Saying Good-Bye to Poland

On the final evening of the Lubiner Reunion, participants, our hosts and members of the Lublin and Warsaw communities filled the historic Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva Synagogue for a beautiful Shabbat service and concert performed by KAIROS - Men's Vocal Ensemble.  

Reunion closing ceremony and Shabbat dinner 

The Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva Synagogue, once an important center of Jewish Life in Lublin, reopened in 2007 after the Polish government returned the building to the Jewish community. Confiscated by the Germans during the occupation, the Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva later became a medical school. Along with the synagogue, it now houses the Hotel Ilan with a Kosher restaurant, conference center, Jewish Community offices, Jewish museum and mikveh. 

Following services, we dined al fresco in front of the Ilan Hotel and toasted to this magical week of learning and friendship. Shabbat blessings were led by the rabbi and members of Jewish Community of Warsaw, who maintain the synagogue along with two others in Warsaw. 

Selfie with Jon and Jackie

We said good-bye to fellow Lubliners, including those who shared their family stories: Judith Maier and Neta Żytomirska-Avidar from Israel and Dan Oren and Leora Tec from the U.S. Others recorded their memories in oral histories for Grodzka Gate Theater. Some Lublin survivors and descendants have written books about their experiences. Nechama Tec's poignant memoir tells of her family's survival during the war, Dry Tears; The Story of a Lost Childhood. Anna Sidor wrote the delightful book, The Family with Two Front Doors, about her grandmother's large Jewish family in the 1920s.

I am forever grateful to reunion organizers, Leora Tec, Bridge to Poland, Agata Radkowska-Parka, Rootka Tours, Joseph Dakar and the Kol Lublin organization in Israel, Tomasz Pietrasiewicz and Monika Tarajko at Grodzka Gate Theater NN, especially the Lublin-Antwerp project team, Małgorzata Miłkowska, Tadeusz Przystojecki and Jackie Schwarz for finding me in the first place. With their passion and diligent research more names will be added to the Gates of Memory project and more Lubliners will hear our stories. שלום

“I would like to give my deepest thanks to all those who accepted the invitation of the “Grodzka Gate – NN Theatre” Centre and took part in the Lubliner Reunion. For most of you, participating in the event meant embarking on a long and tiring journey from various locations of the world. 

I am certain that some of you had doubts whether to come to Lublin. After all, it is so very much linked with the memory of the tragic death of your relatives and the anti-Semitism of their Polish neighbours. I am grateful that you have decided to visit us in spite of your many fears. I hope that after the time you have spent in Lublin each and every one of you will be able to say – it was worth it!

I would like you all to know that Lublin remembers the Jewish inhabitants who, in a sense, stayed here forever. Our role in the Grodzka Gate is to be the wardens of their memory.

May the Gate become for you, who have been dispersed all over the world, the light always showing the way back to the place bound with your family history for so many decades. We will always be here, waiting for you.

I hope to see you back in Lublin soon.”

Tomasz Pietrasiewicz