Our Trip by Bernie Guzik 7/07

I think we visited some places around Dukla that aren't on the Jewish Gen site. One was a memorial back in the woods where the Jews from Dukla and Rymanowie were murdered. On returning my cousin mentioned that her mom had always told the same story of how some of our family died. Looking at the list on the JewishGen site it dawned on me my great grandmother was on the list but without her first name spelled correctly. Her name was Getel Guzik. I'm not sure of the others. The other was the site of the reconstruction of the Ruiny Synagogue.The cemetary is in beautiful shape . It will be beautiful when finished.

We also found a map at the museum in Dukla that showed house numbers from 1850 duklamap
so we were able to locate the area where my Great Grandparents house was. None of this would have been possible without our guide.

Saturday, June 2nd, 2007 Krakow to Dukla

We got up at around 5:30 a.m,in Krakow, moving slowly and depressed. Yesterday we visited Auschwitz and after seeing, touching and feeling our emotions were raw. What astounded me was the size of Auschwitz and Birkenau and the actual reality of what man did to man. You can’t get this feeling from pictures, movies or news clips. Coffee was in order and we went down stairs to meet our guide, Tomasz Cebulski.

Tomasz was there and ready to go. We headed to Dukla and after hearing about the beautiful countryside side and it’s grizzly history with the Jews being caught in the middle by the Germans and Russians we arrived at Dukla, the home of my grandfather and great grandparents. I had done my research with the help of Debbie Raff and Phylis Kramer. We located the house number from a document my cousin had sent me and now we needed to find its actual location in Dukla. Tomasz suggested we stop at the military museum and see what they had as the records bureau was closed. We thought it would be since it was a weekend. How lucky can you be. We found the map on the second floor as big as daylight. Out came the camera and I grabbed a few pictures before the guard said “no pictures “The deed was done. Tomascz spoke to the women guard and between the two of them figured the modern day location of where the log cabin from the 1850s would have been.

The Shul

A short drive dukla led us to the location where a building now stands. It made sense since the location was within walking distance to the Shul. It was also a few minutes walk to the town square where on Thursday, August 8 th.1942 Jews were rounded up and taken in trucks to an area just outside the city, shot and thrown in a ditch. My grandfather was on his way to America in 1910 so he was out of the picture at the time of the massacre in 1942.

The Cemeteries

The two cemetaries in Dukla are very overgrown with weeds and shrubs. They told us they were cleaned out a few years ago but they are in need of help again.
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The two (2) cemeteries are outside of town. By this time a gentle rain was coming down and the walk into the cemeteries was very muddy. One of the cemeteries was behind a stone wall and the other back in the woods. Debbie was right. There were stinging nettles present. Here are a few more pictures from the cemeteries.
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The Monument

We returned to the car , cleaned ourselves up and took off towards the border. My wife and I had no idea what was up. Tomasz pulled into a farm and went and talked to the farmer. The two of them hopped into the car and turned around back towards Dukla only to pull off on a dirt road and drive back into the woods. We got to a turn around and got out of the car. The four of us followed a path through the woods and dukla entered a clearing where a monument stood with memorial candles around it.
The farmer explained to Tomasz that his grandfather was in hiding and witnessed the Germans killing the Jews from Dukla and Rymanov. I can’t begin to tell you how uneasy we felt. It was totally different than the day before. I was struck by the beauty of the forest and disgusted by the deeds done there.

There was silence in the car as we dropped the farmer off and drove back towards Dukla. After a quick stop for lunch we headed the car towards Krosno and whatever else Tomascz had in mind. On the way we saw some Storks nesting with babies. It made me feel good to see nature at it’s finest.

Rymanow and the Restoration of the Synagogue

Our next stop found us at the Ruini Synagogue (Rymanov). dukla This is one of the most important synagogues in central Europe and will be spectacular when the renovation is complete.
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The mikva is almost done and the murals on the walls are something to behold. Here is a link to a very informative site. http://Kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Krosno/KROSNORym.htm#RYMANOWHISTORY The photos are murals from the synagogue.

Looking UP: dukla dukla

When we left we drove to the cemetery. Pictures are available when you follow the link I mentioned earlier. After returning to the states we found that our cousins from Dukla had been taken into the woods and shot so we were actually at their final resting place. Mans inhumanity to man. Our day lasted eleven hours and I can’t say enough about our guide. We learned so much from Tomascz and thank him for his insight and knowledge of Poland. The following is a link to his web site . http://www.jewish-guide.pl/ .

I hope you enjoyed this day from our trip,
Bernie and Carla Guzik
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Our Trip by Sanda Schoen Kiferbaum 2015

Sandy sent us the following photographs of dukla that she took on her trip.
The Cemetery dukla
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The Synagogue

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