Today is the 69 Anniversary of Sobibór Uprising.

Some current pictures of the least visited and commemorated of the Reinhard Action Death Camps where 250.000 to 300.000 Jews from Poland Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Slovakia and Czech Republic and Jewish Soviet POW were killed from April 1942 till October 1943.

You can find the pictures at http://www.facebook.com/PolinTravel.Guide.Genealogy.Poland

“Song of the Lodz Ghetto” (2 hrs 1 min, dir., David Kaufman, Canada, 2010)
A film about the history of the Lodz Ghetto and the life of its famous
street singer, Yankele Herszkowicz.
Polish premiere (with Polish subtitles) to take place at 7 p.m. on
Wednesday, Sept 5, 2012, at the Museum of Cinematography, 1 Zwycięstwa Sq.,
Lodz.
Sponsored by the Centrum Dialogu as part of the 70th anniversary
commemoration of the “Shperre” in the Lodz Ghetto.

In September of 2011 while planning our trip to Eastern Europe I came across a website that was listed on Trip Advisor by another member, www.jewish-guide.pl and it was here that I first “met” Tomasz. We communicated about our visit to Krakow, which was to be in June of 2012 several times. Tomasz sent us several suggested itineraries and it was finally decided that we would customize our two days with him. Our choices were to see the old city of Krakow to include everything Jewish.  Tomasz, saw to our every desire. We saw the Jewish District of Krakow, the Jewish Ghetto, the Chair Memorial, Shindler’s Factory, and the site of the Plaszow Concentration Camp. In addition to the Castle in Krakow and the University district. Our second day was dedicated to our first visit to Auschwitz I and II. The remarkable thing about our experience with Tomasz was his knowledge of history, the Hebrew Language and his sensitivity for the plight of those marched off to the concentration camps during World War II. We were provided with 2 days of history that could not have been taught in any university in any country in the same span of time.

If I were to return to Poland in the future I would use this scholar again because after our two days I did not look upon him as a “tour guide” but rather as a teacher, or more appropriately an historical “Rabbi”.  Naturally I would recommend him to anyone seeking a Jewish History of Krakow and of Auschwitz.

On a side note, Tomasz functions  as a Genealogist helping families find information about those Polish family members who did not survive World War II. During one of our discussions with Tomasz in Krakow I mentioned my Grandfather came from the Lodz area and left prior to the War for Denmark. However, there was some question as to how old he was when he died in 1970.  Tomasz offered to try and locate his birth certificate. While finding the birth certificate was more difficult than expected, Tomasz sent my information to a colleague who within hours located my Grandfather’s U.S. Citizenship Application with his birth date. Solving a mystery that has existed since his passing in January of 1970. For this I am greatly appreciative as well.

Arthur R. Fenster and Lorraine J. Stein

afenster2@cox.net

A short genealogy research has taken me to Lwow  Lviv, Zolochiv, Pomoriany and Gologory. All three used to have prominent Jewish communities protected for centuries by the Polish Nobility families of Sobieski and Potocki.

Zolochiv Jewish cemetery was commemorated with a monument in 2006.

Ukraine, Zolochiv, Jewish Cemetery www.jewish-guide.pl

Gologory Jewish Cemetery is located on top of a hill on the left side entering to the village. Three visible, broken stones remain over the large cemetery area.

Ukraine Gologory, Jewish Cemetery by www.jewish-guide.pl

Stone remaining.

Ukraine Gologory, Matzeva on the Jewish Cemetery www.jewish-guide.pl

Devastated Jewish Cemetery in Pomoriany is at Maltzev street. Now its used partly as a sand pit.

Ukraine, Pomoriany, Matzeva on the Jewish Cemetery www.jewish-guide.pl

The devastated Potocki Palace in Pomoriany.

Ukraine, Pomoriany, Potocki Palace. www.jewish-guide.pl

The road through Galicia from Zolochiv to Pomoriany

Ukraine. The road through Galicia from Zolochiv to Pomoriany by www.jewish-guide.pl

The Brzostek Jewish Heritage Project was established in 2009 by two Jewish families in England (the grandchildren of Joseph Simon Webber and of Peretz and Bracha Tager) whose roots are in Brzostek, for the principal purpose of restoring the Jewish cemetery in Brzostek and establishing memorials to the Jews of Brzostek. Prior to that time, the Jewish cemetery was unfenced and there was not a single Jewish tombstone there. When the cemetery was re-fenced, local people began to return the lost tombstones, and by the time of the reconsecration ceremony held at the cemetery in June 2009, more than 50 tombstones which had been returned were re-erected in the cemetery. Some Jewish families originating from Brzostek also decided to erect their own memorials to their families, and these were consecrated at that time.

