* * *: FIRST BIENNIAL CONFERENCE

THE 1 ST CONFERENCE WAS SUPPORTED BY:

Bogdan Zdrojewski

The Minister of Culture and National Heritage.

Prof. Władysław Bartoszewski

The Secretary of State in the Office of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers

and Plenipotentiary for International Affairs.

Włodzimierz Fisiak

The Marshal of the Lodz Voivodship

Wojciech Rychlik

The Starost of Zduńska Wola Poviat

We would like to express our special thanks

to Chief Rabbi of Poland Michael Schudrich.

THE 1st CONFERENCE WAS FINANCED BY:

Starostwo Powiatu Zduńskowolskiego

First Conference was organized by Yachad Association

CONFERENCE PUBLICATION

(English version available below)

George Gershwin, the renowned Jewish-American composer, once said:

“Life is a lot like jazz ... it’s best when you improvise.”

We decided to improvise together.

For the longest time, we were not aware of other people who were organizing similar initiatives, school lessons, presentations for the local residents, a so-called Open House at the Jewish cemetery, being a guide around the cemeteries, documenting Jewish headstones, coordinating contests for students, educational gatherings similar to what has taken place in Zduńska Wola. All these experiences were very new for us. And yet, we took the risk. Unlimited opportunities for action opened up before our eyes. An exciting journey, aiming at a better understanding of our common world, a journey to learn about new chapters of history and about the social and cultural transformations that take place among ourselves, has started.

Kamila Klauzińska

coordinator
The First Biennial National Conference for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage Sites in Poland
(see more below)

What was pre-war Poland like? Was it more colorful, multicultural or cosmopolitan? The war and the years of Communism that followed destroyed that unique cultural mosaic. What happened to the beautiful heritage of the Jews, the Germans, and the Ukrainians who had contributed so much to Poland. Does this heritage still exist? It is, yet often we are not aware of it, passing by what is now simply a fire station, a school, or a gas station. Before the war, there was a synagogue in the fire station, and the school and gas station were built on the site of a Jewish cemetery. All too often this is what remains of the heritage that we feel we have a moral responsibility to take care of.

Today, the Jewish people represent only a small percentage of our Polish society. They usually live in larger cities, such as Warsaw, Krakow, or Lodz. And what has happened in the smaller place, the pre-war shtetls, such as Rymanów and Wielowieś? Are the small towns and villages left with remnants of a Jewish heritage that will only whither away? No, a growing number of people say, absolutely not! In many of these small municipalities there are local people who have a strong passion for commemorating and carrying on the memory of their unique regional Jewish culture. They are the KEEPERS OF THE MEMORY.

(text: Kuba Pawelec)

The First Biennial National Conference for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage Sites in Poland, dedicated to the meory of Ireneusz Ślipek was organized by the Yachad Historical Society in Zduńska Wola. This gathering was the first of its kind in Poland, where the inheritors of such a fascinating multicultural history and culture had the opportunity to meet and to get to know each other. It was particularly significant since so many of us face similar restrictions and challenges in everyday life. People have their ways of solving these common problems, trying to break down social and cultural barriers, to attempt greater understanding. It was a special moment when we could, for the first time, come together and share our experiences.

The is a common fire that burns in all of us. It is a fire of passion. The passion for life. The question is: WHY? Because we have to? Perhaps part of the answer can be found in a journal written by Heinrich Bol: “Cemeteries are full of people without whom the world could not exist.” It is beautiful and refreshing that some individuals in the world, such as those among the Keepers of the Memory break from the moldy, closed mentality so many people stubbornly carry.

