Don't Know Much About with Naya Lekht
Don't Know Much About is a show devoted to unpacking contentious topics--to clarify the complex and empower people to understand historical and political events.
Don't Know Much About with Naya Lekht
Antisemitism Was Illegal and Poland Purged Its Jews: The 1967 Story
Top-down history often fails to capture the lived experience of individuals, and Naya has long been committed to telling history through personal stories. On this episode of Don’t Know Much About, Dr. Naya Lekht sits down with Leyb Ejdelman, who shares his powerful story of growing up in post-Holocaust Poland. Leyb’s life offers a rare window into how two eras of Jew-hatred—antisemitism and antizionism—intersect within a single individual’s experience. Jews who remained in Poland after the Holocaust made up a tiny minority, yet continued to participate fully in Polish political life.
Reflecting on the antisemitism he encountered as a child and the antizionism he experienced in college, Leyb recounts a seldom-told chapter of history: in 1967, Poland’s communist leadership gave Jews just fifteen days to gather their belongings and leave the country, even as antisemitism was officially illegal under Polish law. This is a story you don’t want to miss.
Clarifying the complex. Step into my classroom.