Documentation

Returning to Bedzin

Returning to Bedzin

The article was published in The Australian Jewish News on Friday 27 November 2015 in Sydney Australia, page 11 Jewishnews.net.au

Friday, 27 November 2015

The Story of Kala (Londner) Selzer

The Story of Kala (Londner) Selzer


A mitten knitted by Kala (Londner) Selzer when she was a prisoner at the Grünberg labour camp, show how learning to knit and decorate served her well in the camp. She was born in Dąbrowa Górnicza in 1923, in the Zaglembie province in Poland. In 1940 the Germans started to concentrate the Jews of Dąbrowa Górnicza in a ghetto. Since school was stopped for the Jews as well the Jewish community started to set up study groups for the children who were now left without a frame of schooling to work in. Kala learnt to decorate and knit.

 
From Fela Szeps's diary about the Grünberg labour camp. She was born in Dąbrowa Górnicza

From Fela Szeps's diary about the Grünberg labour camp. She was born in Dąbrowa Górnicza


Sunday, February 1943

50 new girls arrived last week. (There already are 405 girls and there are more to come and we cram together like sardines in a box.) The new arrivals are from Kramau, where not even one Jew was left. The younger ones were sent to work and the old ones with the children were deported...The same fate awaits the entire region of Zaglembie. The girls arrived destitute, desperate and equipped with a gallows sense of humor.
An interview with Batja Lemel from Będzin

An interview with Batja Lemel from Będzin


An interview by Ada Hertzberg

Alongside with historical data and educational emphasis that deal with children in the ghettoes in the holocaust, we chose to bring Batja Lemel's story. She was a child in the ghetto during that black period and part of her childhood was spent in the Będzin ghetto. Except one brother who survived her parents and siblings were murdered. It is essentially one story in many but it allows us a glimpse into events and experiences in lives of children and adults in the ghetto, both collective and personal.

The picture of Batja's parents

Moshe Merin – Head of the Central Judenrat in Upper Silesia that was seated in Sosnowiec


Merin, Moshe (1906 – 1943) was an active member of the Zionist Union in Sosnowiec and made his living through commerce before the war. Most information from that period depicts an unstable, rash permanent café dweller. Despite these qualities he became a member of the community board in Sosnowiec.
A Holocaust Survivor from Będzin Returns to Poland

A Holocaust Survivor from Będzin Returns to Poland

After centuries of often violent anti-Semitism–since long before, during and after World War II–the government of Poland recently opened a new museum honoring the role of Jews in Polish history. That occasion prompted Dasha Rittenberg of New York, a Holocaust survivor from Będzin, to go back to Poland to see if and how much it has changed. Filmmaker Menachem Daum follows Rittenberg's journey to her grandfather's grave site, the dedication ceremony for the new museum, and her meeting with a Polish Catholic bishop.

Rutka's Laskier – BBC documentary film

Rutka's Laskier – BBC documentary film

In March 2008, a BBC  team went to Będzin, Poland to take a picture of her life the way she detailed it in the diary she wrote for a few months in 1943, at the age of 14.
Among others appearing in the film are Rutka's sister Zahawa Scherc-Laskier and Menahem Lyor-Lior, a holocaust survivor born in Będzin. They both live in Israel.
It was screened on BBC channel, England on in September 2008.
Announcement referring to the 9-7-1939 Będzin memorial service

Announcement referring to the 9-7-1939 Będzin memorial service



"The Polish branch of the Zionist Federation in Będzin announces that on 9 July 1939 at 7 p.m. there will be a big memorial service for the 35th day to the passing away of our nation's leader

Dr. Theodor Ze'ev Herzl of blessed memory

and the 5th anniversary to the passing away of our national poet

Mr. Hayim Nahman Bialik of blessed memory

Speeches will be held by:
Rabbi A. Grausman, I. Wygodzki, A. Liwer etc.
The Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland (FODZ)

The Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland (FODZ)

The Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland (FODZ)

 

Saving Jewish Heritage in Poland One Stone at a Time

  

The Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland (FODZ) was established in 2002 by the Union of Jewish Communities in Poland and the World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO). It's primary mission is to protect and commemorate the surviving sites and monuments of Jewish cultural heritage in Poland. The Foundation is active where no Jewish community exists today or where distance from major urban centers or lack of sufficient financial resources makes it difficult for present-day small Jewish communities to provide adequate long term care and maintenance of historic Jewish properties. 

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