The success of the conference shows that some significant social change is happening in Poland, and in so many other places in the world. Slowly, but surely, we are building a more tolerant society. As the great Polish literary figure Adam Mickiewicz once put it: “After getting rid of the moldy bark, we will have green years.” Each of us are able to shape the education and development of our youth. Moreover, our youth, bursting with new ideas and fresh ways in seeing the world, can help build bridges, to overcome misunderstandings and ignorance of the past. Often, people are surprised by the beauty that shape the matzevot or the polychrome uncovered under the plaster of an old synagogue building that now serves as a warehouse. That is why it is so important to act! During the conference, Rabbi Michael Schudrich shared a beautiful analogy: “If I share my money with someone and, for example, give them half of what I have, I will become poorer of that half. However, if I share my knowledge, even all the knowledge that I possess, I will not lose anything.”

(Text: Kuba Pawelec)

The Yachad Historical Society wishes to thank everyone who took part in the conference:

To Józef Ślipek, who for two years has been carrying on his brother Ireneusz’s work – taking care of the Jewish cemetery in Warta.

To Dariusz Walerjański

Adam and Michał Lorenc

Paweł Turlejski

Tamara Włodarczyk

Szymon Modrzejewski

Marcin Dudek

Grzegorz Kamiński

Agnieszka Piśkiewicz

Anna Gruźlewska

Artur Cyruk

The Cukerman Gate Initiative Group

Our special thanks to:

Chief Rabbi of Poland Michael Schudrich

Dr. Jan Jagielski from the Jewish Historical Institute

Professor Ernest Aleks Bartnik from the Polish Jewish Cemetery Restoration Project (PJCRP)

Aleks Schwartz from the Rabbinical Commission of the Jewish Cemeteries in Poland

Albert Stankowski and Piotr Kowalik from the Museum of Polish Jews

We our grateful to:

Dr. Eleonora Bergman, Director of the Jewish Historical Institute

Monika Krawczyk, Executive of the Jewish Heritage Foundation

Michael Traison, who initiated an annual award to recognize Polish volunteers that preserve Jewish sites in Poland.

Our conference could not have taken place without the generous support from the following organizations:

Funds for the conference came from:

The Stefan Batory Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Taube Foundation for the Revival of Jewish Life, the Zduńska Wola regional government and funds raised by Yachad. We also extend a special thank you to the Hades Hotel in Zduńska Wola.

(Text: Kuba Pawelec)

For twenty years, Ireneusz Ślipek took care of the Jewish cemetery in Warta. He saved more than a thousand matzevot, which he alone recovered and returned to the cemetery grounds. Despite many difficulties, including resistance from some local residents, he refused to give up. With passion and a determined sense of mission, he continued his task. His energy and inspiration encouraged people to get involved in similar endeavours. He was honored by the Israeli Ambassador in Poland with an award for preserving the Jewish heritage in Poland. He was also honored by Yad Vashem in Jerusalem for his restoration and preservation efforts of the Jewish cemetery in Warta. He died suddenly on May 4, 2006. Just the previous day he had been toiling away in his beloved Jewish cemetery. His work and mission has since been continued by his brother, Józef.

We wish to pay homage to this humble man who exemplified a great spirit and heart.

It is to him we dedicated our conference!

Jan Jagielski for many years was the heart of the Department of Historical Monuments and Documentation at the Jewish Historical Institute. In 2005, for his distinguished achievements in pushing for the preservation of Jewish historical sites in Poland, he received the Jan Karski and Pola Nireńska Award. In 1981, he co-founded the Committee for the Preservation of Jewish Cemeteries and Heritage Sites. In 2008, he received one of Poland’s highest honors, the Order of Polonia Restituta. The award was given to him by Polish President Lech Kaczyński.

Dr. Jagielski has written numerous books on Jewish Warsaw, including the Warsaw ghetto and the Jewish cemetery.

For many of us, he is an unrivalled example, master, and a special friend.

Szymon Modrzejewski was born in 1969. He is a mason, leader of the Magurycz Association, whose mission is to preserve the beautiful headstone art at the cemeteries of various religions. He has been working at different cemeteries for twenty-two years and at Jewish cemeteries in particular since 1995. His work has taken him to many small, hidden-away places, such as Wola Michałowa, Jaśliska, and Baligród.

