A second project spearheaded by the Polish Olympic athlete Dariusz Popiela has seen the restoration of a Jewish cemetery and placement of a memorial to its destroyed Jewish community.
The memorial at the restored Jewish cemetery in Grybów, in southern Poland, was unveiled November 3.
Popiela called the project “People, not Numbers,” and at the dedication ceremony the names of the town’s 1,774 Holocaust victims were read out — the new monument lists all the names.
Among participants were Poland’s chief rabbi, the honorary consul of Germany in Kraków, and local officials, as well as townspeople and descendants of Jews from Grybów.
In addition to the memorial itself — a black slab with a vertical crack and star of David — the site includes information panels and benches where people can sit and reflect. The restoration work was carried out with the cooperation of the Rabbinical Commission for Jewish Cemeteries in Poland.
Located on a hill above town and dating back to the 18th century, the Jewish cemetery is protected by a fence and arched brick gate but before the restoration was thickly overgrown with trees, shrubs, and bushes.
A ruined synagogue stands in the town.
“Exactly one year ago I was standing in front of the closed gate of the cemetery,” Popiela — the 2017 Polish champion in the canoe/kayak slalom and the silver medalist at the European Championships, who also took part in the 2008 Olympics — told the news site Notes from Poland the day after the dedication of the memorial.
“It was impossible to get in. It was literally a jungle. And I heard prayers from the Catholic cemetery and I was so sad that no one was praying here. And yesterday I saw so many people coming though this gate and that was it, something had changed.”
Popiela has described himself as a “sportsman, an Olympian and enthusiast of Polish Jew’s history.”
Last year, joining with activists of the Nomina Rosae foundation and their project called the Shtetl of Tsanz, he spearheaded a similar cemetery restoration and memorial at the Jewish cemetery in Krościenko; local schools now care for the site.
He was awarded a POLIN Jury Prize presented by the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw for his work, which also involves educational projects.
The crowdfunding page for the Grybów restoration and memorial states:
Educational boards will be set close to the monument, telling the history of local Jewry. We will invite local community to join our project. A very significant part of the project is also creating teaching aids. At History and Polish classes local teenagers will learn the life and tragedy of their grandparents’ neighbours. As part of the same project they will be granted an educational and memorial tour to Belzec Museum. The final of the project will be passing the responsibility for the future are of the cemetery and the memorial place to the engaged schools.
See photos and more videos on the People Not Numbers Facebook Page
Read our article about the Krościenko project
Read the Notes from Poland article about the Grybów project and dedication
1 comment on “Poland: restored Jewish cemetery and Holocaust memorial dedicated in Grybów — the second commemoration project spearhead by Polish Olympic athlete Dariusz Popiela”
I visited the Cemetery a few months ago and was very moved to see that this has been given the resect it deserves. Really appreciated. I visited also in 1987, very different now.
I am descended from the first Rabbi, pesach Aharon Gottehrer Who was born In Mushane and became here Rabbi about 1775 until about 1825.
This is just family information.
Do any records exist? Or where do I turn to for help?
Thank you