I thought I’d finish up my Capitol Hill theme with another motley post.

Polish Heroes: Those Who Rescued Jews
The first floor of the Capitol housed a photographic exhibit about the Righteous Among the Nations from Poland, those Polish citizens who rescued Jews during World War II. More Poles are numbered among the Righteous than citizens of any other country, but then, Poland had more Jews than any other country in Europe.

What I remember most about the exhibit was the statement that after the war, some Poles became angry when their neighbors revealed they had harbored Jews. Even though the danger had passed and there was no longer [an unknown] death threat hanging over their heads, they were still upset with their neighbors for risking the lives of people in the neighborhood.

A Diverse Legislature?
Colorado is the only state that has two black men in charge of the state Senate and House. Peter C. Groff is president of the Senate, and Terrance D. Carroll is speaker of the House. Neither one was raised in Colorado. Before Groff was the president of the Senate, that chamber was led by a woman, Joan Fitz-Gerald, who lost the Democratic primary to Jared Polis in the race for the Boulder House seat.

The tour guide told me Monday that either Groff or Carroll has taken a post in Washington and will be leaving soon. She didn’t say which one.

A Division of Labor
There are people who work at the Capitol polishing brass. That’s all they do. They start at the bottom, work their way up to the top, and then begin over again.

The floor is made of marble quarried in Marble, Colorado, near Aspen. The stone on the pillars is rose onyx from Beulah, Colorado, whose coloration has not been found anywhere else in the world.

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I’ll be returning to Capitol Hill for updates, as well as to the other neighborhoods I’ve already visited. But in May I’m heading into downtown Denver, the part called “upper downtown.”