More information can be found at the association’s website: www.magurycz.org

For six years, Paweł Turlejski and his group of Pentecostals have been taking care of the Jewish cemetery in Mińsk Mazowiecki. He has been stubbornly raising awareness about the Jewish heritage there among the town’s residents. His wife is always at his side, supporting him in his work. She organizes groups of Baptists who regularly clean the cemetery grounds in Mińsk Mazowiecki. Together with the Friends of Mińsk Mazowiecki Society, he organized an exhibition dedicated to the Jews of Mińsk. The exhibition was the largest, and the most visited, in the society’s history. In the Dernałowicz Palace, he organized an event devoted to Israeli culture, with concerts, film exhibitions, and samples of kosher foods. He also organized an exhibition on Jakov Porat. As well, he initiated a commemoration of the liquidation of the Mińsk ghetto. All of these events helped break a certain silence about the municipality’s Jewish past, and created an awareness of the Jewish culture that once shaped and colored Mińsk. The police began to pay more attention in protecting the Jewish cemetery and a monument was built, paying homage to the Jews of Mińsk who perished during the Holocaust. With assistance from the Jewish community in Warsaw, the Jewish cemetery in Mińsk was added to the national record of Polish historical sites.

Grzegorz Kamiński of Toszek is a history teacher at Elementary School No. 39 in Gliwice. In 2002, he graduated with honors from the Department of History and Education at Opole University. He has taken on the responsibility of taking care of the Jewish cemeteries in Toszek and Wielowieś. In 2005, the Israeli Embassy in Poland awarded him with a certificate for preserving Jewish heritage sites in Poland. In recognition of his efforts, in 2008 the Minister of Culture and National Heritage awarded him with a Silver Medal for protecting historical sites. He is the author of many articles on history and preservaton of Jewish heritage. As well, he published many postcards from Toszek and Wielowieś. For the past few years, he has also been participating in Górnośląskie Heritage Days, where he educates people about the history of Toszek and Wielowieś, with a particular focus on Jewish heritage. He is a member of the Polish Historical Society of Opole University.

Marcin Dudek is an applied mathematics student specializing in geodesy in Warsaw. For four years, he has been active in preservation projects in Jewish cemeteries. He works closely with Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich, the Rabbinical Society for Jewish Cemeteries and the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland.

Dariusz Walerjański was born in 1969 in Zabrze-Mikulczyce. He is a historian, museum curator, and a teacher of local history and tradition. Until 2008, he was an adjunct in the Museum of Coal Mining in Zabrze. Now, he works as a manager at the International Center for Documentation and Infrastructure Heritage Research for Tourism (UNWTO) and at the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw. For many years he has been a member of the Society for the Protection of Monuments. For more than two decades, he has researched and documented Jewish heritage in Górny Śląsk. In 1998, the Israeli Embassy awarded him a certificate in recognition of his work to preserve Jewish heritage. In 2008, the Minister of Culture and National Heritage decorated him with the Gold Order for, among other things, taking care of historical sites such as the Jewish cemetery in Zabrze.

Dariusz Walerjański is the author of the books Zabrze, step by step..., Multicultural Bytom, and Intimate Architecture-Deserted Architecture. His articles have created more awareness about the Jewish history in Chorzów, Tarnowskie Mountains, Pyskowice ,Gliwice, Sośnicowice, Zabrze, among other places. As he eloquently puts it, he is only a follower of his mentor, Jan Jagielski of the Jewish Historical Institute, who taught him all about preserving Jewish heritage and documentation.

