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VLOG: from NYC to Poland, as a Jew



VLOG: from NYC to Poland, as a Jew

Today I’m sharing a very personal journal entry from my first trip to Poland. As a Jew.

These are thoughts I wrote while they were still raw, on the train from Kraków to Warsaw, trying to process what it meant to finally be in a place that loomed so large in my childhood imagination as the alte heim, the old home.

In this video, I take you with me through Kraków, from the Old Town to Kazimierz, from beauty salons to synagogues turned restaurants, from tourist chachkes to quiet, unsettling questions about memory, belonging, and what it means to “return” to a place where Jewish life was once so present and then nearly erased.

I’m in Poland as the guest of my friend Naomi Seidman, a Jewish scholar with deep Polish roots, here for the Jewish Culture Festival. She and the University of Toronto helped make this trip possible.

Naomi has been many times; this is my first. Along the way, I wrestle with conflicting Jewish attitudes toward Poland, the idea of being “done” with a place, and the strange tension between caricature, reverence, and living memory.

This is a travel journal, a meditation, and a record of how the present and past overlap, sometimes cleanly, sometimes painfully. A palimpsest.

Edited by the wonderful Lee Kupac / @mayo.nap

Love travel vlogs?

Check out some of my other travel vlogs:

• My trip to Germany

• My trip to Israel

• My trip to the Catskills

• My trip to Queens, New York

And stay tuned. There might be a travel vlog coming from my first ever trip to Toronto, which I’m planning for March 2026.

More of my work

🎥 My projects with Naomi Seidman (playlist):

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🎵 TikTok:

@friedavizel

View 38 Comments

38件のコメント

  1. @Maximilian-z5x on

    One think is certain about you Frida .. You menage to get on Polish Securitu Forces radar for clear anti-polonism and spreading fraudulent , hateful opinion about Poles and Poland ..Such behaviour is under Criminal Penal code..
    Don't be surprise if next time you will be refuse to enter Poland..

  2. @adlervonschlesien4869 on

    Przestańcie z tą Żydowską propagandą! Czasy się zmieniły, brudy wychodzą na światło dzienne, żydowskie brudy! i nie bedzie dłużej Izrael I USA pluło Polakom w twarz i niszczyło Polskę!!! Koniec z tym!!!

  5. @Mr233191962 on

    Polacy, a wiecie, że utrzymanie amerykańskiego żołnierza kosztuje was 20 tysięcy euro miesięcznie, dla waszego kraju???? Nie wspominając o amerykańskim sprzęcie, który jest 5 razy droższy niż podobny inny z innych krajów i jest 4 razy droższy w utrzymaniu, normalne kraje nie kupują ich sprzętu ,całkowicie bezwartościowego, Amerykanie używają tego sprzętu tylko dla skorumpowanego rządu lub po prostu krajów bez suwerenności!!!Płacić. dalej za gówno!!!

  6. @jansliwa4881 on

    In AMERICA Jews had limited access to universities long >after< the war. Many AMERICAN hotels didn't accept Jewish guests in the 70ties.

  11. @alinab6021 on

    po co wy zydzi przyjezdzacie do Polski, szczegolnie zydzi ktorzy nie pochodza z Polski ⁉ Przyjezdzacie do Polski i ciagle plujecie , siedzcie w tej Ameryce czy Izraelu albo gdzie inndziej i nie przyjezdzajcie tu do Polski , nikt was nie zaprasza ‼

  12. @romanhamerski9192 on

    Very sentimental about missing Jews in Poland. No word about Germen who killed 18 million people in concentration camps 5 million Jews in this number. Strange logic.

  13. @mateuszzdrenka3403 on

    I have a question: why do you keep using the term Nazis instead of Germans? Where did these Nazis come from? From Naziland? Did such a place exist? Because I don't know, maybe there really was something like Naziland…

  14. @SebaThePersonWhoIsWatchingYT on

    Poland isn't just for Jews or Poles, it's a place for everyone.
    This narrative to me seems like you are saying Jews Vs. Poles.
    (I am saying this as a Jewish Teen with a Polish Mom, although I guess I don't know fully because I live in the US but still)

  17. @kaslop8850 on

    I don't like this narrative, and it contradicts what I've observed many times. I believe it's unfair to Poles, regardless of their religion.

