An Account of the Commemoration
by Jolanta Kowalewska
a woman from Sokoly interested in Jewish history
of Poland and Jewish-Polish relations
provided to BIALYGen by Robert Becker
Monday, 18th August. We
have another sunny and very hot day in Bialystok. It is almost noon, when
I and Pawel (Jolanta's son) reach Zabia street. We are going pass a
police car and finally come up the people, gathered nearby the monument of
the Bialystok Ghetto Heroes, and waiting for the ceremony. We can see the
group of Jews from Israel, all of them are wearing the white jackets with
the big blue David's stars on the back of them. It is not very crowded
here, as usual, but I think there are a little bit more people today than
two and three years ago, both - Jews and Poles.
Exact at 12 o'clock the lingering sound of the sirens rings out and
interrupts the silence. Although this sound is not very loud, probably it
is made in Warszawska street, where the fire department is located, but
anyway, it creates very special and very solemn atmosphere........
Listening to the sirens I try to imagine THAT day in 1943 here and the
sounds of the fight then and the screaming of the people being killed by
the Germans and having no chance to survive....
It is difficult to imagine those dramatic events and for a second I feel
the same like, when I visited Treblinka with you (Robert Becker),
five years ago. Standing there in that beautiful clearing surrounded by
the forests, in
such a sunny day we had in October, it was also very difficult to believe
that so MANY people were murdered just there...
The sounds of the sirens has stopped and the main part of the ceremony
starts from giving the name of Mordechaj Tenenbaum, the leader of the
uprising in our ghetto, to the square in Zabia street, just here, where we
are gathered at the moment.
The next it is the time for the speeches of the president (Mayor)
of Bialystok and the ambassador of Israel in Poland. Both of them say
about the needs of commemorating our common, Polish and Jewish, history
and culture, about the tolerance and the cooperation between our two
nations. We are told Bialystok is an example of one of the really friendly
Polish towns, where some efforts are made to memorize the Polish/ Jewish
character of our town.
The next person, who we are listening to, is the representative of the
Bialystoker Jewish community in Israel (sorry, but I don't remember his
name and the town he is from). He was born here in Bialystok and he lost
his all family here. Although his speech is made in Hebrew (or perhaps
Yiddish), but it is touching anyway. His voice is breaking down a few
times and I think it must be very difficult to go through all of this
without the tears. This speech is translated into Polish and the last
person, who says something to the gathering is the representative of the
Jewish community in Warsaw, Lucy Lisowska.
And now it is the time for the religious accent of the ceremony. We are
listening to the prayer of the young rabbi. His strong voice and the words
said in Hebrew create a very special and unique atmosphere....
The last part of the ceremony in Zabia street is placing the flowers by
the monument. All the representatives of the local authorities and
institutions, as well as the representatives of the Jewish authorities and
organizations, put the flowers. At the end the local town guards lit the
candles. The last pictures are being taken...
The ceremony is being finished. However, we see the group of the Jews, who
came to Bialystok, gathered together in front of the monument. In the
middle the ambassador of Israel is standing. They hold each other and
start.... singing. Among the few songs we can recognize the beautiful song
' Jerusalem of Gold' ( Pawel has it on his numerous records, of course)
and the national anthem of Israel.
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