After twenty years of studying Jewish culture and tradition and the Holocaust, Adam and Michał Lorenc decided to formally organize their interests with serious activism. In 2005, they started the Rymanów Encounters Association The association’s mission is to commemorate multicultural Rymanów, especially its Jewish heritage. In August 2008, the association organized the Remembrance Days celebration of Jewish Rymanów, which was a series of symbolic, educational, and cultural events commemorating one of the most creative communities of Galicia. In the coming years, the association plans to cooperate with the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage to establish regular guided tours of the Rymanów synagogue and tzaddiks’ grave sites, as well as to renovate the headstones of First World War soldiers at the Jewish cemetery in Rymanów. They also want to publish the diaries of Fryda Vogel-Stary and her book Paul’s Diary. Overall, their main focus is the youth of Rymanów, to help create a new understanding and awareness of the community’s Jewish heritage, by organizing contests, shows, and lectures in the synagogue and at the cemetery.

Anna Grużlewska is a teacher and a coordinator of Beitin Chaj Foundation in Dzierżeniów, which, among other things, is pushing to preserve the town’s synagogue. She also works closely with the Jewish community in Bielsko Biała. Anna is also a co-author of educational projects for students The Young Will Build a Better World, All Should be Brothers, and And That is Poland, Indeed. These projects have been carried out at the Second High School in Bielsko Biała in an effort to promote tolerance and education about Poland’s Jewish communities.

She has also published many articles about the Jews of Dzierżeniów. Her works include From Assimilation to Exclusion: The Jewish Community of Dzierżeniów (1870-1944) and From the Individual to the Community: The Establishment of the Jewish Community of Dzierżeniów in the 19th Century.

Agnieszka Piśkiewicz-Kostka grew up in Szczekociny and now lives in Częstochowa. Together with a group of activists, including the descendants of the Jewish survivors from Szczekociny, she strives to establish the proper respect and care for the Jewish holy sites in Szczekociny: the cemetery and the synagogue. They are planning to build a monument in memory of those who perished in the Holocaust. As well, they are retrieving matzevot throughout the town. As a teacher in Częstochowa, she led the project Regaining the Memory in cooperation with the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage, in which students cleaned the local Jewish cemetery. Currently, she is hard at work on a new project, ReBorn Roots, to help people rediscover Jewish culture in Poland and build bridges between the Polish and Jewish cultures, especially among the youth.

The Cukerman Gate Initiative was established in order to save and renovate an old Jewish house of prayer in Będzin. Before the war, more than fifty percent of Będzin’s population was Jewish. Today, there are some relics of that Jewish past, for instance, the Cukerman House of Prayer. The site was named after the pre-war owner of the building. On the walls, there are precious historical and cultural polychrome artwork with beautifully characteristic Jewish symbolism. The artwork dates back to the 1930s. The young volunteers behind the Cukerman Gate Initiative want to take care of this place and proudly show it to the world. They want it to be used for educational purposes, but also as a part of their rich heritage to share with the local people and visitors. In 2009, they established the Cukerman Gate Foundation, which is working to collect funds to cover the renovation costs of this beautiful place. They also plan to teach history and promote the region. In November 2008, procedures began to add the Cukerman Gate to the list of the Śląsk Provincial Heritage Conservator

It all began in 1999, when Tamara Włodarczyk started to work with the Jewish Community of Wrocław and the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage. Fate seems to have set her on the path of becoming an instructor of preservation projects at the Jewish cemetery in Kłodzko. As a result of all this, she has written a few publications about the Jews of Kłodzko.

Today, she continues her interest in Jewish culture by working with the Museum of Polish Jews in Warsaw and her particiaption in the Virtual Shtetl project. As well, she initiated cooperation with other organizations. The contacts led to the recruitment of volunteers who were prepared to help at the Jewish cemetery in Kłodzko. As a coordinator, she contacted the owner of the cemetery, the local government, and the heritage conservators to help push for preservation projects. Meanwhile, she carries on her efforts to gain funding to preserve the cemetery.

