| 2013 |
Dębica
High School
in Dębica
High School
in Dębica
| 2013 |
Dębica, located in the Podkarpackie Voivodeship, is a town with a long history. The first records of the Jewish population of this area date back to the 13th century. Probably, however, these records refer to individuals. A larger community began to form at the end of the 17th century and quickly surpassed the number of Catholics. In the next century, there were already two Jewish communities – in the old town and the one newly established in the settlement called Nowa Dębica. The Jews from Debica were mainly involved in real estate and parcel trade, crafts, tavern, loans and trade. In the 19th century played a role in the development of industry – they were founders of, among others, the Vodka Factory, the First Factory of Reed Products and Cane Matts, the Galician Concessioned Shoe Factory or the First National Wheelbarrows, Wheels and Carts Factory. At the same time, the Jews joined the town council, acting, among other things, as deputy mayor.
In the town there were two synagogues dating back to the 18th century – the Old and New Town synagogues, as well as a cemetery established at the turn of the 17th and 18th century together with a wooden pre-burial house. There were also cheder, judisch-deutscheschule and a Jewish folk library, as well as foundations helping poor. Rabbis were Hassidic Jews linked to the tzadik of the Horowitz dynasty.
There were also Zionist institutions in the town – the women’s Debora organization, the Zionist Labour Party “Hitachdut”, the branch of “Gordony”, the religious Zionist party Mizrachi, Borochowska Youth and the sports club Bar Kochba.
WWII destroyed this vibrant community. The Nazis destroyed the synagogue and cemetery. The community members had to perform forced labor, some of them were sent to the camp in Pustków. In 1941 the Germans established a ghetto. As a result of its liquidation, about 200 Jews were shot in the Wolica forest, a few on the so-called Łysa Górka, most of them died in the death camp in Bełżec. After the war, 51 Jews lived in Debica. Many of them were also saved thanks to the help of Christians. However, most of them left to Israel or the United States shortly after the liberation. Only Israel Goldberg, who died in 1991, did not leave the town.
The majority of students participating in the “School of Dialogue” program did not know about this extremely interesting, but also painful history of the town. Workshops organized by the Forum for Dialogue gave them the first opportunity to face the history of their own town.
“I think that during these workshops I learned much more than during many classes of civics, history or religion. Instead of the traditional way the classes are held – the teacher speaks and from time to time the student asks questions – we were discussing and having reflections from it,” one of the participants wrote. The discussions she mentioned concerned not only the history of the Jewish inhabitants of Debica, but also more universal topics, such as tolerance, stereotypes, the situation of migrants in Poland and refugees in the international context, or women’s rights. For participants it was important to have the opportunity to work in a group, to express their opinions. They wrote: “It is really necessary to voice one’s opinion. Thanks to such workshops young people like us have the opportunity to grow intellectually”.
Certainly, this development was also seen during the preparation of their project, which had an intergenerational dimension. The participants of the “School of Dialogue” from Dębica prepared a traditional walking tour to which they invited young people from the junior high school and people associated with the Senior Citizen’s Home in the town. They also invited their loved ones to help them with preparatory works – the grandmother of one of the students prepared knitted kippas by herself. While collecting information, the students met with, among others, Monika Sznajderman, a writer, Ireneusz Socha, an expert on local history, and Tomasz Czapla, a local museum representative.
The participants of the “School of Dialogue” program took their guests to the town square, a well-preserved Jewish cemetery, where they traditionally laid stones to commemorate the deceased inhabitants of the town, the area of the former ghetto, the Mikołajów Family Square (the Righteous from Dębica), Gryfitów Square and Wielopolska Street. They also showed them the building of the former synagogue, which for years housed various shops, and organized a transport to reach the mass grave in Wolica. All participants received leaflets “Debica as a shtetl”, and at the end they could test their knowledge in a quiz prepared by the youth. During the project the students collected opinions of the participants, one of them said: “On behalf of this small group of seniors, I would like to thank the youth for preparing this project and organizing this educational trip for us.” The youth also conducted a survey on the attitudes of the inhabitants of Debica towards Jews. The results of their research were published on the profile they had created on the Youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyaIf7gqP4UnYz3A-vcoIwA/featured?disable_polymer=1) and the website (http://historiadebickichzydow.blogspot.com/). On the website, it is also possible to access an audiobook prepared by students, with which everyone can visit Debica following the footsteps of the local Jewish community. Among the available video materials one can also find a symbolic film commemorating the Jewish community of Debica, as well as an interview with Tomasz Czapla, the custodian of the Regional Museum in Debica, and a video report from the trip itself.
I had the opportunity to learn about a different culture, about which, as it turns out, I knew very little. Although there were only four workshops, I felt a bond with people who seem to be complete strangers. (…) What once seemed distant and not very interesting made me perceive at the history of my town and its residents differently.
Workshops participant
School:
High School in Dębica
Students:
class III
Local expert:
Ireneusz Socha
Educators:
Katarzyna Niewczas, Ada Bryś
Project co-financed by individual donors through CAF Canada.
