Today we headed south to visit two
cities: Rabka Zdroj and Zakopane. The weather called for rain and clouds, but
we hoped the weather would cooperate with us.
As we left Krakow, Yola gave us maps of
Krakow and explained the layout of the city.
She talked about her grandmother who had died a few years ago at age 96
and all of the changes that Poland had experienced in that one lifetime ---
before World War I as a partitioned nation,
then World War I (1914-1918), the
establishment of the independent Polish nation (Second Republic) from 1918
until Hitler marched in in 1939; World War II and Occupation by Germany and the
Soviet Union (1939-1945), the Communist period and role as a Soviet satellite
(1945-1989) and the establishment of democracy and the Third Republic
1989-present) – six regime changes, highlighting the great changes Europe has
tended to see in comparison to the stability of the United States. She also spoke to us of growing up under
communism in Poland and the changes in her life since the fall of
communism.
She told us how surprised she was as a
teenager, to learn of the choice of a Polish bishop to become the next
pope. We knew some of the ties of Pope John Paul II, now Saint John Paul, to
this area. Born Karol Wojtyla in
Wadowice, near Krakow, in 1920, he grew up in an apartment building which was
owned by a Jewish family and had many Jewish friends growing up. He also was an avid sportsman who loved
hiking and skiing in the Tetra mountains bordering Slovakia that we would see
today. He was named Archbishop of Krakow
in 1964, made a cardinal in 1967, and was elected Pope in 1978. He visited Poland during the communist era
and is credited with helping to bring about the fall of communism in Poland.
Our first stop on today’s journey was
the small town of Rabka Zdroj, often just referred to as Rabka. Many of the towns in this area also have
‘zdroj’ [meaning ‘spa]] added to their
name. This area of Poland is well known for a number of spa towns and health
resorts. Rabka has been a source of
fresh air for people suffering from lung ailments and allergies for more than a
century.
We came to visit a Jewish cemetery we
had first visited in 2012 and then again in 2014 and last year, 2016. Each of those years we had trudged up a
hill, and taken an unmarked path into
the woods which ran before a convent, to a Jewish cemetery virtually hidden in
the woods. Shalmi had told us what was
known about this area. Before the war,
there was a Jewish community here in Rabka, and although the exact numbers were
unknown, they were probably about 1/3 or perhaps more of the townspeople,
inasmuch as much of the health business was in the hands of Jews. There was also a convent here; the same
building but run by a different order.
During the war the Gestapo took over part of the convent and used it as
a school for interrogation. Part of the
experiential learning phase necessitated that they practice on human subjects,
and members of the Jewish community were to serve this function. Their interrogation practices involved
torture and ended when the subject was dead.
They then just threw the bodies out behind the convent building. Our
knowledge had been that the sisters knew that they were Jewish and wanted to
give them a respectful burial, but they knew nothing about the Jewish rituals
for burying the dead. They knew the
Germans would not approve, and they were possibly risking their lives, so in
secret, they dragged the bodies from behind the convent into the woods where
they buried the corpses, one by one,
trying as best they could, to provide a respectful burial in this hidden
cemetery.
Five years ago, we had attempted to
talk to the new order of sisters about the cemetery but they said they knew
nothing, clearly did not want to speak with us and did not encourage us to go
see it. There was also a neighbor who
watched us trek into the woods and was visibly upset with our presence. The same had been true of our visit here, in
2014. But last year Shalmi had said,
before we entered the woods, that he thought the mayor had been paying
attention to the site. We had carefully
maneuvered through muddy sections of the unmarked, barely distinguishable
path, and as we turned a corner came
upon an unanticipated but wonderful sight:
a stone path had been established, a footbridge constructed over the
stream, and an information guidepost marker stating what had happened her (in
Polish and in English) had been built in front of the gated Jewish
cemetery. Inside the cemetery, we had
discovered that much work had been done.
The weeds had been pulled, the trees and shrubs had been pruned and one
could see the memorial markers and the gravesites.
This year we had been in contact with
the mayor of Rabka and hoped that we would be able to meet with her and talk
about the changes we had seen last year and why the town had chosen to focus
efforts on fixing up and marking this site.
She was unable to meet with us, but put us in contact with a local
resident who, we were told, would be able to speak with us about the Jewish
cemetery. It was raining heavily as our
bus pulled up in front of the building we had thought was a convent in Rabka ,so
we decided to have our meeting with this gentlemen aboard the bus. We could not have anticipated what we were to
learn from this special man, Narcyz Listkowski.
Narcyz was an electrician who became
interested in the history of the Jewish community in Rabka about ten years
ago. He had grown up and still lived in
a house that had been owned by Jews in what was a Jewish neighborhood of Rabka. He said that since his early childhood,
people had spoken about his house and other homes on the street as also
previously owned by Jews. Many residents
of these houses felt that if the Jews returned they would be expelled from
their homes, so Narcyz said he was raised with a feeling of anxiousness. He also said he had never seen a Jew in his
childhood. In 2008 a book had been
published, Dark Secrets of Tereski Villa,
and in that book he saw a photograph of his home and first learned that it had
been the building which house the ritual mikvah
and that during the period of 1941-1942 Jewish workers had been brought there
and disinfected. He then began to do
more research about Jewish history in Rabka.
