Commemoration of the 82nd Anniversary of the Holocaust in Mszana Dolna

Eighty-two years ago, on 19.08.1942, the Jewish community of Mszana Dolna and many surrounding villages ceased to exist. Almost all of them were exterminated in a mass execution on Pańskie Hill. This date has therefore become a symbolic day for the town's Holocaust anniversaries.

This year, we planned the anniversary celebrations for Sunday 18.08.2024. There were three important parts: the first was a conference on the Holocaust in the entire region: the town and municipality of Mszana Dolna, but also Dobra, Skrzydlna, Rabka and the entire Podhale region. The panellists were both members of the Foundation: Urszula, Rachela and Jakub Antosz-Rekucki, as well as invited guests Narcyz Listkowski and Michał Rapta from Rabka, and Dr Karolina Panz, a researcher at the Holocaust Research Centre of the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

The focal point of the Anniversary was the Remembrance Ceremony at the site of the mass murder, where the names and surnames of more than a thousand Holocaust Victims, who had been resting namelessly in a mass grave for 81 years, were recalled. Thanks to the efforts of our Foundation, these names were restored to them last year, we inscribed them on a granite monument next to the mass grave; this year they resounded loudly in the space of the city that was once their small homeland. 

The commemoration was attended by representatives of the Polish Council of Christians and Jews, with chairwoman Dr Katarzyna Kowalska and vice-chairman Prof Jerzy Sojka, the Dialogue Council of the Archdiocese of Krakow with chairman Rev. Prof. Łukasz Kamykowski, the ‘Przymierze’ Club of Christians and Jews from Krakow, and the Dialogue Forum Network. The prayer was recited by the parish priest of St. Michael's parish, Jan Antoł, candles were laid by representatives of the city authorities: Mayor Agnieszka Orzeł and councillor Bartosz Gocał. Representatives of the Mszana Dolna Municipality were present: Vice-Mayor W.Zoń and Mrs Magda Polańska.

A special guest was Mrs Ruth Gatterer, daughter of one of the few survivors, Lejb Gatterer, founder of the Jewish cemetery fences in Mszana Dolna, Rabka, Limanowa and Łabowa.  She read out excerpts from her father's memoirs and a moving poem by her uncle, another of the survivors, Moses Aftergutt, addressed to his father who was murdered at Pańskie.

The third part of the commemoration was a wonderful concert by the string quartet ‘Con Affetto’, which presented compositions by Jewish authors, traditional Hassidic music, themes from ‘Fiddler on the Roof’, as well as famous tangos and waltzes and motifs from the film ‘Nights and Days’ and the TV series ‘Polish Roads’. The violinists were extremely warmly received by the audience gathered in the Municipal Library, with many encores and cordial dialogue with the participants.

 A meal for the participants was catered for by the Senior+ Club of Mszana Dolna, for which we are extremely grateful.

The celebrations were held under the Honorary Patronage of the Town Mayor.

Co-financed by the Office for War Veterans and Victims of Repression

Co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage under the programme of the National Heritage Institute - Together for Heritage