Warsaw, Poland - Officials lit a menorah in the Polish parliament's lower house Monday to mark Hanukkah, in what was believed to be a first for the parliament building.
Rabbi Shalom Stambler and Deputy Parliament Speaker Jaroslaw Kalinowski jointly lit a candle, which was then used to light seven candles on a pre-World War II menorah decorated with the crowned eagle — a symbol of the Polish state.
The lighting "symbolizes freedom and independence that should be spread across Poland and across the world," said Stambler, of the Chabad Lubavitch movement.
There was also a separate menorah lighting ceremony at the presidential palace, for the second consecutive year.
Before the war, Poland was home to a Jewish community of nearly 3.5 million, but about half of the Jewish population died under the Nazi occupation. About 30,000 Jews live in Poland now.
While Poland has been accused of widespread anti-Semitism in the postwar era, recent governments have been making a point of trying to reverse the image.
Hanukkah, an eight-day celebration that ended Wednesday night, commemorates religious freedom and fighting oppression. It also commemorates how the Jews who recaptured the Temple in Jerusalem from Syrian-Greek occupiers found a one-day supply of oil that miraculously lasted eight days.