Zbigniew Wieczorek

On August 5th, marking the 75th Anniversary of the Liquidation of the Radom Ghetto and near total annihilation of Radom’s Jewish community, the city unveiled “The Trace – the Jewish Trail in Radom.” The Trail, which includes the twelve most significant places in Radom’s Jewish past, is a realization of a dream shared by three people very close to Forum: Friends of the Forum, Sharon Grosfeld and Hilda Chazanovitz, whose families came from Radom, and Zbigniew Wieczorek, a local Leader of Dialogue. After having met only briefly during a Study Visit in 2015, these three amazing people managed in 2016 to coordinate, across language barriers and an ocean, the first Passover Seder in Radom in decades (watch the film from the event). This year, together they witnessed another milestone in the process or remembering the Jews of Radom in Poland.

The events surrounding the opening of the Trail continued between August 3-6, and included exhibitions’ openings, concerts, movie screenings, presentations, workshops and presentation of the first Polish edition of “The Book of Radom: The Story of a Jewish Community in Poland Destroyed by the Nazis,” a Radomer Yizkor book. The story of how this Polish version came to be is a touching example of how connections made over time bear amazing fruit. During the 2014 Leaders of Dialogue National Conference, Andrzej Folwarczny presented Zbigniew Wieczorek an English version of “The Book of Radom.” It was given to the Forum by our Friend, Irving Kempner, whose family on the mother’s side came from Radom. Touched by the gesture and aware of the importance of the publication, Zbigniew Wieczorek promised that he will create the Polish edition of this Radomer Yizkor and he kept his word.

photo: Z.Radzik