How past horrors are pushing Polish Jews to help fleeing Ukrainians

euronews.com:

Poland, which shares a long border with Ukraine, has taken the brunt of the refugees fleeing Russia's invasion of their southern neighbour.

Among those mobilising to help is Poland's Jewish community.

With a not-so-distant history of being both displaced and seeking refuge, Jewish people in Poland are acutely aware of what it is like to be in Ukrainians' shoes.

Take for example Alina Sobczak, a pediatric emergency doctor in Krakow. When she received a call from a colleague asking if her house was available to host refugees from Ukraine, she immediately accepted.

“I didn’t know how many people, I didn’t know who was arriving -- I just said yes,” explained Sobczak.

Within hours, 17 refugees were at her doorstep, carrying the few belongings they were able to take with them as they fled the war in Ukraine.

It was in 1917 that Sobczak's Jewish grandparents fled their native Russia to Kazakhstan, where her mother was born. From there, parts of her family were split up even further, some leaving for China and others immigrating to the US.

She explains that not too much is known about the horrors her family faced because her grandparents refused to speak about it, while her parents were too afraid to ask them. It is unclear, for example, if they fled before or after the October revolution of 1917. What was clear is that her grandparents were traumatised from the experiences that they had.

“Every evening, my grandmother would cut bread and put it into bags in case she needed to run away,” Sobczak said.

“I was raised with people who had the trauma of war. And they always educated me to be thankful for what you have because you never know what tomorrow will bring.”

Sobczak believes it is both this personal connection to the horrors of war