Gienek Bakalus, center, restored and maintains the Jewish Cemetery in Rybotyzce |
Martin, Magda and family prepared a lovely dinner for us |
Rybotyzce is a small village “shtetl” in Southeastern Poland, near the Ukraine border. Before the war, 314 Jewish people lived in the village, about 25% of the population. Today, only a few hundred people live in Rybotyzce, with no Jewish families among them. Jackie’s grandparents (father’s side) were both born in Rybotyzce. Her father was born in Dobromil a few kms away and in present day Ukraine. He left his home and family before the war.
The village’s Jewish cemetery, built in the late 1800s, was vandalized during the war. A few years ago, the only known Holocaust survivor from the village, Mojżesz Rab-Rubinfeld, along with the families of Rachel Salik-Gans from Paris and Harold Schwarz all with family roots from Rybotycze, helped to restore the cemetery. In 2008 a marble monument was erected in honor of the Jews from Rybotycze at the entrance to the cemetery. A plaque was placed on it: "To commemorate the murdered Jews of the town of Rybotycze, who died in martyrdom at the hands of Nazi torturers in the years 1939-1945. Families: Rachel Salik, Harold Schwartz, and Mojżesz Rab-Rubinfeld."
In 2013, about 50 of the gravestones, “matzevot” were repaired and set upright, a fence, landscaping were added. Gienek Bakalus and students of the School of Ecological and Agribusiness of Eastern State College in Przemyjżl, implemented the restoration project, 'One God - Three Religions.'
The fence and the pre-burial house were completely demolished during the war. The cemetery was littered and used as a pasture. The cemetery plot became the property of the Bircza Forest District. |
Many of the 1,500 Jewish cemeteries in Poland were destroyed by the Nazis in WW2. Those that remained were neglected during the Russian occupation. Although many of the tombstones have been removed or destroyed, Jewish Law dictates that the earth covering the grave in a Jewish cemetery belongs to the deceased and human remains are to be undisturbed. The soul suffers when a grave is disturbed. It is the sacred responsibility of every Jew to preserve Jewish cemeteries. Besides the moral obligation to maintain the cemetery, there is also a great deal of cultural, economic and political history.
Gienek Bakalus received the “Preserving Memory” Award for his work in preserving, promoting and caring for Jewish culture and heritage in Poland by the Michael H. Traison Fund for Poland, in 2018.
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