Thanks to the efforts of the Jewish History and Culture Department of University of Rzeszów’s Institute of History and with the support of local authorities and institutions, over 60 towns of the Podkarpackie Province honored the 10th International Holocaust Remembrance Day with commemorating ceremonies that took place on 22-28 January. It is a unique example of a area-wide cooperation unmatched by any other region. The project has been initiated by Leader of Dialogue Professor Wacław Wierzbieniec and today over 200 institutions are involved in the annual ceremonies’ organizations. You can read the complete program of the 10th International Holocaust Remembrance Day here.

Forum for Dialogue’s representatives – Jagoda Szkarłat, Leaders of Dialogue program coordinator, and Julia Machnowska, School of Dialogue program coordinator – participated in commemorating events in Gniewczyna Łańcucka, Leżajsk, Lesko, Trepcza, Dynów, Głogów Małopolski, Hłudno, Tyczyn and Rzeszów. Check out the photo galleries and short descriptions of these ceremonies below.

On January 24 the towns of Leżajsk and Gniewczyna Łańcucka commemorated the Holocaust victims of the area. Leżajsk’s ceremony’s importance was recognized by representatives of Polish and international Jewish community, with the presence of Lucia Retman, Holocaust Survivor now living in Haifa, Israel. In Gniewczyna guests gathered at the official ceremony in local church took part in an inter-faith Jewish/Christian prayer, followed by a public reading of the list of names of Jews who perished in Holocaust.

photo: J.Szkarłat

On January 25 ceremonies took place in Lesko and Trepcza. In Lesko local students read passages from Jafa Wallach’s memoirs “Bitter Freedom: Memoirs of a Holocaust Survivor”. Gathered residents participated in a meeting with Romuald Zwonarz, son of Józef and Franciszka Zwonarz, Righteous Among the Nations, who gave shelter to five Jewish fugitives from the Zasław camp during the war. Additional meetings and lectures were organized as a part of “Multiculturalism in the Bieszczady Mountains Throughout the Centuries” panel. In Trepcza, ceremony held at the local church commemorated the Jewish victims of a ghetto and labor camp located in that town.

photo: J.Szkarłat

On January 26 Forum’s representatives attended the commemorations held in Dynów, Głogów Małopolski, Hłudno and Tyczyn. In Dynów, the commemoration’s participants attended the offical opening of the Center for Youths Education ‘Three Cultures’. The program consisted of meetings, poetry and music performances, exhibitions’ openings and visit to the Center of the History of Polish Jews. Residents had a chance to met with Lucia Retman, Holocaust Survivor born in Dynów. Other guests from Israel and the USA shared their families’ Holocaust stories: Samuel, Tamar and Rachel Halpern, and David Ringler. Głogów Małopolski honored the memory of its Holocaust victims with March of Memory ending at a site of mass grave in Bór, followed by a scientific session entitled “Głogów’s Jews History and Culture – Our Common Heritage”. In Hłudno scientific session “Dynów-Brzozów’s Jewish History and Culture” was accompanied by a fil screening and an opening of the exhibition made by Paweł Rebizak and students from the Hłudno School Complex.

photo: J.Szkarłat

On January 28 our representatives took part in ceremony commemorating the Holocaust victims in Rzeszów during which prayer was recited by Rabi Shalom Ben Stambler of Chabad-Lubavitch. Lectures, meetings and choir concert organized by the JCC Krakow followed. Participants had a chance to see the exhibitions accompanying the Remembrance Day: “The Holocaust in the State Archives Database in Rzeszów” and “Memoirs of the Holocaust”.

photo: J.Szkarłat