Artur Cyruk has worked for the preservation of Jewish heritage for several years now. He started the Atlantyda project, which involves prison inmates. He has worked at cemeteries of different denominations, organized meetings, and pushed for educational programs. Together with his wards, he began work at the Jewish cemeteries in Narewka and Narew. In time, other correction centersin the Białystok region joined the project: Grądy Woniecko Penitentiary, Czerwony Bór Penitentiary, Białystok Penitentiary, Wrocław Penitentiary. Interest in this unique program grew. Trzebnia Penitentiary, Tarnów Mościce Penitentiary, and Ostrów Wielkopolski Penitentiary soon also took part in the effort. Among the projects, they organized and cleaned up the Jewish cemetery in Zambrów, which still requires serious work. Many cemetery projects have been accomplished thanks to the involvement of Dagmara Kielan, an educator at Wrocław Penitentiary. She and the prison inmates together took part in a project at the Wrocław Jewish cemetery on Lotnicza Street The Atlantyda program has included a series of educational lectures for the prison inmates. The penitentiaries have welcomed such guests as the Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich, Jan Jagielski, and Piotr Kadlcik.

More information about the program is available at their website: www.atlantyda.org.pl

The First Biennial National Conference for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage Sites in Poland was initiated in cooperation with the For Tolerance program, with additional assistance from the Batory Foundation and the Ford Foundation, as well as support from the Zduńska Wola regional government.

This publication was financed by the the Zduńska Wola regional government (Starostwo Powiatowe) as part of its aim to preserve local culture, traditions, and national heritage.

Graphic design: Kamila Klauzińska

Texts: Tomasz Polkowski, Kuba Pawelec, Kamila Klauzińska

Texts about the Keepers of the Memory prepared by: Ewelina Matusiak, Asia Jeżyk, Basia Matusiak

Photographs: Adam Lorenc, Michał Lorenc, Kamila Klauzińska, Kasia Gostyńska.

We extend a special thank you to all the Keepers of the Memory for sharing their pictures and materials used in this publication. Without their assitance, this publication could not have been completed.

This publication is not for sale.

Permission is required for any reproduction or distribution of this publication.

translation into English: Aleksandra Dybkowska

edited by: John Crust

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Preserving the Memory
The Volunteers Who Take Care of Jewish Cemeteries in Poland.

by Kamila Klauzinska

this is a short part of the article presented
at 29th IAJGS International Conference of Jewish Genealogy

in Philadelphia, August 2-7, 2009

"In 2008, Guardians of Memory decided to organize their first conference,[1] during which they could meet in person, get to know each other better, and exchange experiences, and at the same time inspire the local communities in which they work to join in, and to care about and remember the Jewish heritage of Poland.

As in our work, during our conference, our motto was a line of George Gershwin’s: “Life is a lot like jazz…it’s best when you improvise”. We knew no one who organized similar actions, such as lectures in schools, presentations to residents of towns, or ceremonies memorializing the Jewish community. It was all new to us. Nevertheless, we took the risk and found our conference opened the door to limitless opportunities. We embarked on a new journey, whose goal is
a better understanding of our common world, entering a new and unknown chapter of history and the changes that will occur within us.

The conference was directed towards non-Jews engaged in the preservation of the Jewish heritage in Poland. Among them there were students, representatives of free professions, historians, artists, a mason, pensioners and several teachers. The conference was also addressed to the local communities in which the volunteers work – to teachers, school directors, local officials and church representatives. Such notables took part as: Jan Jagielski from the Jewish Historical Institute, Piotr Kowalik and Albert Stankowski representing Museum of the History of Polish Jews, prof. Aleksy Bartnik from Poland Jewish Cemetery Project (PJCRP), and religious eminences, such as the Chief Rabbi of Poland Michael Schudrich and Alex Schwartz from the Rabbinical Commission on Cemeteries in Poland. The honorary guest was the Ambassador of Israel to Poland, David Peleg. The conference was supported by prof. Wladysław Bartoszewski – The Secretary of State in the Office of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers and Plenipotentiary for International Affairs, Bogdan Zdrojewski – Minister of Culture, Włodzimierz Fisiak – The Marshal of the Lodz Voivodship, and Wojciech Rychlik – The Starost of Zduńska Wola Poviat.

