Jews in the Garden by Judy Rakowski

Jews in the Garden (Sourcebooks), subtitled A Holocaust Survivor, the Fate of His Family, and the Secret History of Poland in World War II is an eloquent, deeply personal memoir written by award-winning, veteran investigative journalist Judy Rakowsky. She shares her moving experiences of discoveries made about her previously unknown Jewish relatives in Poland, most of whom died in Concentration Camps during the Holocaust. Tragically, late in 1944 as the Red Army advanced and the Nazis were beginning to retreat, ten additional family members in hiding were reported as murdered by townspeople known to them.

Only one, a cousin named Hena, was believed to have miraculously escaped. Beginning in 1991 and continuing over a thirty year period Judy made nine trips to Poland, initially accompanied by her elderly Holocaust survivor cousin Sam Ron and later by her husband Sam Mendales. They embarked upon an exhaustive search for information about their missing family members, including Hena. They were impeded by former neighbors oddly reluctant to reveal the truth or even stories they had heard and obstructed at every turn by petty bureaucrats who staunchly refused multiple requests for information.

Exploring Family and World History

Judy was shocked to learn the truth about how ordinary Polish citizens as well as a large number of fervently anti-Semitic Resistance members were active participants in both the exposure and killing of Polish Jews. The most egregious example may be the brutal 1941 massacre of 300-400 Jews in the small village of Jedwabne during which their Polish neighbors clubbed and beat many to death before herding those remaining into a barn, barring the doors and burning them to death. There were many other incidents which Poland would prefer be perceived as solely the culpability of the Nazi occupiers. 

Jews had been living productive lives in Poland since before the time of The Crusades, well over 800 years, yet by World War II, they were still designated “Poles of Jewish Nationality” without full Polish citizenship. They were looked upon with suspicion and many of the anti-Semitic Conservative Catholic majority considered them to be “Christ Killers”. Thus, sadly, an indeterminately large number of Polish policemen who were also often part of the resistance actively hunted and killed Jews or delivered them to the Germans. Citizens motivated by a mixture of enduring hatred and avarice actively aided in the identification and denunciation of Jewish acquaintances.

Rakowsky’s Own History

The second generation all-American girl who matured into a dedicated investigative journalist was born in the small predominantly Christian town of Lima, Ohio, as was her father Rudy. Judy Rakowsky’s school years were filled with studies, swim meets and cheerleading. Her mother was a Christian convert to Judaism. Her beloved Poppy, grandfather Ben Rakowski (the “i” was changed to “y” by the Immigration Station in Galveston, Texas) was one of eight children born in a village near Krakow, Poland in 1886. He married Jennie Stokfish in Warsaw. To escape the Czarist Russian draft, he immigrated to the United States with a group of Polish Jews arriving on September 11, 1913. Six years later, following WWI, his wife and daughter Helen were finally able to join him. In time, the family grew by two more children including Judy’s father.  None of their extended family chose to relocate to America.  

World War II began in Poland on September 1, 1939 when the country was invaded on two borders by Nazi Germany and Russia. Letters sent by Ben to his family remained unanswered for the duration of the war. At long last, a telegram arrived from Sam, the son of his younger brother Jozef. With the aid of the Red Cross and the clue of the word “buckeye” from old letters to his grandmother, the Ohio dwelling Rakowsky Family was found. Sam conveyed the sad news that the only Holocaust survivors of their once large and prosperous family were Ben’s sister Lily and her 19 year-old-son, his brother Jozef, his wife Sophie and Sam. As quickly as possible, Ben sponsored them for visas to the United States.

Firsthand Account of the Holocaust

Judy’s father and her Uncle Sam were only a year apart in age but the cousins not only looked enough alike to be brothers but also possessed some of the same mannerisms and ebullience. One expressed himself in a Midwestern twang while the other displayed a thick Polish accent.  Judy was aware her father’s family was small and their heritage was Polish-Jewish. It wasn’t until she was in her mid-twenties and visited her Uncle Sam and his wife Bilha for a long Seder in their home in Canton, Ohio did she begin to learn firsthand about the Holocaust and the devastation wrought upon their family. 

Born Shmul Rakowski in Poland, he changed his name to Sam Ron, Hebrew for joy, in celebration of renewal and a new life in a new land. He had quietly waited nearly 60 years to tell his grim personal story and at last, in the comfort of his Ohio home, he began to talk. Judy took hasty notes on a cocktail napkin. Later, remembering the words spoken by Elie Wiesel, “Listen to the Survivors,” Judy persuaded her uncle to allow her to tape interviews with him and to write a Sunday magazine story about their family and his memories. When she asked him why he had waited so long to speak, he replied, “I didn’t think anyone would care.”

