An Ill Wind Blew

Weekend storms uprooted trees and left a huge mess at the Przemysl Jewish Cemetery. 

There are at least 10 large trees that need removal, one hanging precariously over a row of Matzavot.

Remembrance and Reconciliation, Inc. will pay for the cutting, hauling, and cleanup but this will leave us short on funds for the summer and fall. If you'd like to help us out, go HERE. 

Thank you! 

The Old Cemetery

Marcin, a tourist guide from Przemyśl, sent me these photos of the new plaques on what remains of the old Jewish cemetery in Przemysl. What does the Hebrew say? And can anyone tell me who paid for this?

The Old Jewish Hospital and Cemetery

Blog-friend Marla found this wonderful Pre-War photo of the entrance to the Przemyal Jewish Hospital on ul. Słowackiego Street. Across the street was the old Jewish cemetery, today a vacant lot.
(note: the above photo is from The Lukasz Biedka collection, all rights reserved)

Across the road Domicela and Marla stand at the site of the 'old' Jewish cemetery; the entrance gate is all that remains.

Marla's pictures from Przemysl

Blog friend Marla was in Przemysl last year and took some wonderful shots.  See them all.

Poland National Day of Judaism in Przemysl

Our friend Domicela shared videos from the Jewish cemetery.


OGOLNOPOLSKI DZIEN JUDAIZMU - PRZEMYSL

Part 2

Part 3

A walk through the cemetery

Blog-friend Marla forwarded me this wonderful video.

One of these days I'm going to go back there with a camera and a tape measure and document all the surviving stone's locations...

The Story of Mann

As we have become accustomed to, Lukasz in Warsaw comes through with the answers regarding Family of Mann:

Hello David,

I owe you some stories on Przemysl. The last question about Manns deserves an answer. Fasten your belt, I'll take you and Kenny on a ride.

"His sister's name was Clara, I believe.", writes Kenny. Klara died in 1941 and her tombstone is among not so many (ca. 750 out of thousands) that survived.

The sentence on the plaque of Klara's tomb reads: "To my mum who taught me to be eternally young. Son."

What's more, we have a story about her funeral, written by her granddaughter. This is a piece:

“I’m on Slowackiego Street. A little higher up is the Jewish cemetery, where my grandmother was buried during the winter. I think back to her wretched funeral: that little coffin on the rickety cart, Mother and I following behind. I go to the cemetery. […] It’s quiet and peaceful in the cemetery. Fat insects crawl over the grass. The old stone grave markers tell the histories of former families. The gold letters of the shining sepulchres call to those who have gone and assure them of the impeccably good taste of those who have remained. My grandmother’s grave is off to the side. In the beaten clay a black marker has been stuck. ‘Klara Mann, born… died 12 XII 1941’... a beginning and an end. I stand by my grandmother’s grave but I do not cry. I am not thinking any more of her lonely death. She loved me so much. In my thoughts I beg her to help me rescue my parents and my brother.”

Sounds familiar? Yes, this is a part of memoirs I uploaded at ARC website years ago.

Aleksandra Mandel was the daughter of Salomea Mandel (born Mann), Klara's daughter, and Aleksander Mandel. She was the only survivor. She later changed her first name to Cecylia. Diminutive of Cecylia is Cesia (pron. Tsesha) and it must be "someone known as Aunt Tseckia", as Kenny writes. Kenny may not remember that Cesia visited them in Africa, sometime in 60's. This visit was foreseen in prophetical conversation in Przemysl ghetto, moments before it's liquidation started:

"‘To turn my Mother’s sad thoughts to other things – my Mother, who is so bravely bearing the burden of our poverty – I hug and kiss her, and talk to her about my uncle, who from far, from Africa, writes to us through Switzerland and who will certainly help us as soon as the war finishes.

“And you, Mama, will be the first great lady of Africa, and Tata and Jozio will eat bananas for breakfast and pineapples for dinner.”

Mama looks around at our shabby little room, at the lamentably empty cupboard, at the unlit stove, and says: “Child, you might see it, but my grave will be growing grass by then…”

And next passage:

“The Gestapo bang on our window.

“We’re coming,” says Tata, “Here you are, my watch, it will stay with you.” He puts the old watch that was his father’s down on the buffet.