The focus of the conference was the issues connected with the preservation of the heritage of Polish Jews: technical ones regarding masonry and preservation of matzevot from destruction, through educational and reclamation projects, to the religious issues raised by our topic of interest.

Mayors and presidents of towns from which the presenters came also received invitations. Unfortunately, no one showed up, except for the vice-president of the town in which the conference took place.[2], [3] No municipality officials of the towns where Guardians of Memory work showed interest in the event. [4] The conference organizers received no telephone calls or emails from their municipalities inquiring about the conference. One participant in the conference even asked us, the organizers, not to inform his employer and his town’s officialdom, where he works, about his intent of taking part in the conference, fearing negative consequences.

All Guardians of Memory do their work nearly from scratch. Systematically and with determination they preserve the Jewish heritage, trying to maintain contacts with Former Residents[5] and Jewish institutions in our country and outside. This way they become ambassadors of Poland on the topic of Polish–Jewish relations.

As the former Ambassador of Israel to Poland, prof. Shevah Weiss, said, preserving the memory of Polish Jews is not possible without Poles. Those who do it, he called the third generation of the righteous.[6] The Jewish communities in Poland do not have sufficient funds to restore all cemeteries, which before the war numbered over a thousand.

What motivates Guardians of Memory?

Michal Lorenc, who together with his brother Adam decided to rescue from oblivion the Jewish community of Rymanow, says: “We do not just cut grass, we cut hatred, intolerance and our bad thoughts about the world. The grass which has been cut regrows after a time. We have no ultimate influence over that, but we must believe that what we do makes sense and is possible.”

Michal and Adam sought out the Former Residents’ Association of Rymanow and together they organized the Memorial Days of the Jewish Society of Rymanow. In 2008 they visited Israel, where they initiated a meeting of former residents of Rymanow. Over the weekend of September 12-13, 2009, in Rymanow, there again will be Memorial Days of the Jewish Society of Rymanow.

For Ireneusz Slipek, a local historian who during the 20 years of his work rescued 1000 matzevot in the Warta cemetery, that place was sacred. [7]

Artur Cyruk, a prison guard officer created an innovative program for his inmates. Together they are bringing order to a cemetery in Narew and Narewka. About their work he says: “I wanted to teach my inmates tolerance.” He succeeded. One of his inmates said that he used to come to the place to drink alcohol with his friends, but today he would not do it, because he knows what kind of place it is.

For Szymon Modrzejewski from the Magurycz Association, it counts if you do something sensible and decent in your life. His work goes beyond Jewish cemeteries. He restores tombstones in Greek-Catholic, Lemko, Russian Orthodox and Tatar cemeteries in the south-east of Poland and Ukraine. He is everywhere where there are no more ethnic minorities to take care of their ancestors’ graves. Young people, high-school kids and students work in Magurycz. For the last 20 years Szymon has been organizing gatherings for them, during which young people rescue lonely and forgotten graves.

Agnieszka Piskiewicz, a teacher from Czestochowa, made contact with the Former Residents’ Association of Szczekociny. Together they are trying to build a memorial dedicated to the Jewish community of Szczekociny. On the wall of a synagogue they put a plaque informing people about the original use of the building. For the last two years Agnieszka has organized
a Festival of Jewish Culture YAHAD in Szczekociny. She was inspired by the name YACHAD of Zdunska Wola. She decided to carry out a project called ReBorn Roots, which would help rebuild the Jewish culture and create bridges between Polish and Jewish nations. Agnieszka has declared that the second YACHAD conference will take place in Szczekociny, where in 2010 Guardians of Memory will meet again.

