Lubaczów has been part of my life — long distance — since 1994. It was therefore a very special moment for me when I arrived in Lubaczow on April 29th 2002 for the first time. Bogdan Lisze was my main host during my visit, but many others also helped me during the five days I stayed in town. Thank you to you all for your friendliness and hospitality!

I stayed at a new hotel just north to where the synagogues had been before World War Two. These synagogues were destroyed by the Germans.

Every day I walked back and forth to the Jewish cemetery, passing the Rynek and knowing exactly how to get to the cemetery using different routes. The map of central Lubaczow is in my head!

At the cemetery, thanks to Bogdan and his friends, I could start documenting the graves in the area they had cleaned.

One day four young students from the high school spent the whole day burning branches and bushes that had been cut down earlier. Hard work!

Twice I visited the local museum and found many interesting things to look at in their exhibitions. In addition, the museum staff was very friendly and devoted a lot of time to me. Again thank you! Bardzo dziekuje!

Walking from the museum and back to town, Bogdan and I passed the river Lubaczowka and then a little further on, were invited into the garden of a local man who has an amazing collection of old tools.

One day I was invited to Villa Frieser that was built in 1892 by a Jewish lawyer, Dr. Frieser. Later it was bought by another Jewish lawyer Dr. Osterweil who lived there till World War Two. He was murdered in Holocaust. The present day owners whose family bought the house legally after the war from surviving relatives of Dr. Osterweil, are very interested in the history of the house and of those who once lived there. They proudly showed me the David stars that have decorated their veranda doors since the house was built in 1892.

The days I was there were particularly hot, so I learnt to buy in Polish "Voda mineralna nie gazowana".

On my last day in Lubaczow, May 3rd, was the Polish National Day and Bogdan and I walked around the Rynek, seeing people all dressed up and hearing the orchestra playing. Josh Heilman's descriptions of Jewish life around the Rynek before Holocaust and of the May 3rd celebrations back then, made the whole experience something that covered many years and cultures.

Yes, that was the main feeling - knowing I walked where once a thriving Jewish community had existed, knowing I was walking where many of those Jews had walked to their death, and yet meeting local people who wanted to help me Remembering the Jews of Lubaczow.

Leaving Lubaczow, I wanted to take the local train from the railway station in Lubaczow to Jaroslaw. This railway station was built in 1880 and so many events have taken place here. Sitting in the waiting room at the railway station I could imagine those emigrating to the States a hundred years ago sitting in that same room. I could imagine those Jews who moved to big cities like Krakow and Warszawa and those who moved to Germany to find a better life after World War One. I personally know some who managed to get to Eretz Israel in the late 1930's.
Later the trains brought the Jews of Lubaczow to camps where most were murdered and very very few survived.

But I left Lubaczów with a strong wish to come back in the future. I want to finish the documentation I started of the graves in the Jewish cemetery. I also hope to learn more about the lives of the Jews of Lubaczow before the Holocaust.

Being in Lubaczów is also a way for me to continue the search my friend Erela (1942 - 2001) and I started around her Weinrath family.

So to all those who helped me during my visit to Lubaczow - I hope to see you again, in Lubaczów or here in Israel.