Today Rabka has a population of 16,000
but no Jews. The first mention of Jews
in Rabka was in an 1830 church document which mentioned one Jewish family. Ten years later there were 35 Jews and the
Jewish population continued to grow after a spa was established here in
1874. By the end of the 19th
century under the Austro-Hungarian Empire there were 280 Jews. Before World War II, the region of Rabka had
a population of 7,000 and about 450 Jews.
The town of Rabka, itself, was a village of about 3,000 people and 400
Jews. Narcyz said that there were still
inhabitants of Rabka who were alive during the war and remembered Jewish
neighbors. He had located many of these
people and chronicled their oral testimonies.
He told us that the building, since
1995 is the School of St. Theresa, run
by an order of nuns. It is a school for children who are blind or
partially sighted, as well as children with physical or developmental
disabilities. In 1941 it became a Gestapo
school for interrogations as we had thought, the German Police Academy under
Hans Kruger as its first commandant. The
second commander was Wilhelm Rosenbaum who hated Jews. Under Rosenbaum, all Jews more than 10 years
old had to be assigned work details such as sweeping, building and cleaning
roads, and working in a local quarry. Rosenbaum determined whether the Jews
were to be given work or used as test subjects in the interrogation
school. Steps to the school were created
with headstones from local Jewish cemeteries, though none ever existed in the
town of Rabka.
Narcyz said that when the Jews that
served as interrogation subjects died, their bodies were just dumped, but
contrary to what we had believed, it was not the nuns who buried the bodies
from what was the convent across the street, but that other members of the
Jewish community came and secretly buried them.
It was not until after the war that the nuns began secretly taking care
of the Jewish cemetery, but they had no part in its creation. In August 1942 there was a mass deportation
of the Rabka Jews to Belzec. At the end
of the war, less than 20 Jews of the 450 who had lived here, remained in the
area, most having survived in hiding.
Narcyz showed us a detailed map of the
Rabka region. He said that in the spring
of 1942, there were 690 names on a list created by the local Judenrat (Jewish
Council). He had marked in yellow the
homes of Jewish families, including the house where he lived. For several years he and two others who are
similarly interested in this history, Grzegorz Moskal an Michal Rapta have been
working to commemorate sites and make the local people aware of the
history. Grzegorz Moskal is a history
teacher and Michal Rapta works in a shop.
They have been cleaning Jewish cemeteries in the area, and dug out the
original steps to the Rabka synagogue on the street where he lives.
We disembarked from the bus and entered
the path marked by a signpost reading
“Jewish Wartime Cemetery”. We walked to the cemetery where we had a chance to walk
around. It turns out that the visits
each year of the Holocaust Study Tour and the work of Narcyz and his friends
had not gone unnoticed in the community
and by the mayor. One thing led
to another and the mayor authorized the building of the path and the signposts,
and more and more people started to talk about what they knew.
Shalmi told us this was again a subject
of human behavior. Why some people, like
Narcyz, gaining certain information,
became interested and started doing research and others, the majority, having
the same information choose to do nothing.
Narcyz said that in 2011 he found the
steps leading to the synagogue and started digging them out.
He offered to show us the steps and our
bus followed him to the market square.
We walked up the street to where the synagogue once stood and he showed
us the steps. The building next to the
steps is now owned by the town and is slated to become a museum to the history
of the town, including its Jewish history, when funds become available. Narcyz showed us the one known photo of the synagogue,
a wood synagogue and where it would have been situated on the now vacant
land.
He brought us a few houses down to his
house where he asked if we would sign his guest book, which we all did. We promised to remain in contact and learn
more about his project and the history.
Narcyz recommended a local restaurant for lunch and we headed there for
a great lunch. After lunch it was
raining heavily and we concluded that it was best to head back to Krakow as the
outdoor market was likely to be closed and we would be unable to take the funicular
to the top.
What an interesting day. Narcyz's curiosity & the research he has done is inspiring. I love that you all signed his book & took a photo on the steps.
ReplyDeleteWow. It is incredible that on past trips and even last year there was nothing but an unmarked path, but now there is a footbridge and a marker. I think the story of finding Narcyz Listkowski and learning the true history of the cemetery, as well as seeing the community involvement in the upkeep of the cemetery shows how no matter what people do not forget what happened.
ReplyDeleteWow. That one women who died when she was 96 got to see drastic change from Poland in her life.
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ReplyDeleteThat is so interesting that the mayor had heard about the numerous amounts of trips and people coming to this area and offered to put up signs and posts so even more people could come and enjoy.
ReplyDeleteReading about the secret cemetery was very interesting and I wonder why in earlier years the sisters of the covenant and the neighbors in Rabka would not talk about the cemetery and did not want anyone to visit it. It is thanks to people like Narcyz who were so passionate about finding out the history of the town that there is a new marked path and people put the time and effort into fixing up the cemetery. Also, I find it interesting how there are no Jews in the town now, but there used to be so many during the holocaust.
ReplyDeleteIt is wonderful what happened on youe experience there on that day, however the behavior of the neighbors struck me as startling. Considering Jewish people feel scared to return bere as they feel they would be thrown out, and the neighbors seemed disapproving, perhaps this area still has much work to do to fight antisemitism. The mayor putting up markings and signs is great progress!
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