From the beginning, the Project aimed at close friendship and co-operation with the citizenry of Brzostek, including the mayor’s office, the local Catholic priest, and the local school––and so established an annual prize at the school specifically in memory of the Jews of Brzostek. A plaque in memory of the Jews of Brzostek was erected on the wall of the Brzostek municipality building in the main square (Rynek) of Brzostek; and an illustrated 75-page brochure in Polish about the Jews of Brzostek was published and distributed throughout the town. The main intention was both to honour the memory of the Jews of Brzostek and to assist local people in reconnecting with what is an essential part of their own history.

            This year’s ceremonies build on all of that, including awarding this year’s prize, but in particular by commemorating those Jews of Brzostek murdered by the Germans during the Holocaust. Some were deported to the death camp in Bełżec, some to a labour camp in Pustków 40 kms (25 miles) away to the north (and most probably from there to Bełżec), and some were incarcerated in a ghetto in Brzostek. That ghetto was liquidated on 12 August 1942, and its inhabitants deported to a forest near the neighbouring town of Kołaczyce (about 8kms/5miles away) and murdered at a mass grave. That mass grave is thus the only known grave of the Jews of Brzostek during the Holocaust, which is why the Brzostek Jewish Heritage Project decided––with the help and support of the mayor of Kołaczyce––to erect a new memorial there and to dedicate it on 17 June. This seems to us a fitting way to mark the seventieth anniversary of the tragic end of the Jewish community of Brzostek.

In addition, three Jewish families with their origins in Brzostek are erecting new memorials in the Jewish cemetery to family members, and those memorials are to be consecrated on 17 June. Finally, a Jewish family from Australia/USA whose mother was saved by a local Righteous Gentile has prepared a new memorial at the grave of the local Brzostek woman who rescued her (but who died in 1979); and her memorial, in the Catholic cemetery, will also be consecrated on 17 June––she is most certainly part of the Jewish history of Brzostek, and we are glad to have the opportunity to honour her memory.

08:15   Guests arrive at Dajwór St, Kazimierz (opposite Galicia Jewish Museum, Kraków)

08:30   Depart Kraków (Dajwór Street, Kazimierz) by chartered bus to Brzostek (pre-

registration essential); toilet stop en route

11:45   Arrive Brzostek; visit the Rynek and the plaque on the Town Hall commemorating

the Jews of Brzostek; walk to Jewish cemetery down ul. Żydowska (Jewish Street)

12:15   Start of ceremony in Brzostek Jewish cemetery: dedication of new memorials

13:15   Depart Jewish cemetery by bus to Brzostek Catholic cemetery

13:30   Start of ceremony in Brzostek Catholic cemetery: dedication of new memorial for a

Righteous Gentile who saved two Jewish women by hiding them for two years

14:30   Depart Brzostek Catholic cemetery by bus to Brzostek school

14:40   Reception (refreshments) in Brzostek school, short cultural programme, and award of annual scholarship in memory of the Jews of Brzostek

16:00   Depart Brzostek school by bus to Podzamcze forest (near Kołaczyce)

16:15   Arrive at parking lot below Podzamcze forest; continue on foot to mass grave for the

260 Jews from Brzostek, Kołaczyce, and nearby villages who were murdered there by the Germans on 12 August 1942 (strong walking shoes essential, as the terrain is steep and may be muddy)

16:45   Start of ceremony at mass grave in Podzamcze forest to dedicate new memorial there

17:45   Depart on foot from mass grave in Podzamcze forest to parking lot

18:15   Depart by bus from parking lot to Tarnów

19:15   Arrive in Tarnów Rynek: free time for dinner in a bar/café/restaurant of your choice

20:45   Depart on foot from bar/café/restaurant to the Bimah (the preserved ruins of Tarnów’s

Old Synagogue, dating from the 17^th century)

21:00   Open-air concert of Jewish music at the Bimah, organised by the Society for the

Preservation of the Jewish Heritage in Tarnów

22:15   Depart by bus from Tarnów

23:45   Arrive back in Kraków (Dajwór Street, Kazimierz)

IN MEMORY OF THE JEWS OF BRZOSTEK

The Brzostek Jewish Heritage Project
together with Leszek Bieniek, the mayor of Brzostek
and Małgorzata Salacha, the mayor of Kołaczyce
invite you to memorial ceremonies
on Sunday 17 June 2012
to mark the seventieth anniversary of the tragic end of the Jewish community of Brzostek.

