Sztetl Mszana Dolna at commemoration the Jews of Żelechów

30 September marked the 83rd anniversary of the deportation of Jews from Żelechów to the Treblinka extermination camp. To commemorate this occasion, a memorial ceremony was held in Żelechów Park and a meeting took place in the local Memorial Chamber.

At the invitation of Magdalena Czajka, a guardian of memory in Żelechów, a delegation from Sztetl Mszana Dolna took part in the celebrations.

Jakub Antosz-Rekucki inaugurated the ceremony by performing his own composition, ‘Waltz of Remembrance,’ dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust, on the accordion. After speeches by Magdalena Czajka and Urszula Antosz-Rekucka, he led a prayer song, ‘Oseh Shalom bimromav,’ in which the gathered crowd joined in. After laying stones and lighting candles, those gathered went to the Memorial Chamber to listen to Urszula Antosz-Rekucka's lecture ‘The Role of Memory in Local Communities’.

We feel honoured by the invitation to Żelechów and the opportunity to talk about our work on memory and dialogue

We took the opportunity to take a walk in the footsteps of the Jewish community of Żelechów – through streets with former Jewish houses, the site of the synagogue, the remains of the mikveh, and the beautiful Jewish cemetery with the tzaddik's ohel, which is visited by crowds of Hasidim every year. We also viewed the collected memorabilia in the Żelechów Memorial Chamber.