News & Events

The 2010 Commemoration of The Kielce Pogrom

This year's memorial ceremony and the unveiling of the monument for the victims of the 1946 Kielce pogrom took place Monday July 5, 2010 in Kielce. This monument, designed by Marek Cecula, includes the story of the pogrom in 4 languages (Hebrew, Yiddish, English and Polish) and includes the names of the 42 victims in Hebrew and Polish. The 600 kg rock at the right side of the monument was brought to Kielce by Mr. Yaacov Kotlicki from the mountains of Jerusalem, symbolizing the time honored Jewish custom of placing a stone on the grave.

The ceremony was organized by Mr. Bogdan Bialek with the full support of the Mayor of Kielce, Mr. Wojciech Lubawski, and the city officials of Kielce. The full day of ceremonies was attended by approximately 200 participants. Among the participants were Michael Schudrich, the Chief Rabbi of Poland, Piotr Kadlcik, the Chairman of the Union of Jewish Communities in Poland, Zvi Rav-Ner, the Israeli Ambassador to Poland, as well as representatives of many of the churches in Poland. The descendents of the Jewish community of Kielce was represented by Mr. Yaacov Kotlicki of Israel.

The ceremony, which began at noon in front of the Menora memorial (also designed by Marek Cecula), reverberated with moving speeches by Bogdan Bialek, followed by Mayor Lubabwski and Rabbi Schudrich. Each portion of the commemoration was followed by a march which moved to six different sites.

One of the sites was the house on Planty 7-9 where the pogrom occurred. There, joined by representatives of Christian and Jewish organizations, prayers were recited. The names of the 42 victims was read and 42 candles were lit. This was followed by a deeply moving rendition of Eli Eli, sung by the daughter of Pastor Janusz Daszuta from the Methodist church in Kielce.

The march culminated in the Pakosz Cemetery, at the grave of the 42 victims of the pogrom. Mr. Yaacov Kotlicki, Chairman of the Kielce Jewish Community in Israel, addressed the gathered crowd in Hebrew. A Polish translation was provided of this very moving address. An English translation of his speech was also made available.

Moshe Friedman, the son of Berl Frydman, a victim of the pogrom, recited the Kadish for his father and all the victims of the pogrom.

This commemoration was an important and moving event for Kielce and it could not have been successful without the active support from Mr. Wojciech Lubawski, the Mayor of the city of Kielce and Mr. Bogdan Bialek. It is hoped that this annual commemoration will continue well into the future and give all people the opportunity to reflect on the dangers of hate and intolerance and seek reconciliation.

» View the gallery of images of the Commemoration of the 64th anniversary of the Kielce Pogrom, taking place in Kielce, Poland, July 5, 2010.

» More images and an article about the commemoration (in Polish).

» View a video of one of the commemoration highlights on Kielce Internet TV (in Polish)

Renovation of the monument for the victims of Kielce Pogrom

UPDATE: The commemoration ceremony at the Kielce Jewish cemetery will take place on the afternoon of July 5, 2010, as the presidential election in Poland is taking place on July 4th.

The Kielce Jewish Community in Israel and the Jan Karski Organization in Poland are cooperating in a joint initiative to renovate the monument of the pogrom victims’ and the 43 children’s gravestone in Kielce’s Jewish cemetery. The project also involves the municipality of Kielce, and Rabbi Michael Schudrich – Chief Rabbi of Poland.

The new monument was designed by Marek Cecula, an internationally recognized Israeli artist who was born in Kielce. The monument is planned to be publically unveiled in a ceremony on July 4, 2010 (64th anniversary of the Pogrom).

The monument represents the shattered dreams of the pogrom victims to immigrate to the state of Israel, and the feelings and state of mind among the Jewish people and survivors who came back to Kielce after the holocaust in order to continue their lives.

On its right section, the monument displays the names of the pogrom victims in Hebrew.

On its left section, the story of pogrom translated into four languages. The middle section of the monument is composed of black granite stone with a Star of David, representing the shock and impact of the pogrom on the Jewish people.

An appropriate biblical verse will be printed below the granite stone. In addition, a natural stone from the mountains of Jerusalem will be placed on the monument to represent the victims’ desire to reach the state of Israel and start new lives. Since they couldn’t achieve that goal, at least the stone from Jerusalem is near them. Placing the stone on the monument also represents the Jewish tradition of placing a stone when visiting a grave as a sign of sorrow.

We hope to achieve significant involvement and attendance of people from Israel during the ceremony and encourage anyone who’s interested to participate. We also seek generous people who can financially support the complicated efforts and help us carry out this important project.

About Jan Karski Organization

Jan Karski Organization in Poland is headed by Mr. Bogdan Bialek and invests efforts to expose anti-Semitism and encourage tolerance and cooperation between Polish and Jewish people by performing various activities. Mr. Bialek actively works to preserve the historical facts and holocaust memorial among the citizens of Kielce and Poland. The cooperation between the Kielce Jewish Community and Jan Karski Organization are very active and ongoing.

