A trip along the multicultural trail of Małopolska

On 20 July 2025, together with a group of almost 50 people, we set off on a trip following in the trail of multicultural Małopolska.

This time, our route took us to Tarnów, Dąbrowa Tarnowska and Zbylitowska Góra. We learned about the complex and often tragic history of the region, with particular emphasis on the history of the Roma and Jewish communities.

At the Ethnographic Museum in Tarnów, which was the first stop on the trip, participants viewed interesting collections and heard stories about colourful caravans, the specifics of Roma culture, and finally the extermination of the Roma people during the Holocaust.

Walking along the beautiful streets of Tarnów's old town, the group visited the Market Square with the town hall and the remains of the city's Jewish buildings. Before World War II, the Jewish community constituted 40% of the population; traditionally, a representative of the community served as the city's deputy mayor. We visited the square where the bimah remains from the synagogue stands.

An important part of the programme was a visit to the Jewish cemetery, a vast, beautiful place covered with greenery and full of interesting tombstones. At the monument commemorating the victims of the Holocaust, our group honoured our Jewish fellow citizens from Mszana, who were murdered in the Tarnów ghetto, including Frania and Szymon Feuerstein, Chaim Streim, and the Israeler family, who were related to the Feuersteins. Steve/Sacher Israeler, the youngest and only survivor of this family, often spent his holidays in Mszana Dolna.

One of the most tragic places of martyrdom for the Polish population, especially for Jews, in this area is the Buczyna forest in Zbylitowska Góra, where German occupiers murdered about 10,000 people, the vast majority of whom were Jewish.