in my hand. I then handed these sheepishly to the salesgirl for placement in the bin.

Definitely don’t want fruitcake. Apparently, they are a popular choice for wedding cakes. What are people trying to say about their futures with their chosen spouse? Eeeeech!!??

Successful bits of shopping in London: a Wagamama cookbook [NOT KOSHER Noodle Place with some nice veggie items on the menu and in the cookbook] and a rain jacket. [It's amazing how difficult it is to find a rain jacket in England. Especially, with all the flooding this year, do people not realize rain is year-round here?]

Link to full set of pictures from my London adventure

Links to related media:

Kosher Food Guide from London Beth Din

Lonely Planet London

Frommer’s London 2007 (Frommer’s Complete)

The Complete Jack the Ripper

The Wagamama Cookbook

Received an email from a friend today beginning with:

Recently this week, UK removed The Holocaust from its school curriculum because it “offended” the Moslem population which claims it never occurred. This is a frightening portent of the fear that is gripping the world and how easily each country is giving into it.

Here’s a link to an older blog post The UK does Teach about the Holocaust where I have included the response of the Holocaust Education Trust in London. This forward is untrue. If you receive it please correct the sender.

My friend did not want to send the link above to correct information because she felt embarrassed for sending a hoax. She had received the email from people she thought were reputable. It seemed like a good message to send on and she did so to people near and far (some she was close to, and some not). Remember the people who were murdered in the Holocaust and don’t give in to Holocaust deniers. Who can argue with that?

Especially in times when Holocaust denial exists, and Survivors of the Holocaust will not be around for much longer, we must be ever-vigilant to be accurate with the information we send.

These email forwards are especially bad. They vilify the entire Muslim community in broad strokes. Definitely not the way to build bridges.

If one person from the long list forwards it on, the myth gets perpetuated. Any email, especially one with absolutes, should be checked with a quick google search. If you want you can also bookmark purportal.com which lets you search hoax, fraud, scam, phishing and misinformation resources from one place.

We managed to catch bits of Live Earth….The Foo Fighters rocked…Kevin’s dad’s reaction to Spinal Tap: “They’re a bit daft aren’t they?”…The Pussycat Dolls looked like hookers and the Beastie Boys looked like elder statesmen.

The most extreme range of crappy to sublime in one performer was the finale by Madonna.

La Isla Bonita as performed by Madonna with Gogol Bordello was absolutely genius. So that’s what the song was missing – wacked out gypsies. Admittedly, I really liked the song when it was first released in 1987. I was 10 or 11 at the time.

The point of the concerts according to the official website:

Live Earth is a 24-hour, 7-continent concert series taking place on 7/7/07 that will bring together more than 100 music artists and 2 billion people to trigger a global movement to solve the climate crisis.

The stupidest song possible for Live Earth was Madonna’s Hung Up, the very last song to cap off the night.

A crisis does not indicate that “Time Goes By So Slowly.” This lyric repeats in the damn song at least 14 times, but probably more. And time probably moved even faster last night with the environmental impact of these shows.

Video of Madonna with Gogol Bordello:

Gogol Bordello

Madonna

Foo Fighters

Spinal Tap

Pussycat Dolls

Beastie Boys

An Inconvenient Truth

An Inconvenient Truth