Przemysl Report - Work to be done

Our friend, Dr. John Hartman, is just back from a trip to Przemysl.

John, founder of the Remembrance and Reconciliation Foundation, has overseen the restoration and maintenance of the Jewish Cemetery. He reports:

The cemetery sustained some winter damage due to a big wind storm and the unusually harsh winter conditions. The city helped out a bit but we will need to spend some money by the summer. The original holocaust memorial is eroding and needs repair.

Repairs are not cheep, particularly with the current euro-dollar exchange rate. Just keeping up with the weathering this year will run in excess of $5,000. But it's raise the money or watch this sacred place crumble before our eyes and soon be forgotten.

I'll be writing more on this project soon. In the meantime, if anyone would like to donate toward the maintenance of the cemetery, please email me directly (link on right side column).

Here is one more photo - the cemetery's most recent burial - Rozia Felner:

In 1939 / 40 school year the same books will be in use as in the previous school year

Lukasz has unearthed another gem from the Przemysl archives: a pamphlet containing the names of the town's Jewish students circa 1938/9.

It shows who the teachers and administrators were:

It also lists students by classroom. While I can not be sure, perhaps the Berta Metzger listed here is my cousin - our family has only a single photo of Izac Metzger's family of six. Four unknown children and his wife Laia did not survive the holocaust.

With the awful knowledge of what happened to the Jews of Przemysl in September of 1939, and understanding the likely fate of each and every child on this list, these painfully casual words found in the brochure take on an entirely new and chilling meaning.

"In 1939 / 40 school year the same books will be in use as in the previous school year."

How unbearably heartbreaking.