Jak wyglądałby Białystok, jaka byłaby Polska, gdyby nie Holocaust?

Abstract

The author of this sketch ponders what contemporary Bialystok would look like if not for the tragedy of World War II and the Holocaust. It is an idealistic, though not realistic, vision of a city of many nations, religions, and traditions. Dr. Tomasz Wisniewski, an expert on Bialystok’s Jewish issues, a journalist and author of many publications on Polish-Jewish issues, writes: “There would be benefits and gains, there would probably be troubles and conflicts. Some would slander the Jews; others would invoke the centuries- old traditions of Polish tolerance. One priest would curse from the pulpit, another would cut chats at night with the rabbi and the batyush. And they would drink holy and kosher wine at the same time. And they would have been drinking if not for the Holocaust.”