Wacław Wierzbieniec

The 8th Celebrations of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day in Podkarpacie Regionwere held between January 25 and 29, 2016 in 15 towns. The initiative was held under the honorary auspices of the Voivodship Marshal. The rich program offer was made possible with the help of local authorities, higher education institutions, and high schools as well as church, cultural, educational and non-governmental organizations.   The event was organized together with Rzeszów mayor Tadeusz Ferenc, Krosno mayor Piotr Przytocki, Przemyśl mayor Robert Choma, Rzeszów Diocese Curia, Rzeszów chapter of the Institute of National Remembrance, Foundation for Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland, Podkarpacie Department of Education, Podkarpacie Center for Educating teachers and institutions that got involved in particular towns including Krosno, Dukla, Rymanów, Jarosław, Przeworsk, Markowa, Przemyśl, Bircza, Rzeszów, Lubaczów, Kolbuszowa, Sędziszów Małopolski, Dubiecko, Łańcut, and Dynów.   Main celebrations in Rzeszów were held on January 27, 2016. In the course of the ceremonies, guests together with residents of the town and local area celebrated the memory of Rzeszów Jews at the Jewish cemetery. In the course of a panel discussion, testimonies of Holocaust survivors and their families were presented. Guests included Lucia Retman from Haifa (Israel), who had been rescued from the Holocaust by Zofia Pomorska from Lubaczów; Judit Elkin from Miami (USA), who was born in Przeworsk and survived the Holocaust by escaping with her family to USSR;

 Ora Regev Heuman from Tel Aviv (Israel) – daughter of a Holocaust survivor rescued by Sikorski family from Lubaczów; Samuel and Tamara Halpern who represented the second generation of Jews from Lubaczów and Dynów; Małka Shacham Doron, daughter of Fryda Stary Vogel from Rymanów; Simon Lavee with family (Israel), whose father was Edmund Łukawiecki, Jewish partisan in the Home Army who survived the Holocaust thanks to the Kulp family from Lubaczów.   The final element of the celebrations was the annual religious service in Rzeszów’s main church, devoted to the memory of murdered Jews from Podkarpacie region. The service was coupled with public reading of names of Jewish victims and those of Gentiles who died trying to save them. Priest Dr Marek Dzik stated that in the course of the Holocaust not only Jews would be murdered, but also Polish “Righteous among Nations”, which shows there should be no acquiescence for lack of tolerance. Events commemorating local Jewish history and Holocaust were held in all towns of Podkarpacie that joined the celebrations.   The celebrations showed how many towns in the region are able and interested in commemorating local Jews that had once lived here in significant numbers. They also offered a glimpse into how many local people are engaged in working on Polish-Jewish relations and how important this activism is to them.