Renovation of the Jewish cemetery fence begins and restoration of matzevot continues

After almost 2 years since we submitted an application to the government programme for the restoration of monuments, together with the Mszana Dolna municipal authorities, the renovation of the cemetery fence can finally begin!

The renovation of the matzevot had already begun a few months earlier, and will continue in the spring.

That it was high time to do so, the fence itself gave us a sign: last week one of its spans failed and fell out, opening the way - fortunately, only to a herd of lovely deer.

We have had to overcome countless difficulties: from formal requirements, the need to rectify past negligence, obtaining permits from numerous institutions, to ‘ordinary’ human unkindness.

But there are more people of goodwill! Our warmest thanks go to those who have supported us and cheered us on. First of all, to the city authorities: past and present, to the two Mayors Anna Pękala and Agnieszka Orzeł. To both Town Councils. The sympathetic officials. The Office of the Provincial Conservator in Nowy Sącz, the Jewish Community in Cracow, the Rabbinical Commission for Cemeteries, the Department of Building and Architecture in the Limanowa and many kind people: participants in our online auctions, donors of the drop and those paying directly into our Foundation's account, those supporting us with a good word and action or legal advice.

We submitted the application, together with the Town of Mszana Dolna, in the spring of 2023, the positive decision arrived in July 2023. We have come a long, difficult way to be able to proceed with the current work.
We have a difficult task ahead of us: we are constrained by time, hampered by the repair of the railway traction in the immediate vicinity of the cemetery, the ditched and carelessly over-surfaced access, but we can finally act! The renovation of the crumbling fence will begin at the beginning of March, the restoration of the matzevot will also continue soon.
If anyone would like to support our work, please make a donation to the Foundation's account: https://www.sztetlmszanadolna.com/en/donate.html  - we are facing many additional expenses, not included in the grant, which we have to bear ourselves.

All administrative costs, bookkeeping, the information board required by the grantor about the state funding has already cost us more than 500 PLN. We also need to update the plaque at the cemetery, restore the access, and there will probably be other, numerous, unforeseen expenses.

There have been moments of breakdown in these months of our, struggle, when - after overcoming one difficulty - others have appeared. However, the goal - extremely important in our view, as the cemetery is both the only material trace of the Jewish presence in the city and the great grave of dozens of Holocaust Victims - illuminated these darknesses and gave us strength. So did the immensely supportive, kind-hearted people.
Today, at our historic, ruined, necropolis, we noticed a tiny yellow flower, the primrose - an early harbinger of spring and our hope. We read this as a good sign, a harbinger of the successful completion of this great undertaking. Be with us!

As a reminder, the historic necropolis, devastated during and after World War II, was earmarked for afforestation by a decision of the Commune National Council. Numerous matzevot were stolen, the cemetery was overgrown with weeds. At the beginning of the 1990s, one of the survivors of the massacre on Pańskie Hill (on 19.09.1942, a mass execution of the Jewish population of Mszana Dolna, its surroundings and people displaced from many other places took place on Pańskie Hill), Lejb Gatterer, founded a fence around the cemetery, thus starting to save it. Unfortunately, the passage of time has caused the foundations to crumble and the metal spans to fall off. Hence our efforts to renovate the fence and restore the historic matzevot.

Renovation of the Jewish cemetery in Mszana Dolna: Subsidised by the Government Programme for the Reconstruction of Monuments. Value of subsidy: 488040 PLN. Participation of the Town of Mszana Dolna: 9960 zł. Total value of the task 498000 zł.

Works for about 10,000 zlotys have already been carried out as the beginning of the renovation of the matzevot