Cemetery Monument
From the trips of Irene and Victor Miller in March 1999
and Roni Seibel Liebowitz in July 2001 and July 2002
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ||
|
|
|
Click on photos above for larger view | ||
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Dedication: In August 1992, on the 50th Anniversary of the Liquidation of the Jewish Ghetto in Belchatow, representatives of Jewish Belchatower Societies, led by Menachem Sharon, former secretary of the Israeli embassy in Warsaw and now chairman of the Belchatower Society in Israel, with the support of the mayor of Belchatow, erected this memorial monument made from parts of broken gravestones in a public park on the site of the former Jewish cemetery. Click on the photo on the right for a larger view. |
|
Cemetery Monument in 1992 | |
| "Restoration": In July 2002, the director of the Belchatow Regional Museum, Mr. Boguslaw Dziedzic, confided to Roni Seibel Liebowitz, on her second visit to Belchatow, that he was ashamed of the way the Cemetery Monument had looked the previous summer, when she visited Belchatow for the first time. It had offensive graffiti on the back (see photos of graffiti), and he was not pleased with the way in which it was presented. This year, he was eager and excited to show the newly “restored” monument. Not only had it been cleaned, but the surrounding area had been paved and re-landscaped. As seen in the photo below, a patio was built around it and landscaped. In addition, the forest of trees surrounding and leading to the monument had been thinned to discourage vandals (see photo below). Now the monument can be viewed from the entry path which leads to it (see photo on right). We are very thankful to Mr. Boguslaw Dziedzic, who saw to it that this act of love and respect was accomplished. |
|
Cemetery Monument in 2001 | |
| |
Approach to the Monument in 2002 |
Roni Seibel Liebowitz and Boguslaw Dziedzic, the late Director of the Regional Museum
and President of the Association of the Friends of Belchatow,
at the newly restored Cemetery Monument in July 2002.
Click on "Next" below to read a translation of a 1992 newspaper article from the Lodz Morning Voice that describes the history of the Jews in Belchatow, the liquidation of the ghetto, the memorial plaque, and the dedication of the Cemetery Monument.