The ceremonies will begin at 12:15 p.m. at the Jewish cemetery in Brzostek
in the presence of the Chief Rabbi of Poland, Rabbi Michael Schudrich,
the Deacon of the PARISH of Brzostek, Fr Dr Jan Cebulak,
and other distinguished guests
including representatives of Jewish families originally from Brzostek
now living in Australia, England, France, Israel, Poland, and the USA
The Brzostek Jewish Heritage Project was established in England in 2009
by the grandchildren of Joseph Simon Webber and of Peretz and Bracha Tager

March of the Living 2012 has walked for the 21st time in between the the “Arbeit Macht Frei” gate in Auschwitz I and the ruins of gas chambers and crematoriums in Auschwitz II – Birkenau. 

SEE PICTURES:

March of the Living 2012 by www.jewish-guide.pl

March of the Living 2012 by www.jewish-guide.pl

March of the Living 2012 by www.jewish-guide.pl

Lecture on German-Nazi Concentration and Death Camps for 200 Medical University students in Cracow. March 30th, 2012.

Birkenau www.jewish-guide.pl

Nazi Concentration Camps:

1933-1939

1. Name taken from the British Concentration Camps from the Second Anglo-Boer war.
2. After “Reichstag fire” establishment of “Sondergerichte” to promote political terror. An estimated number of 70.000 German nationals were executed under this low till 1945.
3. March 1933 Dachau as the first Nazi Camp for political prisoners in Germany.
4. In 1934 the Camp are given under the SS command.
5. Headquarters in Oranienburg.

Next camps being established:

Sachsenhausen – 1936

Buchenwald – 1937

Mauthausen – 1938

Flossenbürg – 1938

Ravensbrück – 1939 (for women)

It is estimated that before 1939 there were 165-170 thousands of prisoners sentenced for different period of stay  in the Nazi Concentration Camps.

Plan of Auschwitz www.jewish-guide.pl

1939-1945

General Plan East – Generalplan Ost

Major Concentration Camps established:

Stutthof – August  1939

Auschwitz – May  1940

Neuengamme – June 1940

Natzweiler-Struthof – July 1940

Gross-Rosen – August 1940

Bergen-Belsen – October 1940

Majdanek – October 1941

Hertogenbosch – January 1942

Ryga – Kaiserwald - May 1943

Mittelbau-Dora – December 1943

Confusing German camp naming to hide their actual functions: Konzentrationslager, Arbeitslager, Vernichtungslager, Sonderkommando SS, Zwangsarbeitslager, Aufenthaltslagers, Durchgangslager, Transitlager, Schutzhaftlager, Familienlager, Internierungslager etc.

Administration:

During the war the Camps were operating under the administration of:

• Reich Main Security Office (RSHA-Reichssicherheitshauptamt),
• Main SS Economic and Administrative Department (SS-WVHA-Wirtschaftsverwaltungshauptamt),
• Inspector of the Concentration Camps (Fuhrungs-und Aufsichtshauptamt – Inspektion der Konzentrationslager), from March 3rd 1942 r. became part of  SS-WVHA as Amtsgruppe D. Konzentrationslager.

 Major types of Camps Established:

• Konzentrationslager – Concentration Camps – known also as KZ-ets. Major, complex institutions with usually multiple sub-camps and working commandos.

Dachau, Stutthof. 

Aerial picture of Auschwiz and Birkenau from 1944. www.jewish-guide.pl

• Arbeitslager – compulsory labor camps.

Project RIESE Camps. Treblinka I , Pustkow, Szebnie.

• Kriegsgefangenenlager – various POW camps also called “oflags”, “stalags” or “dulags”. Very often makeshift and primitively organized especially for the Soviet POW’s.

Modlin

 Soviet POW in the Camps  – 5,7 million of inmates with 2,8 million estimated casualties.

Soviet POW Camp. www.jewish-guide.pl

• Police Prisons –  places of investigations, transit and executions.

Fort VII in Poznan, Pawiak in Warsaw, Montelupi Prison Cracow.

• Germanization Centers – institutions mainly for young Slavic children to be Germanized and then adopted into German families.

Potulice, Kinder KZ Lodz.

• Resettlement and Transitory Camps – camps used massively in German-Nazi racial cleansing policy by the means of  deportation and extermination.

Konstantynów, Izbica

• Vernichtungslager – Death Camps – organized only for the extermination of Polish and European Jewry.

1.   KULMNHOF – CHELMNO NAD NEREM
2.   BELZEC
   

   Belzec Memorial. www.jewish-guide.pl

3.   SOBIBOR
4.   AUSCHWITZ II – BIRKENAU
   

   Birkenau www.jewish-guide.pl

5.   MAJDANEK
   

   Majdanek Gas Chamber. www.jewish-guide.pl

6.  TREBLINKA II
   

   Treblinka plan by Samuel Wilenberg. www.jewish-guide.pl

Belzec , Sobibor and Treblinka were operating under the cryptonym “Aktion Reinhard”