This, my friends, is what you call irony:Well, yeah--that is ironic. But the problem is that while OTB stops here, there actually is more to the story:
(Sept. 25) — Two Polish neo-Nazis who were childhood sweethearts and later became skinheads have discovered what for them is a shocking family secret: They’re actually Jewish.Whoops.
Pawel and Ola, identified only by their first names, are the subject of a CNN documentary about Poles rediscovering their Jewish roots generations after their ancestors hid their religious identities to escape persecution during World War II.So now you're probably wondering--nu, what happened?
A few years ago, Ola found out from Warsaw's Jewish Historical Institute that both she and her husband are technically Jews. "It was unbelievable -- it turned out that we had Jewish roots. It was a shock," she said.
At the time, she and Pawel were active in Warsaw's neo-Nazi movement. "I was a nationalist 100 percent. Back then when we were skinheads it was all about white power... that Jews were the biggest plague and the worst evil of this world," Pawel said.
I thought you'd never ask:
Both 33, they've now embraced their Jewish identity and are active in their local orthodox synagogue.Here is a small excerpt from the CNN documentary--more details on the story are on the CNN site here.
By the way, I knew Chief Rabbi of Michael Schudrich, quoted in the excerpt below, when I was studying at Columbia--a fact I mentioned back in 2006, when I posted about an article he wrote about Poland and the Jews.
Technorati Tag: Poland.
