Hi this is Bernie J of Bernie's Colorado
Journeys…Your Bridge to Adventure.
I've used my tag-line “Your Bridge to Adventure” for quite some time now but in this show I’ll
be departing from my usual light hearted presentation of travel adventures. Usually when I say the word adventure out loud the theme music of
Indiana Jones wells up in my mind, and at least for every Jones movie I've
seen, Indy is always victorious and handily out smarts the bad guys. These are
great stories but sadly based on the imagination of the writers where the good
guys always win.
This show has a story about how real bad guys
prevailed for a long time but eventually they were beaten back.
I share with you again that I work as a Docent at
the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs Colorado where I serve
to greet visitors that wish to tour the Cadet Chapel.
The Cadet Chapel has original spaces for Protestant
denominations, Catholics, Jewish worshipers and provisions for other religions
represented at the Academy.
In February 2017 New York resident Mr. Harry
Rapaport and some of his family made a visit to the Cadet Chapel having
specific interest in seeing the Jewish Synagogue area of the building.
In
1990 Mr. Rapaport was instrumental in making available a Torah, one of many
that he recovered in the Polish city of (chen-sta-ho-va) Czestochowa in the late 1980s. This city is about
two hours south-west of Warsaw.
For
us living in the United States a few hundred years seems old (Colorado
statehood happened only 140 years ago) but when you go back to this area in
Poland there are records that Czestochowa was
established in the late 11th century and first mentioned in historical
documents from the year 1220. In an early reference, the presence of Jews there,
dates back to the 17th century and are found in reports of royal inspections
from the years 1620 and 1631 (about 400 years ago)
I share this timeline with you to highlight the
long established history of the Jewish community in that city.
The Nazi occupation of Poland is considered by many
to be the start of World War II and within days of invading Poland in September
1939. The German Wehrmacht (the
unified armed
forces
of Nazi
Germany
consisting of the Heer (army),
the Kriegsmarine (navy)
and the Luftwaffe (air force)) brutally overran (chen-sta-ho-va) Czestochowa, which was the 8th largest city in
Poland at that time.
Mr. Rapaport’s extended family lived in Czestochowa during
the time of the Nazi invasion. The following are remarks by Mr. Rapaport
of what happened to his family and his
subsequent return to the area that lead to the recovery of a number of Torahs, one of which is on display outside the Jewish Synagogue
in the Academy Cadet Chapel. I recorded
Mr. Rapaports remarks at the Cadet Chapel
in February of 2017.
