Chandler Chat 436 Jessa Sinnott & Helene Freed

On this episode of the Chandler Chat, host Harriette Chandler welcomes to the program Jesse Sinnott, Doctoral Student at Clark University's Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, and Helene Freed, a descendant of Jewish-Polish immigrants. They discuss their recent trip to once Jewish-majority villages within modern-day Poland where Helene's family can trace their roots, and recount what sadly little remains physically of the historic Jewish community there. They trace the 1000 year history of the Jews of Poland up to the Holocaust when a staggering 90% were murdered, accounting for half of all Poles killed in WWII (despite representing less than 10% of the pre-war population,) many of whom were betrayed by their Polish neighbors turned Nazi collaborators.