110. Polish Jewish History, World War II and a Jewish Child’s Survival

This lecture was presented by Dr. Leon Chameides for the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford, Voices of Hope, and The Emanuel Synagogue.  Learn more about Polish-Jewish history and how our guest Dr. Leon Chameides  survived the Nazi occupation of Poland as a Jewish child. Despite the fact that many American Jews trace their family to Poland, there are many misconceptions about Polish history and the history of Polish-Jewish relations. Dr. Leon Chameides was born in Poland in 1935 and spent the war  years hidden in a Ukrainian Greek-Catholic monastery. He went to England in 1946 and came to the United States in 1949. He was Director of Pediatrics at Hartford Hospital for 10 years. 

To read more about Dr. Chameide’s life and family, look for his book Strangers in Many Lands, available on Amazon books. For more information about Hartford’s Jewish history, go to the website of the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford at https://jhsgh.org/ and for more about Connecticut’s connection to the Holocaust, go to the website of Voices of Hope at http://ctvoicesofhope.org/

For more about Connecticut’s military history, go to https://www.ctexplored.org/connecticut-at-war/ and to read Dr. Chameides story in the Fall issue of Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history, go to https://www.ctexplored.org/a-jewish-childs-experience-of-war/

This episode was produced by Mary Donohue, Assistant Publisher of Connecticut Explored and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan. 

Mary M. Donohue is the Asst. Publisher of Connecticut Explored. She has documented Connecticut’s architecture, built environment and popular culture for over 30 years. Contact her at https://www.granthousect.com/