  18. @frantiszek on

    This castle is the most important place in the history of Polish kingdom. And you reduced it to Nazi headquarters. Perfect example of Jewish tunel vision

  20. @wladyslawbukowski on

    In Western Europe, rescuing Jews during World War II was punishable only by a fine. In Poland, however, the death penalty was imposed on the spot for the entire family that hid them. Despite this, Poles saved the largest number of Jews among all European countries. Since the Middle Ages, Poland has been accepting and providing shelter to Jews persecuted and burned at the stake in Western Europe in large numbers. In terms of survival and support, Jews owe the most to Poles. However, for a long time now, instead of gratitude, they have often repaid us with venomous hatred, demands, and false, baseless accusations. Until now, there has generally been no anti-Semitism in Poland, but for some time now, due to Jewish attitudes toward us, antipathy toward Jews has been growing in Poland, and if this develops into something more serious, I personally won't be surprised.

  21. @osamski on

    Why noone mentioned Jews joining russian red army and being russian henchmen looking for revenge on poles for not helping Jews enough during German occupation, lots Jews become high officers of ub/SB prosecuting poles who fought russian occupiers after ww2

  22. @lucywojdyla3331 on

    I love history – found your video interesting. My family are post war from Poland, non-Jewish immigrants. The experience my grandparents had was torture as well. My uncle, as a Polish Catholic Political AK member sent to Auschwitz – his crime was collaborating with Jewish partisans blowing up rail tracks. My grandparents neighbors hung with their kids for hiding their Jewish neighbors. Poland was tolerant of Jews for centuries primarily because rulers welcomed them for their economic skills in trade and finance, offering legal protections in exchange for taxes and development, making Poland a major center for Jewish life while Western Europe persecuted them. The 3 million Polish Jews from Poland alone, plus an additional 3 million from the rest of Europe, were murdered during the war, which was horrific, and I think many try to forget about this chapter in history. I feel some of my Jewish friends have resentment against Poles, which I think is unfounded. Post-war the Stalinist government had many Jewish leaders in top posts. Our resentment is that these leaders were calling for the execution of Witold Pilecki, (Home Army)- who they considered a traitor, and many others. My uncle was part of the Home Army – the government wanted all Home Army members to be arrested and put on trial. After Stalin died, these top Polish Jewish leaders were replaced.

  23. @xot80 on

    The problem with the Jewish minority in Poland was that, despite a much better legal situation than in the rest of Europe, they never integrated. You could spot a Jew in prewar Poland from a kilometer away, and if you had good eyesight, from two kilometers away. They always formed a separate community, did not mix, and mixed families were rare. For 1,000 years, Poland was a stopover on the way to Israel. Despite living here for generations, they never recognized Poland as their homeland. They never actively participated in the defense of Poland (with very few exceptions). In places like Chrzanów, the Jewish minority constituted 50% of the population before the war (even though, in addition to Poles, there were also German, Czech, Ukrainian, and other minorities). Of the large Jewish population in prewar Poland, very few participated in the defensive battles of 1939 in the ranks of the Polish army. Because the Polish army was Polish, and Poland was not their homeland. When the Holocaust broke out, barely a handful joined the partisans. Only when they were faced with a knife at their throats did they dare to start an uprising in the ghetto. Some of them collaborated with the Nazis until the very end (Rumkowski, I think). They traded their own children for their lives. Once again, they saw a career opportunity with the Soviets, and the worst Stalinist prosecutors in postwar Poland were Jews. Why should Poles love Jews? Why should they respect them? For 1,000 years of enriching themselves without any obligations to Poland? For heroism on the battlefields defending Poland? For exemplary assimilation into Polish society? For communist betrayal? My great-grandmother, née Polkowska (a well-known Jewish family in prewar Poland), nor her daughters, nor my grandfather, ever again wanted anything to do with Jews or the religion of Moses. I write this as a descendant of these people, as someone whose ancestral blood, despite everything, flows in his veins. I know the history of Poland and Europe intimately, and I also know my family's wartime fate. The tragedy in Będzin is part of it. Today, our entire family is ashamed to admit to such lousy roots. I believe my great-grandmother made the right choice by severing all ties to our Jewish heritage. They stayed in Poland, didn't flee, and my grandfather served Poland his entire life. He instilled in me patriotism and a love for Poland. We discovered these roots after his death, after conducting a family investigation and "interrogating" his sister, my aunt. You say you like Poland because they don't cry "free Palestine." The truth is, however, that the Jewish people today are doing to Palestinians what the three occupiers of Poland did to them during the partitions. Furthermore, you use methods borrowed directly from the Warsaw Ghetto. Only today, like Nazis, you are inflicting a holocaust on another nation. I studied history and know perfectly well what the Warsaw and Łódź ghettos looked like, and I see what the Gaza Strip looks like today. Aren't you ashamed? In 100 years, textbooks will rank your president on par with Hitler, Stalin, and Pol Pot.

