Commemoration of the Holocaust victims

It has become a tradition that descendants of families of the local Jewish community from Poland and abroad come to commemorate Holocaust victims from Czarny Dunajec and the surrounding area. Previous ceremonies have hosted families from Israel, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and Krakow. This year, Israel Koren and his wife Chaja from Israel came to Czarny Dunajec for the commemoration of the 82nd anniversary of the extermination of the Jews.

Photo by Jagoda Bukowska-Ziółko

Traditionally, the prayer at the cemetery was also led by Ryfka Foremniak, cantor of the progressive Jewish communities, and the Kaddish and El Male Rachamim prayer was recited by Israel Koren. Nearly 500 names are visible on two stone tablets in the Jewish cemetery in Czarny Dunajec, which were traced and confirmed during Dariusz Popiela's ‘People, not numbers’ project in 2020. But since then, new names have continually appeared and the list has been completed, with more than 500 names of Holocaust victims being read aloud together at the cemetery this year. Flowers were also laid at the Holocaust victims' memorial on behalf of the community of Czarny Dunajec.

Photo by Jagoda Bukowska-Ziółko

The ceremonies at the cemetery were followed by a meeting with descendants. Israel Koren spoke about the history of his family. His father Jozef Dawid Korngut was born in 1900 in Czarny Dunajec. His father's identity card issued in June 1939 by the mayor Tadeusz Bryjak, as well as a copy of his mother's birth certificate and his father's partially preserved one, have been preserved in the family archive. Copies of the documents have been donated to a digital archive dedicated to the history of the Jews of Czarny Dunajec, ‘Jewish Czarny Dunajec’, and his family history will be described. 

Descendants of Czarny Dunajec Jews from Poland, Israel, the USA, the Netherlands and Denmark also attended the meeting, which was broadcast over the internet. Finally, also traditionally, Ryfka Foremniak gave a recital of Jewish songs in the former synagogue building. Beforehand, the cantor received a surprise gift: a painting depicting the synagogue in Czarny Dunajec, by local painter Jacek Wiśniewski.

Photo by Michał Szaflarski

The organisers would like to thank the following for their help in preparing the commemoration:

Ryfka Foremniak, cantor of progressive Jewish communities

Jagoda Bukowska-Ziółko

Wojtek Głowacz

Jacek Wiśniewski

Anna Brzyska

Narcyz Listkowski

Stanisława and Józef Szaflarski

Marta Mazik

Special thanks to Tamar Kedar and Esther Bardack, daughters of Róża Steiner from Czarny Dunajec, and their husbands.