„Most Westchnień” największego getta Europy

Agnieszka Kajczyk

26 stycznia 1942 roku w warszawskim getcie oddano do użytku tzw. „kładkę” nad ulicą Chłodną.

W czasie okupacji Chłodna, jako ważna arteria wylotowa „aryjskiej” Warszawy, dzieliła getto na dwie części. To właśnie w tym miejscu znajdował się — jak określił to prof. Jacek Leociak — punkt kulminacyjny getta, a mianowicie wąski przesmyk, umożliwiający mieszkańcom dzielnicy zamkniętej przedostanie się z jednej jej części do drugiej.

Na północ od Chłodnej, która była ulicą aryjską (jedynie w pierwszym okresie istnienia getta, czyli do grudnia 1941 roku, część Chłodnej znalazła się w granicach getta. Był to około dwustumetrowy odcinek jezdni pomiędzy skrzyżowaniem z Żelazną a skrzyżowaniem z Wronią), rozpościerało się „duże getto” z przewagą najuboższej ludności. To tam mieszkała biedota, tłoczyli się przesiedleńcy, drobni handlarze i rzemieślnicy. Na południe zaś znajdowało się małe getto, w którym mieszkali ludzie zamożniejsi, swoista elita: inteligenci, bogaci mieszczanie. Tam też mieścił się m.in. Judenrat, a także, uchodząca za jedną z najlepszych ulic w getcie, ulica Sienna.

Chcąc usprawnić komunikację w najbardziej newralgicznym miejscu warszawskiego getta, na początku 1942 roku Niemcy przerzucili nad aryjską Chłodną drewnianą kładkę dla pieszych, natomiast dla ruchu kołowego, przede wszystkim riksz, które były najpopularniejszym środkiem komunikacji w getcie, zainstalowali na skrzyżowaniu Chłodna-Żelazna specjalne mechaniczne wrota.

Most zaprojektowany i wykonany przez firmę „Schmied i Muetzermann“ postawiono na wysokości budynków Chłodna 23 i Chłodna 26. Sięgał on poziomu drugiego piętra, dzięki czemu mogły pod nim przejeżdżać Chłodną „aryjskie” tramwaje, transporty niemieckiego wojska, samochody, co uwieczniono na licznych fotografiach, na których widać również licznych przechodniów. Z mostu rozpościerała się panorama na aryjską stronę Warszawy, widać było z niego m.in. Hale Mirowskie, wieżę strażacką, Ogród Saski, basztę Cedergrenu na Zielnej (budynek PASTY), krzyże kościołów, a nawet linię dalekiej Wisły. Nie bez kozery most nazywano Ponte dei Sospiri, czyli Most Westchnień.

Tak w swoim pamiętniku pisał o nim Henryk Makower:

A z góry mostu widok na „aryjską“, jakże dla nas wolną Warszawę. Ale nie pozwala się na tak drobną przyjemność. Policjanci na moście grzecznie, ale stanowczo proszą, aby się nie gapić i przechodzić dalej.

Ten drewniany most bardzo mocno wrył się w pamięć wielu osób, a także w wizerunek samego getta i to pomimo faktu, iż funkcjonował jedynie przez pół roku od stycznia do sierpnia 1942 roku. Po wielkiej akcji likwidacyjnej getta warszawskiego kładka przestała być potrzebna i została rozebrana. Jednak fakt, jak bardzo stała się symbolem, czy też emblematem getta, widać po tym, jak często pojawia się we wspomnieniach, a także w literaturze, m.in. w opowiadaniu A. Rudnickiego Wielki Stefan Konecki. Jest ona także obecna na wielu fotografiach, można wręcz odnieść wrażenie, że była jednym z najczęściej fotografowanych obiektów okupowanej Warszawy.

Czytaj dalej tu: „Most Westchnień”

Report: Iran deploys Hezbollah to get its old ally Hamas back

MAAYAN GROISMAN

New mediation comes after Iran failed in its previous attempts to convince Hamas to announce its support for Iran in the Islamic Republic’s battle with Saudi Arabia for regional supremacy.

Rouhani Nasrallah and Mashaal Photo By: REUTERS

Hezbollah is expected to start mediating soon between Hamas and Iran in order to reconcile between both parties and bring Hamas, which is financed today buy the Gulf states, back into Tehran’s fold.

London-based Asharq al-Awsat reported on Thursday that the new mediation comes after Iran failed in its previous attempts to convince Hamas to announce its support for Iran in the Islamic Republic’s battle with Saudi Arabia for regional supremacy, in exchange for Iranian financial aid.

According to the report, Naim Qassem, the deputy secretary-general of Hezbollah, has invited the deputy chairman of Hamas’ political bureau, Mousa Abu Marzouk, to Lebanon to meet senior Iranian officials, including officers in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

The reported meeting is expected to take place after the end of reconciliation talks between Hamas and Fatah that will start in Doha in February.

Although it is desperate for money, Hamas will not easily relinquish its alignment with Saudi Arabia and take Iran’s side. Doing so will paint Hamas in the Sunni world as a traitor that collaborates with a regime which is accused of starving Syrian children to death.

The head of Hamas’ political bureau, Khaled Mashaal, has rejected Iran’s demand that Hamas side with the Islamic Republic at the expense of Sunni states in order to receive financial support, especially after Iran has ceased financing its biggest supporter in Gaza, the Islamic Jihad.

While Hamas needs Iran’s money, Iran strives to increase its dominance in the Middle East, especially as tensions with Saudi Arabia run higher, and improving its relations with Hamas can help it maintain its presence in the Palestinian territories.

