From Poland's Horrors to Repentance: John Paul II Fosters Christian-Jewish Understanding. (Column)

Drinan, Robert F., National Catholic Reporter

The current film "The Pianist" portrays the terrible tragedies of the Jewish community in Warsaw, Poland, from 1939 to 1944. In 1942 alone, 312,000 Jews were sent to their deaths in the gas chambers. More than 60,000 died in the desperate ghetto uprising in 1943. The film centers on an enterprising musician who somehow escaped the carnage that befell the entire Jewish community; he died last year after a long and successful career as a brilliant pianist.

One can't avoid the thought while watching this film that Pope John Paul II was 22 in 1942 when the Germans murdered at least three-fourths of the Jews in Poland. The brutality of their treatment and the intense hatred the Germans had for the Jews is expressed in the film. The …

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Publication information: Article title: From Poland's Horrors to Repentance: John Paul II Fosters Christian-Jewish Understanding. (Column). Contributors: Drinan, Robert F. - Author. Magazine title: National Catholic Reporter. Volume: 39. Issue: 17 Publication date: February 28, 2003. Page number: 20. © 2009 National Catholic Reporter. COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group.

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