A personal appeal made by Poland’s outgoing chief rabbi to Pope John Paul II to remove the one remaining cross standing outside the site of the former Auschwitz death camp embarrassed and angered Poland’s Jewish leaders. The Union of Jewish Communities issued a statement declaring that Rabbi Menachem Joskowicz, an elderly Auschwitz survivor, was not speaking in an official capacity when he urged the pope directly last Friday “to take the last cross out of the camp so that Jews who come here can say their final prayer before dying.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