Indoctrinating Swedish children

Tobias Petersson

Photographer: Michael Folmer

Textbooks which have Israel erased from the map and glorify terrorism – up until recently I thought that this was limited to schools in undemocratic Middle Eastern countries that consider Israel an enemy state. Now, however, these textbooks have appeared in Swedish class rooms and they are part of an international Palestinian campaign.

My organization, Perspective on Israel (PPI), has obtained exclusive educational materials that constitute a part of this campaign: textbooks in Arabic and that have been distributed among school children in the city of Malmö, Sweden.

The Swedish pro-Palestinian NGO Palestinian Centre for Justice (PRC) recently began to educate children in one or more schools in Malmö. In November and December of last year the PRC initially posted on their Facebook site photos of their teaching sessions but later removed these after I wrote about their tuition on the website of the Israeli Embassy in Sweden, and after a journalist started to ask questions about this too.

What kind of organization is PRC? In 2006 the PRC arranged the 4th Palestinians in Europe Conference in Malmö. Among the speakers in this conference was the terrorist leader of Hamas in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, whom the PRC calls ”Prime Minister”. This year, the NGO will host this annual conference in Malmö again. The PRC has connections to the Swedish government. In June of last year, the PRC had a meeting with Margot Wallström, the heavily criticized foreign minister of Sweden. According to the PRC website, the vice chairman of the NGO discussed foreign policy with Ms Wallström in the course of this meeting.

The PRC recently posted on their Facebook page an image for an anti-Israel demonstration, which featured a Jewish Star of David made from barbed wire. This is a way of disseminating hatred not only against Israel but also hatred against Jews, and it is a demonization of ancient Jewish symbols. It is completely unacceptable that the Swedish foreign minister meets with such an NGO, and what the organization is teaching children is despicable.

During the PRC’s teaching sessions in Swedish classrooms the anti-Israel propaganda textbook ”To Palestine I belong” was handed out to children in at least one Swedish school in Malmö.

What then, does the textbook teach Arab and, in particular, Palestinian children in Sweden? Firstly, the textbook ”To Palestine I belong”, which is written entirely in Arabic, includes a map of what is claimed to be Palestine. However, this map includes not only PA territories but also Israeli territories and mentions Israeli cities like Haifa, Be’er Sheva and Yafo – not, however, Tel Aviv. In other words Israel has been removed from the map and replaced by a Palestinian state. Portions of the textbook recount the Muslim history of the land of Israel. Jewish connections to the land prior to the Balfour Declaration are not mentioned, however. Israel is only referred to as ”the Zionist enemy” or ”the occupation”.

After the British terminated the Palestine mandate, the textbook states, ”the occupation” took advantage of the political situation in the Arab world and began its ”dangerous plan” to destroy the Palestinian cause through continuous ”war crimes against the land, the people and the holy shrines.” The textbook also informs the Swedish pupils that ”the occupation” (Israel) has Judaization projects under way in Jerusalem that will erase the landmarks of the al Aqsa mosque. Israel is also accused of confiscating lands and not permitting people to work.

The most controversial part of the textbook states that the children of Palestine began an intifada. The children confronted the ”Zionist machines and soldiers with their bare chests”, it claims. This language echoes the words of Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri, who has stated in Palestinian media that it is a successful strategy for the people of Gaza to confront the occupation with bare chests. The textbook appears to be influenced by the Hamas ideology.

It then informs the children that the Palestinian resistance is still innovating and developing its tools and equipments, combining these to create an ”heroic saga” in Gaza.The Arabic word for ”tools” in this context also means ammunition, and heroic saga can be translated as ”an heroic epic battle”.

There is also a cartoon of a boy who is about to throw something at a tank. The text above the cartoon reads: ”Fares Odeh, brave child from Gaza, confronting the big tank with his small rock”. In addition, it mentions that he was killed in 2000 and became a martyr.

This is a brief introduction to what is an international campaign to keep the Palestinian identity according to the textbook ”To Palestine I belong”. What Perspective on Israel has uncovered is a Palestinian campaign of indoctrination of Arab children in Europe to feel hostility towards Israel. It is propaganda, the purpose of which apparently is to make Palestinian children, and Arab children in general, identify with the Palestinian struggle, the Palestinian terrorism. The textbook also exists as an easy to print PDF file. This means that it comes in a format that can easily be copied, printed and distributed to an unlimited number of readers. By now, it may well be spread in many European countries.

I wrote an open letter about the PRC’s teaching to the city councillor Anders Rubin, who is the Social Democratic politician in charge of the schools in Malmö, but he responded that these kind of activities do not come under his jurisdiction. I also informed many other politicians in Malmö, but I only had a response from one party: the Sweden Democrats. Why are the remaining political parties silent?

The primary school director in Malmö, Anders Malmquist has confirmed that the photos of teaching sessions posted by PRC were shot in classrooms in Apelgårdsskolan, a municipal school in Malmö. So called ”Saturday School” activities have been arranged there and PRC’s teaching sessions and textbooks have been part of these activities.

Schools are meant to be places where children can obtain objective knowledge about the world, including Israel; not where they are taught to hate. Swedish politicians must ensure that children in Swedish classrooms are not indoctrinated to hate the world’s only Jewish state.

I hope the politicians will act, as this Op-Ed will be shared by more and more people to create awareness, nationally and internationally, with respect to how Swedish children in Swedish classrooms are being taught to hate. Swedish politicians must show that they will not permit a message promoting support for terrorism to be taught in Swedish schools.

If this type of textbook continues to be used in Swedish schools the consequences will be devastating.

Tobias Petersson
The writer is a spokesperson and political researcher for the Swedish pro-Israel NGO Perspective on Israel (Perspektiv på Israel)