Latest news with #Polish-Jewish
Spectator
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Spectator
The mystifying cult status of Gertrude Stein
To most people, the salient qualities of Gertrude Stein are unreadability combined with monumental self-belief. This is the woman who once remarked that 'the Jews have produced only three original geniuses – Christ, Spinoza and myself'. Of the reading aloud of her works, Harold Acton complained: 'It was difficult not to fall into a trance.' Even if you are as good a writer as Francesca Wade, it is still difficult to avoid the influence of what she herself calls Stein's 'haze of words'. So the first half of this impressively researched biography is cerebral rather than colourful. Stein's writing career really began when, aged 28 (she was born in 1874), she lived alone in Bloomsbury and began to record in notebooks her thoughts, observations, descriptions of her surroundings and snatches of overheard conversations. In the spring of 1903 she joined her younger brother Leo in Paris, where the pair, supported by a monthly allowance from the family inheritance, lived simply – both always wearing plain brown corduroy suits. Under Leo's influence, they spent much of their allowance on works of art by emerging controversial painters. Their first major buy was a portrait by Henri Matisse that had been much mocked by the regular art crowd. Soon they were introduced to an unknown young Spaniard whom they were told was 'the real thing'. It was Picasso – so poor he had to share a mattress with a friend. As they bought from him, a friendship grew. In 1907 came Stein's seminal meeting with Alice B. (Babette) Toklas, herself of Polish-Jewish extraction.
Telegraph
07-03-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Pound shops are vanishing from the high street
Poundworld, Poundland, Poundstretcher – where does Britain's pound-shop obsession end? If you opened up a pound-shop empire today what would you call it – Poundtown? Pound Kingdom? Thankfully, it seems unlikely there will be further additions to the utterly saturated discount concept after the owner of Poundland raised the 'for sale' sign over the 825-store chain. How fitting if it lived up to its name right until the bitter end and was sold for a pound. But even that may be wishful thinking. With Pepco, its owner, only just beginning to look at what it calls 'all strategic options', it's early days in terms of what precisely the chain's fate will be, but it is probably fair to say that everything will be downhill from here, and not just for this version of the tired bargain-basement model. After the collapse of Wilko, and two profit warnings at B&M, the discount boom is surely over, meaning a welcome retreat for a phenomenon that is responsible for dragging the UK's broken high street to new lows in many places. It is a trend that started to take shape more than 30 years ago, before exploding during the austerity years that followed the financial crash. Along with the pound stores came the bargain chains – B&M, Home Bargains and The Range – all of them peddling more or less the same cheap wares to hard-up shoppers, just under a different name. It is no coincidence that many resemble little more than glorified jumble sales at times. Poundland was the trailblazer, founded in 1990 by Steven Smith, a former West Midlands market trader. The entrepreneur spotted an opportunity to cash in on the proliferation of pound coins in circulation. Still, a reckoning for an industry that has created countless copycats with very little to differentiate one from the other feels long overdue. In fact, the UK high street might feel like a slightly cheerier place with fewer of these soulless stores jostling for space, providing of course something better can replace them – a big 'if' in ghost town Britain. No doubt such an assessment sounds harsh – short-sighted, even. There is clearly a place for any establishment that sells genuinely affordable goods, especially at a time when inflation has been tearing through the economy, pushing up the cost of literally everything to unthinkable levels. It's probably not an overstatement to say that bargain shopping has been a genuine lifeline for really hard-up families in recent years. But surely there's a limit to how many pound shops and discount dens we are willing to put up with. Variety retail, as it was once known, has always existed in some form of course. Readers of a certain age will no doubt remember Woolworths fondly, while retail historians may recall that Marks & Spencer has its roots in a concept that began as Penny Bazaar in Leeds in the late 1800s. Set up by Michael Marks, a Polish-Jewish migrant, its catchy slogan was 'Don't ask the price, it's a penny'. Marks teamed up with Tom Spencer, a cashier at a local warehouse, and by the turn of the century they had nearly 40 outlets. The credit crunch unleashed a spectacular budget boom. Out went Woolies, and in swept a new generation of discount kings, many setting up in shops vacated by one of the pioneers of affordable shopping. These were the heroes of the post-banking crash recession. Now it's gone too far. Expansion has been utterly relentless. In the same way that the UK high street has become a sea of Turkish barbers, vape shops, and overpriced coffee chains, Britain is drowning in cut-price produce. Some retail parks can house three or four of the nationwide chains within spitting distance of each other. The truth is there is very little, if anything, to distinguish Poundland from Poundstretcher. Ditto Home Bargains and B&M. The experience is pretty much identical, in the same way that only the true nerds would differentiate between an Aldi or a Lidl. This is shopping with all the joy and pizazz sucked out of it and reduced to the absolute basics – goods piled high and sold in vast quantities, and aisle upon aisle stuffed full of drab soft furnishings, plastic tat from the Far East, and for reasons destined to forever remain unknown, a disproportionate selection of bird food. As shopping experiences go, it is about as miserable as it is possible to conceive of short of buying some stolen bacon out of a sports holdall from a scary man in the corner of your local pub. And perhaps that's the point: there are lots of people that don't care for any theatre or about the way in which the shelves are presented – they just want decent products at rock-bottom prices. Yet part of the problem is that you get what you pay for, and while it's hard to get a packet of KitKats or a bottle of Dove shower gel wrong, far too much of what you can find in the aisles of the discounters is of obviously dubious quality that has helped fuel today's throwaway culture. Besides, the industry is the architect of its own demise, brought down by the same basic mistakes that are the undoing of so many businesses. Blaming retail's favourite bogeyman Rachel Reeves certainly won't cut it. Sure, the Treasury's tax raid will 'add further pressure to Poundland's cost base' as Pepco puts it – but the key word in that sentence is 'further'. Viable retailers will be able to weather the financial hit. The industry's reversal has been brought about primarily by greed. The entrepreneurs that led the way are long gone, having made their fortune by selling out to private equity or bigger corporations obsessed with planting flags wherever there's a gap to be filled. The few that are left are plotting their escape too. The window for cashing in may close sooner than they anticipated.