Shabaton in Kielce

A commemoration and celebration of the 100 years anniversary of the Great Synagogue in Kielce was held in the city for two days, this past October 16 – 17, 2009. Shabbat prayers were held in the synagogue (which currently serves as an archive). Poland's chief rabbi, as well as rabbis from Israel and many other dignitaries were in attendance. This event was the initiative of Mr. Bogdan Bielak.

In addition to this service, many cultural events took place throughout the city of Kielce, such as exhibitions, street performances, concerts, joint prayers in churches, and tours sites including the Jewish history of the city. Municipality of Kielce fully sponsored event and encourages him to promote tolerance approach between the Jewish Christian anti-Semitism and exit.

Jewish descendants of Kielce from Israel were represented by Jacob Kotlitzki, who took an active part in the event.

» Here are a few links documenting the event:

• http://picasaweb.google.pl/PRChiZ/SimchatTora2009
• http://picasaweb.google.pl/PRChiZ/Kielce2009Szabaton
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeJeNHmbw6s

» To find out more please visit the Shabaton in Kielce Website.

Kieltzer Society of New York Meeting

A meeting of the Kieltzer Society was held on September 13, 2009. The meeting included the annual Yiskor (commemoration) Service for our families from Kielce, along with the entire Jewish community from Kielce murdered by the Nazis.

67th Kielce Jewish Community Commemoration Ceremony

The Kielce Jewish Community of Israel held their annual conference in Tel-Aviv, this past August 30th, 2009, at the Metropolitan hotel. The keynote speaker for the commemoration ceremony was Mr. Bogdan Bialek, who shared information about the new documentary film about the Jewish community of Kielce

Not For The Dead

Mr. Larry Loewinger gave a presentation at the last meeting of the Kieltzer Society of New York on his, soon to be released, documentary dealing with anti-semitism and Polish society. It is very much about the post war experience in Kielce. This documentary, Not For The Dead, confronts stereotypes of Poles and Jews andaddresses what motivates people who want to make a difference. One such individual ifilmed is Bogdan Bialek.

According to Mr. Loewinger, "Bogdan Bialek, the publisher whom we have filmed, is one of those people who, the more I travelled to Kielce, the more I realized occuppied center stage in our story. He is someone, who at some personal risk, has sought to change how people comprehend and face their past. I want to know what motivates people like him. His struggles in Kielce to pressure the city into facing its past illuminate the complex Polish/Jewish connection. I want to make a film that confronts the stereotypes of who Poles and Jews are, one in which personal struggles explain the larger theme of how change happens."

To learn more about this fascinating documentary and see a film trailer, go to http://www.notforthedead.pl/Site/homepage.html

Menorah 2007

Public artwork commissioned by the city of Kielce, Poland to commemorate the liquidation of the Kielce's ghetto and the murder of 20.000 deported Jews.

Menorah is a site-specific work constructed from stainless steel and it represents an iconic symbol of Jewish faith, raising / sinking from authentic cobblestone collected from a street of the old ghetto. There was a center of Kielce's ghetto in the spot on which Menorah was placed, now it is a busy city street.

Related information:

Site: 22m x 6.m
Menorah: L, 3,80m. H, 1,53m to 0.5m W, 30x30cm
Location: 9 Wiekow St. by Silnica River. Kielce Poland

To learn more about the artist, Marek Cecula, please see his site www.marekcecula.com

Kielce Pogrom Lecture

Jan Gross spoke on the Kielce Pogrom to survivors and Jewish Descendants of The Jewish Community of Kielce, Queens, November 23, 2008

Internationally renowned scholar and author Jan Gross, Professor of History at Princeton University, addressed and met with some of the very few remaining Jewish Holocaust survivors from Kielce, Poland along with descendants of that destroyed community. This was an emotional and significant event for the aging survivors from Kielce, as Professor Gross’ research provided insight into the murder of their friends and families in the Kielce Pogrom, which took place one and a half years after the liberation of the death camps.

Professor Gross is the author of the controversial books, FEAR: Anti-Semitism In Poland after Auschwitz (Random House, 2006), and NEIGHBORS (Princeton University Press, 2001). According to Thane Rosenbaum, writing in The Los Angeles Times Book Review, “FEAR takes on an entire nation, forever depriving Poland of any false claims to the smug, easy virtue of an innocent bystander to Nazi atrocities”.

This talk, which was open to the public, was in the format of questions posed to Professor Gross by Manny Bekier, member of the Executive Board, who collected questions from the members of the Kieltzer Society.

Read the announcement as seen in Together, the web site for A History of the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Their Descendants

Photo – Manny Bekier, Henry Glenn, President, Kieltzer Society, Professor Jan Gross