When they made their first trip together to Poland to the family home town of Kazimierza Wielka near Krakow and the village of Chruszczyna, Sam asked their dinner hosts and former neighbors about the Dula family, his aunt, uncle and three cousins. The matter-of-fact response was, “Next door, they are buried in the root cellar.” Judy’s scant knowledge of the difficult Polish language, limited to simple greetings and thanks, made her dependent on her Uncle’s translations during their first visit to the old country and later on relied on hired translators.

Confirmation was quickly obtained from Władysław Sodo, the son of the farmer who had sheltered them. He witnessed the Polish gunmen beat his father before murdering the Jewish family. To their dismay, they also learned that three generations of the Sodo family had been vilified for daring to hide these Jews. In school their children were taunted about “Jews in the Garden.”

More unpleasant surprises were to come. In one home, Sam was shown what had been his family’s dining table but no offer to return it was forthcoming. Another villager gloated about profiting from seizing a fine home and mill of another Jewish family. Throughout their visit, no one exhibited sorrow or remorse at the fate of the Jews, not even the fate of the Rakowski family. In a Krakow hotel, an unknown woman snarled “so many of you Jews survived”. Additionally their motives for visiting Poland were questioned.  

Being strong survivors, the Rakowskys persisted, returning once with a camera crew. The repeated visits provided healing and closure for Sam Ron who is now 98. Over time, he became a popular speaker in Poland at memorial events and participated in the placement of plaques and markers as remembrance of those killed in the Holocaust.

Poland’s Role in WWII

Poland was a victim of Nazi German aggression suffering under oppressive occupation for five years. There were many Catholic Christians in Poland who did their best to hide or help the Jews ranging from ordinary citizens to the heroic diplomat Jan Karski. Karski personally offered his eyewitness accounts to inform President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the concentration camps and ongoing murder of Jews on an unimaginably massive scale. More Poles than any other nationality have been honored by Yad Vashem as “Righteous among the Nations” for risking their lives to aid Jews. However, truth must not be denied; a large number not only aided the Nazis in the persecution and killing of Polish Jews but actively participated in massacres and executions. 

The liberation of camps and the end of WWII wasn’t a signal to returning Polish Jews of a warm welcome; widespread intolerance did not evaporate with the signing of the peace treaties. Before WWII, Jews comprised approximately 10% of the population of Poland or about 3.3 million people; up to 30-35% of the population of several major cities including Warsaw, Wroclaw and Kielce. Nearly 90% were killed during the Holocaust. Over 200,000 remained in Russia where they had fled. 

It is estimated about 1200 Jews were killed in various “incidents” throughout Poland postwar. The worst “incident” was the Kielce pogrom that took place on July 4, 1946 instigated by Christians. 42 were killed outright and another 40 gravely injured. The population continued to rapidly dwindle and by 2019, the total Polish Jewish population was estimated to be around 4,000 people.  Polish Jews did not receive compensation for the loss of businesses, homes and personal property nor were these restored to them after the war. 

Post-War Poland and the Effects

For many years, particularly during the post-war decades of Soviet USSR oppression, little was written about the five year occupation of Poland by Nazi German troops. Following the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact in 1991, Poland held its first free democratic parliamentary election since the 1920’s. This also marked three decades when historians, writers and educators could realistically, freely and honestly begin to examine Poland’s complicated involvement in both WWII and the extermination of Jews.

The Law and Justice Party (PiS), formed in 2001 is a Catholic Christian right-wing, ultra-conservative, nationalistic populist political party which has rapidly dominated the government in Poland. With the colors of red, white and blue and the symbol of a crowned eagle’s head, the PiS party won the 2015 parliamentary elections including the presidency with an outright majority. 

In 2018, the Polish legislature swiftly passed a controversial bill that would make it illegal to claim any Polish complicity in the Nazi atrocities committed in Poland, punishable by up to three years in prison. Before the vote was taken in the Senate, the Deputy Prime Minister said, “It is a duty of every Pole to defend the good name of Poland.”  After worldwide outrage about the infringement of individual rights and curtailment of free speech and academic freedom, the law was amended to remove the criminalization of public speech.

However, the party line is to present ethnic Poles during WWII as being either heroes or victims rather than confront the uncomfortable fact that some Poles were complicit in the Holocaust. The law makes it difficult to discuss or teach about Polish involvement.

 It is doubtful that the thought-provoking, thoroughly researched and well-documented Jews in the Garden by author Judy Rakowsky will be published in today’s Poland. The dedication spoke volumes: “To the truth tellers who reveal the tales of lives discarded, rescuing them and us of a dark history.” While unsettling, this work of nonfiction shines a light on an absorbing vital page of history.