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Marian Turski, Auschwitz survivor who warned of danger of indifference, dies at 98
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Marian Turski, a Holocaust survivor who became a journalist and historian in postwar Poland and co-founded Warsaw's landmark Jewish history museum, died on Tuesday. He was 98. The POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews announced his death, describing him as a person of exceptional moral and intellectual qualities who always stood on the side 'of minorities, the excluded, the wronged.' 'An authority of global importance, an advocate of Polish-Jewish understanding, a publicist, a historian. A Polish Jew. A person without whom our museum would not exist,' the museum director, Zygmunt Stępiński, wrote in a statement. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. Turski survived the Lodz ghetto, where he and his family were forced to live, two death marches and imprisonment at the Nazi German concentration camps Buchenwald and Auschwitz-Birkenau, which was in German-occupied Poland. In all, he lost 39 relatives in the Holocaust. Unlike many Jewish survivors who left postwar Poland, Turski chose to remain. He was on the political left his entire life, and was a member of the communist party. He was among a dwindling number of Holocaust survivors and spoke during observances last month marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. However, it was a stark warning about the dangers of indifference at the anniversary five years earlier that brought him international attention and raised his moral profile among his supporters. Turski said at the time that the Holocaust did not 'fall from the sky' all at once but took hold step by step as society's acceptance of small acts of discrimination eventually led to ghettos and extermination camps. He also called on people to not remain indifferent when minorities are discriminated against, when history is distorted and when 'any authority violates the existing social contract.' Many in Poland interpreted his words as a critique of the right-wing government in power at the time. However, those on the political right criticized him for using the Auschwitz anniversary to comment on the political situation, and some even suggested that Turski lacked the moral authority for such a warning because he belonged to Poland's communist party before 1989. Citing the words of another survivor, Roman Kent, Turski described what should be the Eleventh Commandment of the Bible: 'Though shalt not be indifferent.' Poland's conservative President Andrzej Duda paid tribute to Turski, saying: 'He consistently spoke about the need to cultivate sensitivity to evil. May his memory be honored!' Turski was born on June 26, 1926, as Mosze Turbowicz, and spent his childhood and teenage years in Lodz, where he attended a Hebrew language school. In 1944, his parents and brother were deported to the German Nazi camp Auschwitz, and he arrived there two weeks later in one of the last transports. His father and brother died in the gas chambers, while his mother was sent to work at the Bergen Belsen camp in northern Germany, and Turski was dispatched to work on roads in the Auschwitz-Birkenau area before being sent on two death marches. He was liberated at Terezin close to death from exhaustion and typhus. In September 1945, he returned to Poland, a committed communist who rejected an offer to go to the West and wanted to help build a socialist Poland. He used his last time on the stage at last month's Auschwitz anniversary observance to warn of the dangers of hatred and to recall that the number of those murdered was always far greater than the smaller group of survivors. 'We have always been a tiny minority,' Turski said. 'And now only a handful remain.'