  27. @marcinesc on

    Polacy nie są antyżydowscy. Bardziej boli na to jak to żydzi widzą nas Polaków. Boli nas że mimo że to Niemcy napadli na Polskę i to Niemcy stworzyli obozy koncentracyjne to na całym świecie (wliczając Izrael czy USA) uczy się że to byli Naziści (nie Niemcy a Naziści) to powoduje że ludzie nie wiedzą kim tak naprawdę byli Naziści. Często przez to błędnie nazywają obozy koncentracyjne jako "polskie obozy" . Po wojnie była dyskusja w Polsce czy obozy zniszczyć czy zostawić. Postanowiono zostawić i zrobić muzeum by uczcić osoby tam zamordowane. Teraz po tych wszystkich latach można zauważyć myślenie Auschwitz jest w Polsce to obozy robili Polacy. Zadajcie sobie pytanie dlaczego nie nazywacie tych zbrodniarzy Niemcami tylko Nazistami? Czy polityka wybielenia Niemców była na tyle skuteczna że ludzie na świecie nie łączą nazistów z Niemcami a jak już to z Polakami? My tu w Polsce uważamy że Żydzi powinni być nam wdzięczni za pomoc w czasie wojny za pomoc narażając swoje życie. Tytuł „Sprawiedliwy wśród Narodów Świata”, przyznawany od 1963 r. przez Instytut Yad Vashem w Jerozolimie, honoruje osoby nieżydowskiego pochodzenia, które bezinteresownie ratowały Żydów podczas Zagłady i to Polacy stanowią największą grupę uhonorowanych. Natomiast ludzie z Izraela często wspominają że w w szkołach są uczeni że Polacy współpracowali z Niemcami. Więc Polacy mają żal o to do Żydów to fakt ale bez agresji. PS: W każdym kraju są skrajności i raz na rok jakiś palant coś odwali czy to na tle rasowym, religijnym czy światopoglądowym ale to nie znaczy że takie jest stanowisko całego kraju.

  30. @zjow4755 on

    Your time as the world's most important nation is coming to an end. And one more, a Russian proverb: A J.. will always tell you what happened to him but he will never tell you why.

  31. @TessaAvonlea on

    All of the comments aggressively insisting that Poles like Jews. And then I keep scrolling and immediately find comments from other Poles proving them wrong.

  33. @Galy-0 on

    Poland ranks first in the world in terms of the number of people awarded the Righteous Among the Nations medal (over 7,200 people) In Poland, as the only occupied country, helping Jews was punishable by death for the entire family (in other countries, such as the Netherlands or France, the punishment was a fine or imprisonment. It is estimated that despite such drastic penalties, between 160,000 and even 300,000 Poles may have been involved in providing assistance, because saving one person usually required the cooperation of an entire chain of people (food suppliers, document forgers, hosts.

  34. @Galy-0 on

    5:48 – Poland ranks first in the world in terms of the number of people awarded the Righteous Among the Nations medal (over 7,200 people) In Poland, as the only occupied country, helping Jews was punishable by death for the entire family (in other countries, such as the Netherlands or France, the punishment was a fine or imprisonment. It is estimated that despite such drastic penalties, between 160,000 and even 300,000 Poles may have been involved in providing assistance, because saving one person usually required the cooperation of an entire chain of people (food suppliers, document forgers, hosts. The ghettos were created by the Germans, not the Poles 6:01This film is manipulation.

  35. @kalililak6847 on

    I am under impression that there is some sort of unresolved issue you are trying to reveal here. If there is some legal claim regarding possession of property, it is possible to reclaim it in the court if you can prove rights to it. Why claiming that property was stolen. Can you prove that. It is clear, that Jewish are no longer living there. But for some reason you omitting fact that it is not because of Polish or Polish government. It is because of GERMANS and GERMANY that Jewish people lost their property, possessions and life. If you looking for anyone to accuse of stealing it would be GERMANS and GERMANY. Retribution, either moral or financial, should be claim from German government and German corporations who made immense profits on suffering of Jewish people. You should mention Bosch, Siemens, Mercedes, Porsche, Mercedes, Bayer, Volksvagen. Instead you reinforcing myth of threat of coming to Poland. What are you trying to achieve here?

  38. @but-germany1181 on

    I don’t understand the reason that why the Germany and the most of the European countries expelled the Jews and still hate them.
    I mean which crimes Jews did?

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