Polish radio to start Hebrew-language broadcasts

Polish state radio will begin broadcasting a daily program in Hebrew this month in an attempt to give Israelis an up-to-date picture of the country where many have their roots, one of the presenters said Thursday. The program, funded in part by Poland's Foreign Ministry, will air for the first time on March 26. The program, Kol Polin, or Voice of Poland, is meant to "let Israelis know that there is a living, breathing Jewish community here," said Michael Hermon, an Israeli living in Warsaw who will be one of two presenters. "It's not only museums and concentration camps." Before World War II, Poland was home to about 3.5 million Jews, about a tenth of the country's entire population, most of whom were killed in the Holocaust. In the decades of communism that followed, Jews also suffered repression.