82nd anniversary of the Holocaust in Mszana Dolna.

This year we organize the anniversary celebration on Sunday, 18.08.2024. We preparated three different events:

At 12 noon, a conference on the Holocaust in the region is scheduled to take place at the Municipal Library. Presented by local activists, the dramatic events in Mszana Dolna will be expanded to include the broader context of the origins of the Victims from neighbouring towns and the course of the Holocaust in Podhale and Rabka. A special guest will be the daughter of one of the few survivors of the Mszana massacre, Dobra-born Lejb Gatterer, Ruth. The narrative will be supplemented by a speech by a historian from Nowy Sącz, Artur Franczak, who will present a profile of the executioner of the Sądecczyzna region, Heinrich Hamann.

The focal point of the commemorations will be a ceremony at the mass grave of Jews on the so-called Pańskie, combined with the reading out of the names of more than a thousand Victims. Last year, thanks to the efforts of Sztetl Mszana Dolna Foundation, a granite monument with the names of the Victims resting namelessly for 81 years was erected at the grave. It is our wish that this year the names will resound in the public space as an important evocation of their memory.

Finally, we invite you to the Library again, for a concert by the female string quartet "Con Affetto". The programme includes works by Jewish composers, pre-war tangos, unforgettable waltzes and themes from "Fiddler on the Roof".

Transport between the Municipal Library and the grave on Pansky Street will be provided.

On 19.08.1942 the largest mass execution in the region took place: practically the entire community of Mszana and the surrounding area, including Christians with Jewish roots, was murdered in the fields of "Pańkie". Displaced people from Łódź, Kraków, Zembrzyce, Bielsko Biała, Gdańsk and many other cities, large groups of Jews from Dobra and Skrzydlna also died here. Two other places of martyrology of the Jews of Mszana are located on Ogrodowa Street and in the Jewish cemetery on Zakopiańska Street.

Let us together honour the memory of all these innocent Victims!