“Think that you were with us on a ship during a wreck, and we went down, while a life buoy brought you to shore...”

“Uncle will ask you to Africa after the war,” Mother adds.

Here is the most disinterested, sublime love in the world. Even now my parents don’t think of themselves.”

After the war Aleksandra/Cesia lived in one of Galician towns and worked as a journalist, like her father. She wrote an article about her african trip which is remembered there.

She and her husband founded an obelisk at Przemysl cemetery commemorating her parents and her brother.

The rest is also true - her son Oles and a grandson Maciek are well known photographers indeed, now in Krakow.

Aleksandra deposited her memories in 1946 at Jewish Historical Commission in Krakow. They are kept at Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw now.

I wish you, all your family, and Kenny too, sweet and peaceful New Year.
And Gmar Hatima Tova.

Lukasz

Bernice's Cemetery Photos

I posted recently about Bernice's Trip to Poland. Here are some photos from her visit to the Przemysl cemetery:

Pleasae, please help

Once a year I take a break from blogging family remembrances and ask everyone who is interested in saving what little is physically left of Jewish Przemysl to join me and Dr. John Hartman in raising money for the effort.

Spring has come to Poland and with it, Mr. Joachim Glettner again begins work on the restoration and maintenance of the Jewish cemetery in Przemysl. Joachim, one of a handful of Jews left in a city that was once a vibrant center of Jewish life, has been doing this labor of love for the last eleven years with sole financial support from the people like me and you, through the not-for-profit Remembrance and Reconciliation Foundation, Inc.

Work consists of repairing the damage done by the harsh winters and the toll the passage of time has taken on over 1,000 gravestones, two mass Holocaust graves, and the newer memorials erected to remember the deceased. Grass has to be mowed many times per year, masonry and metal fences need securing, and trash must be collected. And ice storms downed tree limbs, adding considerably to the annual spring pruning and brush clearing. The value of the dollar has dropped significantly over the past two years, pushing the cost of repair and maintenance up to over US $5,000. per year -- just to maintain the status quo.

Please, please donate today. Each and every contribution, regardless of size, is desperately needed and deeply appreciated. The Foundation accepts donations by check, or by email or credit card via our PayPal account (click to donate!):

Remembrance and Reconciliation, Inc.

300 S. Hyde Parke Avenue, Suite 150 Tampa, FL 33606

The Foundation has no expenses -- every dollar collected goes toward the maintenance of the Jewish cemetery in Przemysl and to remembrance of nearly a millennium of Jewish heritage in Poland.

Warm regards to all,


David R. Semmel
Dr. John Hartman

Old Cemetery Returned to Jewish Community

JPost writer and Przemysl Blog friend Michael Feund reports the good news:

The Jerusalem Post, February 23, 2010

Polish city returns medieval cemetery to Jewish community
By Michael Freund

The decision marks a triumph for the Warsaw-based Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland.

Przemysl, Poland - After years of negotiations, a centuries-old Jewish burial ground in southeastern Poland that was desecrated by the Germans during the Holocaust has been restored to the Jewish community.

The cemetery, located in the city of Przemysl, near Poland's border with the Ukraine, dates back to the 16th century and served local Jews as well as those in nearby towns such as Jaroslav, Pruchnik, Kanczuga and Dynow for hundreds of years.

But the Przemysl municipality, which took over the site following the end of World War II, resisted calls to return it.

At a meeting last week, however, Poland's government-backed Regulatory Commission, which resolves claims regarding Jewish communal property, instructed city officials to turn the cemetery over to Jewish control.

The decision marks a triumph for the Warsaw-based Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland, and especially for its president, Monika Krawczyk, who led the effort in recent years to recover the graveyard.

Krawczyk, whose foundation is responsible for safeguarding thousands of Jewish cultural, historical and religious sites throughout Poland, expressed satisfaction at the news.

“We are happy that the Przemysl cemetery was returned to Jewish hands," she told the Jerusalem Post, noting that, "its history is so important and intriguing".