The Independent
18-02-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Marian Turski, Auschwitz survivor who warned of danger of indifference, dies at 98
Marian Turski, a Holocaust survivor who became a journalist and historian in postwar Poland and co-founded Warsaw 's landmark Jewish history museum, died on Tuesday. He was 98. The POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews announced his death, describing him as a person of exceptional moral and intellectual qualities who always stood on the side 'of minorities, the excluded, the wronged.' 'An authority of global importance, an advocate of Polish-Jewish understanding, a publicist, a historian. A Polish Jew. A person without whom our museum would not exist,' the museum director, Zygmunt Stępiński, wrote in a statement. Turski survived the Lodz ghetto, where he and his family were forced to live, two death marches and imprisonment at the Nazi German concentration camps Buchenwald and Auschwitz-Birkenau, which was in German-occupied Poland. In all, he lost 39 relatives in the Holocaust. Unlike many Jewish survivors who left postwar Poland, Turski chose to remain. He was on the political left his entire life, and was a member of the communist party. He was among a dwindling number of Holocaust survivors and spoke during observances last month marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. However, it was a stark warning about the dangers of indifference at the anniversary five years earlier that brought him international attention and raised his moral profile among his supporters. Turski said at the time that the Holocaust did not 'fall from the sky' all at once but took hold step by step as society's acceptance of small acts of discrimination eventually led to ghettos and extermination camps. He also called on people to not remain indifferent when minorities are discriminated against, when history is distorted and when 'any authority violates the existing social contract.' Many in Poland interpreted his words as a critique of the right-wing government in power at the time. However, those on the political right criticized him for using the Auschwitz anniversary to comment on the political situation, and some even suggested that Turski lacked the moral authority for such a warning because he belonged to Poland's communist party before 1989. Citing the words of another survivor, Roman Kent, Turski described what should be the Eleventh Commandment of the Bible: 'Though shalt not be indifferent.' Poland's conservative President Andrzej Duda paid tribute to Turski, saying: 'He consistently spoke about the need to cultivate sensitivity to evil. May his memory be honored!' Turski was born on June 26, 1926, as Mosze Turbowicz, and spent his childhood and teenage years in Lodz, where he attended a Hebrew language school. In 1944, his parents and brother were deported to the German Nazi camp Auschwitz, and he arrived there two weeks later in one of the last transports. His father and brother died in the gas chambers, while his mother was sent to work at the Bergen Belsen camp in northern Germany, and Turski was dispatched to work on roads in the Auschwitz-Birkenau area before being sent on two death marches. He was liberated at Terezin close to death from exhaustion and typhus. In September 1945, he returned to Poland, a committed communist who rejected an offer to go to the West and wanted to help build a socialist Poland. He used his last time on the stage at last month's Auschwitz anniversary observance to warn of the dangers of hatred and to recall that the number of those murdered was always far greater than the smaller group of survivors. 'We have always been a tiny minority,' Turski said. 'And now only a handful remain.'
Associated Press
18-02-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Marian Turski, Auschwitz survivor who warned of danger of indifference, dies at 98
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Marian Turski, a Holocaust survivor who became a journalist and historian in postwar Poland and co-founded Warsaw's landmark Jewish history museum, died on Tuesday. He was 98. The POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews announced his death, describing him as a person of exceptional moral and intellectual qualities who always stood on the side 'of minorities, the excluded, the wronged.' 'An authority of global importance, an advocate of Polish-Jewish understanding, a publicist, a historian. A Polish Jew. A person without whom our museum would not exist,' the museum director, Zygmunt Stępiński, wrote in a statement. Turski survived the Lodz ghetto, where he and his family were forced to live, two death marches and imprisonment at the Nazi German concentration camps Buchenwald and Auschwitz-Birkenau, which was in German-occupied Poland. In all, he lost 39 relatives in the Holocaust. Unlike many Jewish survivors who left postwar Poland, Turski chose to remain. He was on the political left his entire life, and was a member of the communist party. He was among a dwindling number of Holocaust survivors and spoke during observances last month marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. However, it was a stark warning about the dangers of indifference at the anniversary five years earlier that brought him international attention and raised his moral profile among his supporters. Turski said at the time that the Holocaust did not 'fall from the sky' all at once but took hold step by step as society's acceptance of small acts of discrimination eventually led to ghettos and extermination camps. He also called on people to not remain indifferent when minorities are discriminated against, when history is distorted and when 'any authority violates the existing social contract.' Many in Poland interpreted his words as a critique of the right-wing government in power at the time. However, those on the political right criticized him for using the Auschwitz anniversary to comment on the political situation, and some even suggested that Turski lacked the moral authority for such a warning because he belonged to Poland's communist party before 1989. Citing the words of another survivor, Roman Kent, Turski described what should be the Eleventh Commandment of the Bible: 'Though shalt not be indifferent.' Poland's conservative President Andrzej Duda paid tribute to Turski, saying: 'He consistently spoke about the need to cultivate sensitivity to evil. May his memory be honored!' Turski was born on June 26, 1926, as Mosze Turbowicz, and spent his childhood and teenage years in Lodz, where he attended a Hebrew language school. In 1944, his parents and brother were deported to the German Nazi camp Auschwitz, and he arrived there two weeks later in one of the last transports. His father and brother died in the gas chambers, while his mother was sent to work at the Bergen Belsen camp in northern Germany, and Turski was dispatched to work on roads in the Auschwitz-Birkenau area before being sent on two death marches. He was liberated at Terezin close to death from exhaustion and typhus. In September 1945, he returned to Poland, a committed communist who rejected an offer to go to the West and wanted to help build a socialist Poland. He used his last time on the stage at last month's Auschwitz anniversary observance to warn of the dangers of hatred and to recall that the number of those murdered was always far greater than the smaller group of survivors. 'We have always been a tiny minority,' Turski said. 'And now only a handful remain.'
