Narcyz Listkowski

When I turned seven, my family was moved to social housing not far from the main market in Rabka Zdrój. Our neighbors called the building we lived in a bathhouse; at the time I thought it was because we had a bathroom and running water. It was exciting for me to explore the new neighborhood, make new friends and play outside from morning to dusk. I would run with other kids around an area with concrete elements protruding from the ground every few meters; the area also had a strange vibe. People from other streets said that ours was a Jewish street and that the whole area and the main square were inhabited by Jews before World War II. “Hmm, I have never seen a Jew in my life, but I could sense the resentment and fear that Jews seemed to stir in people.” Some would even tell us that when Jews come back, we will have to move out. Twenty five years later, when reading the book “Dark Secrets of Tereska Mansion” (Mroczne sekrety Willi Tereska) that presented the Holocaust in the region of Rabka, I found a photograph of my residential building with an inscription “the mikveh building”. Knowing very little about those who used to live here, I was stirred to action to salvage whatever could be salvaged from oblivion. My fascinating conversations with the last eyewitnesses who remembered their Jewish neighbors motivated me to look further and expand my knowledge. Archival documents and photographs donated by friends helped me solve some of the puzzles.

The building I now call my home was once the house of the rabbi with his family, with the mikveh ritual bath located on its ground floor. The concrete elements sticking out from the grounds turned out to be stairs to the local synagogue that had been destroyed by Germans. I wondered why am I doing all this, the topic kept growing on me. The answer to my question was on the way. One August afternoon in 2011, I stood on the stairs that once led to the synagogue with Werner Oder, son of a Nazi criminal, when I understood the importance of my actions. Werner came to Rabka to apologize for the crimes of his father Wilhelm, member of a group of Nazi murderers who killed a few hundred residents in Rabka. While I live on the very site of what was once the center of Jewish religious life. The whole Jewish community of Rabka passed through my house. The fact that I live here could not have been pure coincidence! I had been offered something that I am learning to share with others, and free of charge, too. For many years I have been groomed for the role I currently play. I found a way to vent all my experiences and observations from childhood spent in an area so heavily marked by Germans. Today I am aware of the great historical significance that sites salvaged from the abyss of oblivion pose for Rabka Zdrój. I believe that the struggle to keep the memory of the local Jewish community alive continues. This struggle changes human hearts, it definitely changed mine.

By profession I work as an electrician and a construction worker, but I volunteer my free time to care for the site of the former synagogue, mowing the grass and caring for the esthetics of the site. With a group of my friends I am trying to commemorate the stairs and the site of the synagogue building by erecting a memorial plaque. By informing about the situation through the media we initiated the process of inscribing the synagogue stairs onto the Municipal registry of protected heritage sites. I do guided tours for groups interested in Jewish history and share my knowledge. Since 2015, on the last day of August, the anniversary of deportations of local Jews to Bełżec death camp, we organize a memorial march, in the course of which we tell local residents of the Jewish community that once lived in Rabka. Many participants our tours admit that their – often controversial  –  attitudes and opinions on Polish-Jewish matters have changed significantly. It is important to propagate the knowledge on this topic, as it is marginalized in many towns with significant Jewish populations before World War II. 

Vulgar and racist paintings, jokes and superstitions – people who do such things are waiting for those who are able to shed light on their fears. What do others think about my activism? You would have to ask them. I am not seeking fame nor fortune, I am doing what should be done and besides, there is no one else willing to do it. The tragic history played out during World War II is a warning for our future. Anyone who says bad  things about a fellow human being just because that person differs from them in religion or skin color, needs to experience a lot of love and wisdom in their life, which I wish for them with all my heart.

My dream and perhaps a task for the future is to unearth the mikveh, create a memorial site for Rabka’s Jews in the former rabbi’s house to open my town to God’s blessings.

Activism