Known as the "old cemetery", the Przemysl burial ground was in use for nearly 300 years until it became full in the middle of the 19th-century, prompting the Jewish community to open a second one in the area.
Sitting on two hectares (20 dunams), the "old cemetery" had graves dating back to at least 1574 (5335 on the Hebrew calendar).

But after the Germans invaded Poland in 1939 and occupied Przemysl, they vandalized and despoiled the site.

Prior to the Holocaust, the city was home to an estimated 20,000 Jews, who constituted nearly 30% of the city's population. Most of them were murdered by the Germans and their collaborators.

"The ancient tombstones in the cemetery were used by the Germans during the war to pave local roads, and until now, we have not succeeded in tracing them," Krawczyk said. "After the war, the brick wall surrounding it was demolished, and the materials were used by neighbors to repair local buildings."

No graves are currently visible on the site, which is overrun by weeds and vegetation and badly in need of renovation. The only trace left standing is one of the entrance gates to the cemetery.

Krawczyk, whose group will be responsible for restoring and administering the site, said that the first priority will be to take steps to prevent its further deterioration.

"We need to start with securing the perimeter of the cemetery and building a fence to protect it,” she said. The foundation has already commissioned a technical team to prepare a design.

Krawczyk expressed the hope that Jews from abroad will assist with the refurbishment of the cemetery grounds.

“We have to remember that we do it for the past generations who contributed so much to our people and our culture, and we do it also for future generations," she said.

"The least we can do for those who were buried in the old Przemysl cemetery is to try and restore the dignity of their final resting place," she added.

Moysey's Przemysl Photos

Moysey's Rybotycze Photos

A plea to Przemysl readers - Please Help

Once a year, and no more, this blog asks it's readers to help out. Not with the blog, and not for me, but for what's left of Jewish Przemysl.

Over the past decade, The Remembrance & Reconciliation Foundation (R&R), led by Dr John Hartman, has taken the lead in the restoration and maintenance of the Slowackiego Street Cemetery in Przemysl. Anyone who has been to the site ten years ago and recently can testify as to the progress - and the amount of work that remains.

We wage a constant battle against the elements in the form of yearly maintenance and repair. In general, the winters in Przemysl are harsh and combined with the hilly topography of the site, there is constant and serious erosion in many places. In addition, there was a windstorm recently that downed several trees, requiring an unplanned, emergency clean-up.

We are lucky to employ one of the very few Jews left in the town, Mr. Jocaim Glettner, a mason by trade, as the general contractor/overseer. Paying him, and just keeping up with maintenance usually costs $5,000/year – but over $8,000 this year as the dollar tanked.

To date, about 2/3 of the money raise comes from Dr Hartman and me. We are barely keeping ahead of the weather, and make precious little progress on actual restoration.

Unfunded priorities for this coming year, each with "naming opportunities" for donors, include:

1) Star plaques commemorating mass-murder victims ($100 each)
2) Jewish historical plaques for the cemetery wall ($500 each)
3) construction of a walkway between the two mass-murder monuments ($7,500)
4) clearing of walks and access paths in the older parts of the cemetery ($1,000)

PLEASE consider making a donation of ANY size to the Foundation.

R & R is a tax-exempt, non-profit 501(c)3 organization. Contributions are used only for projects in Poland. We have no staff or office expenses. You can send funds in US dollars to:

The Remembrance & Reconciliation Foundation
Dr. John Hartman
300 S. Hyde Park Ave, Suite 150
Tampa FL, 33606 USA

Email me if you would like to use PayPal or have any questions or comments.

THANKS TO ALL OF YOU AND CHAG HANUKKAH SAMEACH

-- David Semmel

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:

Grandson's trip home

I've recently been corresponding with an American engineering professor whose grand parents were from Przemysl. Prof. Danny's story has loads of interesting tidbits about our town from before the Shoah.

He's heading back this summer to try and locate his grandmother's grave.

In our October 2005 visit, with the help of a good Polish friend, and the good memory of my mother, who lives in Rechovot Israel, we were able to find the house she was born in Slowackiego 47, where my grandfather Avraham Schwartz had a tobacco and liqueur store.

Where, no doubt, my grandfather bought cigarettes...

The cemetery is on the same street and the lot between it and the Catholic cemetery belonged to my grandfather, who used the money to move the ENTIRE family to Haifa in 1937.

