A story about the Jewish cemetery in Mszana Dolna

With the training of volunteers and cleaning of the Jewish cemetery we started on 19.08.2022 our next project: "Story about the Jewish cemetery in Mszana Dolna". The aim of the project is to take care of the monument, which is the Jewish cemetery on Zakopianska Street in Mszana Dolna. We want to create a group of volunteers, who - having previously learned the rules of behavior at the Jewish cemetery, and at the same time a monument listed in the National Register of Monuments - will take care of this unique necropolis. Another part of the project is the meticulous photographing of all preserved matzevot.   At the same time, work is underway on cataloging the cemetery, which is being done by Jolanta Kruszniewska, a doctoral student at the Institute of Judaic Studies at the Jagiellonian University in Cracow. The culmination of the work is to be a publication about our cemetery, published thanks to a grant from the National Heritage Institute. The book will be published in Polish and English, and the inscriptions from the preserved matzevot will also appear in the original Hebrew. The reviewer of the publication will be Hebraist Ewa Gordon, who we managed to obtain for cooperation. 

On 19.08.2022, during the first meeting at the cemetery, a dozen or so volunteers learned both the Judaic rules to be observed during work and staying at the Jewish cemetery, as well as those relating to respecting the necropolis as a monument. During their work, the volunteers focused primarily on cleaning up the cemetery grounds, raking the grass, collecting branches and any debris. 

As part of the celebration of the 80th Anniversary of the Holocaust, on 21.08.2022 volunteers could also deepen their knowledge of Jewish cemeteries, tombstone symbolism, reading of specific inscriptions, during a guided tour of the cemetery conducted by Jolanta Kruszniewska. It was also attended by Mrs. Ewa Gordon.

The next meeting with the cleaning of the cemetery is planned for mid-September 2022. 

"Subsidized by the National Heritage Institute - Together for Heritage" program. 

The honorary patronage of the project is assumed by the Mayor of Mszana Dolna Anna Pękała, and it is carried out in cooperation with the Town Office and the Municipal Library in Mszana Dolna, as well as the Jewish Community in Cracow, which owns the cemntary.

The media patron of the project is Limanowa Television TV28

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)