Piła

In the 19th century there were also three Jewish butchers in the town. A lace school was set up for Jewish girls. In 1841, the construction of a new brick synagogue was completed (where today Piastow street is located). At the beginning of the 19th century there were 583 Jews in Piła, which constituted over 29% of the total population. However, in the second half of the 19th century, despite the fact that the Jewish accounted for about 800-900 people, their percentage dropped to 7-9%. When the national socialists took power in 1933, actions against the Jewish population began. Jewish property was destroyed, shops were boycotted, anti-Jewish leaflets were distributed, and anti-Jewish demonstrations were organized. In 1938, there were only 236 Jews in Piła, which constituted 0.5% of the total population. During the Kristallnacht on November 9, 1938 the wooden synagogue was set on fire and almost completely burnt down. Shops and flats were destroyed. Several dozen people were arrested and imprisoned in the labor camp in Złowo. Several people were sent to the concentration camp in Sachsenchausen. Most people decided to emigrate. Eventually, in 1939 Jews were forced to leave Piła. Those who stayed in the city were deported to Lublin after the outbreak of the war.

As it was mentioned above, not only did the Jewish heritage disappear from the map of the town, but the urban landscape of Piła changed after World War II and the change of borders. In 1945 the town was granted the status of a fortress as an element of the system of fortifications of the Pomeranian Wall. The heavy fighting destroyed nearly 70% of buildings in Piła, and the town was taken over by the 47th Soviet Army on February 14, 1945. After World War II the German population was displaced. Slow reconstruction of the town began, which was never to recover its pre-war shape. The only tangible traces of Jewish presence in Piła are cemeteries or monuments commemorating burial sites. There are was cemeteries from the Great War and WWII on Leszkowie Street. At the cemetery from the Great War, there is a section for Jews fighting in the ranks of the Russian army. The Jewish cemetery established in the middle of the 17th century was located at Maria Konopnicka Street. In the 1920s, a monument commemorating the Jews from Piła who died on the fronts of the Great War was erected there, with their names engraved on it. The cemetery was destroyed during World War II. After the war, a kindergarten building and a training center for police officers were build on the site. In 2013, when the police academy buildings were being extended, bones were found in the ground. The police turned to Michael Schudrich, Chief Rabbi of Poland, Alicja Kobus, President of the Poznan Jewish Religious Community and the Committee for the Preservation of Jewish Cemeteries in Europe. The police academy in Piła was granted permission to expand the institution. At the same time it was decided that the Police and the town authorities were to fund a memorial in the memory of the former Jewish residents of the town. The statue in the shape of a Star of David was designed by Janusz Marciniak from the University of Arts in Poznań. This simple memorial emphasizes the message placed on a granite slab: “The way we remember is how we will be remembered”. The unveiling of memorial took place on June 2, 2015.

photo: M.Kruszewska, M.Krotla

The walking tour prepared by young people included these places, and was also enriched with other locations, most often not closely connected with local Jews but linked to the subjects discussed. It is worth noting that the walking tour organized on December 6, 2017, was a location-based game addressed to students from their school. About 25 people took part in the game. During preparation for the event, the students came up phrases that would attract attention of the younger fellow students – among other things, answers to questions about the history of the Jews in Piła based on information presented during the tour, indicate a song sang in Hebrew, etc. The students also prepared paper shackles, which the groups participating in the game received for the right answers to questions. The students also prepared maps for participants and documented the whole game, which was broadcasted live on Facebook. The route included such stops as: Town Square, where questions about Jewish culture were asked, Police Academy, i.e. Jewish cemetery – where questions about stereotypes were asked, Staszic Square – where a Jewish wedding scene was performed (students were inspired by stories from the wedding of Mrs. Alicja Kobus from the Jewish community in Poznań), railway station – where photographs of old and contemporary Piła were put side by side. In the place where the synagogue stood – the students presented photographs of famous Jews, and on the terrace in front of the Kubek café they organized Jewish snacks for the participants. When the participants reached the promenade, they were asked about the history of Jews from Piła, and about orders and bans imposed on them. When they got to the park, the participants listened to song and had to indicate which one was in Hebrew. It was a very difficult task, because the students selected songs in languages with a similar pronunciation. This guessing game gave everybody a lot of positive energy. At the end of the trip there was a concert of Jewish songs performed by the students in Rockopolis. 

The film made from the walking tour gives a very good account of how attractive it was for the participants and how everybody was fully committed to the task. The concert of Jewish songs was also an interesting idea and allowed the participants to rest and warm up a little. 

Besides organizing the walking tour, the students decided to implement other projects, such as commemoration of the Kristallnacht. Several students got involved in this project and invited fellow students from their school to join them in. Moreover, the students created a digital walking tour around Piła together with students from IT specialized class. 

During the preparations for the project, the students used information from a book about the history of Piła Jews, testimonies of elderly residents, and received support from their teacher of Polish, yet it should be underlined that these young people really worked on their own. They also met with Mrs. Alicja Kobus, a representative of the Jewish community in Poznań. All the information they acquired, as well as the workshops changed their view on Jews, because they had previously lacked knowledge to understand this community and its history. The students were also very determined and managed to negotiate the redeployment of the fence of the police academy located on the grounds of the Jewish cemetery. There is a memorial placed there, but access to it was possible only with a prior concept of the Police Commander. The impact of the program on the community is therefore very visible, people showed interest in the events organized by the youth. Many residents showed up to the commemoration of the Kristallnacht that students organized. There were students from different school also involved in the event, and expressed interested in having School of Dialogue workshops in their school. The media club involved in the project works with the local TV station, TV Asta, and produces programs about the history of Jews from Piła and about their own projects.

Project co-financed by individual donors through CAF Canada.