Thank Ha-shem for that!

The communal grave of the 102 Nazi victims from 1939 is on the edge of my grandfather land lot. My Grandmother Batia Yahre Schwartz is buried there (died around 1931/2) and my mother remembers that she was placed in area No. 6 of the cemetery.

Does anyone know or have a map of the cemetery layout?

We visited the Scheinbach synagogue, on the same street, and it is in great condition as a public library. My grandfather was the Ba'al Kore, before he left for Palestine.

Baal Kore is the Torah reader

We found at Koleyova 5 (the train street) the 5 story building that my uncle, Shemuel Schwarz, the architect, had built and lived on the top floor. We also found the photo studio of my uncle, on Slowackiego, just as it gets to the downtown. He was active in the Temple synagogue.

We could not find my mother's school: Hebrisca Schola Co-Edcatzina on Ulicia Gurna (the hill street).

Anyone know what became of this school?

Przemysl Slicha - Update

Update to this update: I have forgotten to mention the name of the person who translated this work into English: Jerrold Landau. Thank you for your wonderful work, Mr. Landau!

______________________________________________

Frequent contributor and friend of the blog Lukasz Biedka comments from Poland on our recent Przemysl Slicha post:

[Here are] pictures of Boruch Myers (Chief rabbi of Bratislava) and Michael Schudrich (Chief rabbi of Poland) reciting Przemysl Slicha at Jewish cemetery in Przemysl. For the first time since the war and the probably last time ever. Autumn 2006.

Photos by Jacek Szwic

Complete English translation of the Slicha here.

The boys are back in town!

This just came in from Chaim... more photos at the bottom...what a wonderful way to kick-off Pesach!

Hello David,

We are back in Israel after our week in Poland. It was an excellent trip, and our visit to Przemysl was definitely a highlight.

On Thursday afternoon, after visiting the site of the Belzec death camp, our group got on the bus and headed to Przemysl. None of us (including our guide) had been there before so we did not know what to expect.

On the way, we called Lukasz Biedka with whom I had made contact through this blog. Lukasz said he would be happy to meet our group and gave the bus driver instructions on where to pick him up.

Lukasz was an excellent guide. He first brought us to the Jewish cemetery and pointed out the spot of the Scheinbach shul along the way.

We then got back on the bus and drove across the river to the old Zasanie Synagogue (now, abandoned). It was late afternoon by that point and our group had not yet davened mincha. Our guide noted that "shuls are meant for prayer" so we stood outside the fence of the shul and I led the group in the afternoon service. The attendants at the gas station next door were certainly intriguied with what they saw...

At that point, we had already been in in Przemysl for an hour and our schedule called for us to leave and head to Krakow, but Lukasz insisited that he show us the old ghetto. So, we jumped back on the bus and drove over the river once more. Lukasz told us the story of the ghetto and showed us around. He then brought us the the memorial of the mass shootings which stands behind the prison. We said kaddish and lit candles.

Although I was the only one from the group who had a family connetion to Przemysl, everyone got a lot out of our visit. Prezmysl is a beautiful town and it was easy for us to imagine what it must have been like with its once thriving Jewish community.

As promised, I attached some photos of our visit to this e-mail.

Thanks again for starting this blog. It proved to be an invaluable resource for our visit.

Chag Kasher v'sameach,
Chaim

P.S.
I did a little more research on Horodek (the birth place of my grandfather). Turns out that it is, in fact, about 80km south or Przemysl. It was within the region of Lisko (now Lesko).

Przemysl Landsmanschaft in NYC

Though not Przemysl specific, there is some interesting stuff at The Museum of Family History web site. In addition to excellent narratives on immigration, particularly from the Russian Pale, I found the extensive collection of family post cards to be revealing. The cemetery maps are also quite useful.

This photo of the cemetery in Elmont also caught my eye as it is where my Przemysl grandparents - Fannie Metzger and Emanuel Silberman - are burried.

This memorial was erected by Congregation Tifereth Joseph Anshei Przemysl (founded in 1891 in New York). They are the only Przemysl Landsmanschaft (a society of people from the town) that I know of in America. Last time I contacted them, Gerry Meister was the President.