On Bram Cukerman’s initiative a group of youngsters came to the conference to seek help. A few months before, with their own money they had rented an apartment in a tenement house in Bedzin. Before the war there was a prayer room in this apartment, funded by the former owner of the house Nuchim Cukerman. The walls were decorated with frescoes portraying the Holy Land. The present owner decided to destroy the decorations and rent the apartment. Time was running out to rescue those frescoes and the memory of the past inhabitants of the house.
At the conference, there were also people who had helped those passionate youngsters, and they created a foundation. More than a year has passed since this cry for help, and today these young people are involved in various educational and cultural projects which encourage the residents of Bedzin to care for our common heritage.

The YACHAD Society has the statutory duty to gain and maintain connection with former town residents of the Jewish faith, and it does this systematically. We have managed to rebuild the cemetery gate. We have mobilized the municipality and local companies to help us with our finances. Over the last six years we have organized an annual contest for high-school students. Students gather testimony from town residents about the Jews of Zduńska Wola; they write them down, and make documentary films".

translation: Katarzyna Buczkowska

[1] I Polish National Conference of individuals engaged in the preservation of Jewish cultural heritage in Poland took place on September 15-16, 2008 in Zdunska Wola. It was organized by the Historical Society YACHAD.

[2] A few months before a similar conference was organized in Lublin. Its organizer was the Polish Towns Association. The only representative of the social activists was Jerzy Fornalik – the creator of the Antyschematy project in Kozmin. The other speakers were mainly presidents and representatives of municipalities. We as an non-governmental organization did not receive any information about that conference [I have Yachad Association in Zdunska Wola in my mind].

[3] During the conference I was given a few “pointers” from the people of my town that I should ask the president of Zdunska Wola whether I am allowed to organize the conference. It is as if it depended solely on the president’s opinion whether the conference should take place. I would like to add that the conference was financed by the Batory Foundation, the Tad Taube Foundation, the Ford Foundation and by the Zdunska Wola County. All these funds I have received by writing grant proposals. The conference took place in a hotel which we paid for from the received funds. The town of Zdunska Wola to this day does not have any special fund for non-governmental organizations.

[4] The YACHAD conference was met with great interest. It was written up by all major newspapers around the world, including the Israeli Haaretz and the American Herald Tribune. It needs mentioning that the majority of speakers come from small towns: Warta, Wielowies and Toszek, Narew and Narewka, Dzierzoniow, Szczekociny, Jasliska, Rymanow, Barcin, and form several bigger towns such as Zabrze, Czestochowa, Klodzko and Minsk Mazowiecki.

[5] Former Residents’’ Association is the so called Landsmannschaft (Landsman in Yiddish means coming from the same town or vicinity). Former Residents’ Associations have a long tradition in Jewish communities. They function to this day in Israel, as well as in other countries. The oldest Former Residents’ Association came into being in the 19th c. in Paris and the USA. The goal of a Former Residents’ Association was to help new comers and introduce them to the new world. O. Goldberg, Stara i nowa ojczyzna. Ślady kultury Żydów polskich, Łódź 2003, p. 27-28

[6] Albo bardzo dobrze, albo okropnie (ang. Either very good or terrible) – an interview with prof. Shevah Weiss conducted by Jacek Borkowicz and Zbigniew Nosowski, Wiez, no 4, 2005, p. 17

[7] Ireneusz Slipek despite the resistance of the local community rescued the Jewish cemetery in Warta from total destruction. His brother Jozef helped him in his work: he commuted to Warta from a town Ryczywol n/Pila located 200 km away from Warta. Now Jozef Slipek continues the work of his brother. Ireneusz Slipek died on May 4, 2006 after another day at the cemetery. To him we dedicated our conference.

[8] Guardians of Memory often have many years of experience, and knowledge of Jewish history and culture. For instance, some members of the YACHAD Historical Society have been preserving the memory and rescuing the cemetery for 20 years, some for 10 years. Thus, from the time when nobody organized any conferences yet or any training to familiarize people with this topic in Polish towns. It is worth mentioning, that like Ireneusz Slipek in Warta, who for his work on the cemetery learned to read Hebrew names and last names, these people are sometimes treated by the local community as lunatic or incompetent.

some pictures from first conference