Anita Rucioch-Gołek

The station’s hall is rented out by “Nasz Dom” (Our House) Foundation that runs a second-hand store there. Jews lived in Zbąszyń for a few centuries, becoming part of the town’s history and culture, which is something I believe more people should be aware of. With my students, we met with a number of individuals whose knowledge helped us obtain the necessary information; they were eyewitnesses and researchers on local history. We sought information in scholarly publications, documents and on the Interne, putting in a lot of effort to design a walking tour through Zbąszyń’s streets. Now we know where the local Jewish tailor Lubraniecki lived, what gained Leopold Cohn, a Jew from what was once known as Strzelecka street, respect from the local community and why the Jewish cemetery is so far away from the town’s center.

The result of our project is a scenario for a tour of Jewish Zbąszyń. In the course of the walking tour (there is also a bike tour version) we present our participants with multicultural “Zbąszyń Balagan”. “Balagan” is a Hebrew word taken from Polish and meaning chaos, disorder and mix – a sort of a “mess”. A mix of nationalities (Poles, Germans and Jews) that lived both in Poland and in Zbąszyń before the war and earlier was a social “balagan”, but in a positive context. After all, balagan is multiculturalism and multiculturalism can be valuable, especially today.

The starting point for the tour is the railway station, as this is where the history of Jews in Zbąszyń began after their deportation from Germany in October 1938. It is an important and special place, as our tour-guides emphasize.

Today you can also see a photo exhibition “Next Year in Jerusalem”, a joint project of Wojciech Olejniczak and Erwin Schenkelbach, who collaborated on a multimedia project to commemorate Jewish community in Zbąszyń in 2008.

The next stops on the tour include the former post office no.2, building at ul.17 Stycznia, former location of Committee for Jewish Aid office (now a private apartment) with a temporary forced labor camp across the street, “Piccolo” restaurant, which is also connected to the local Jewish history, as it used to house a temporary synagogue – a place of Jewish worship. The route then leads to the site of the former synagogue at ul.Żydowska (Jewish street). Along the way, our tour guides tell the stories of some of the Jewish families (such as the Grunbergs and Wajmans from Senatorska street) that had lived in Zbąszyń for generations and whose fate was tragically sealed in the course of World War II.

The walk ends on the site of the former Jewish cemetery (currently the area of Reymonta square). In line with the Jewish tradition, tour participants have the chance to leave a stone on the memorial obelisk in the form of a matzevah. Leaving stones is a token of memory and respect for the site.

To participate in the walking tour, you need to send an e-mail to the contact provided at the website http://zbaszynskibalagan.blogspot.com/. Participation in the walking tour is free of charge, both for individual and group visitors.