Prisoners among Jewish cemeteries

The prisoners of the Łupków Prison and the OZ in Moszczaniec took part in the initiative of cleaning the Jewish cemeteries in Dukla and Wola Michowa. This undertaking is part of the program “Tikkun – Repair”, carried out by Polish and Israeli prison service.

Before the repair works, theoretical lessons took place, during which an original program “Non omnis moria – I have not wholly died” was conducted. During these classes, the prisoners got to know Jewish culture, history, religion and tradition, concentrating on the regions of Bieszczady and Beskid Niski. The prisoners met the Chief Rabbi of Poland Michael Schudrich and Agnieszka Kargol, coordinator of the program, representing the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland. Apart from that, they had the opportunity to see an exhibition of the Institute of National Remembrance in Rzeszów, presenting about 40 boards from the exposition “Ghettos and camps for Jewish population in the Rzeszów region during the Second World War” and “The Righteous Among the Nations”. The subject of the Holocaust was presented to them by the curator of the exhibition, Dr. Elżbieta Rączy from the Rzeszów branch of the Institute of National Remembrance.

Thanks to the program, the convicts had the possibility to get to know Jewish culture and to take part in the efforts undertaken to preserve its heritage in Bieszczady and Beskid Niski. In effect, such subjects and problems of the history of the 20^th century as rescuing Jews, Polish-Jewish relations and the extermination of Jews in Poland became clearer to them.

The project “Tikkun – Repair” was created to preserve some of the elements of the Jewish legacy in Poland. To this day, over 50 prisons have signed up to participate in the program. Some of them are carrying it out in cooperation with the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland. This institution helped the prisons choose a particular cemetery that needed to be cleaned, it also supports the prisons, provides them with educational materials and organizes workshops for the convicts and officers, devoted to Jewish culture, history and tradition, as well as to problems connected with anti-Semitism and xenophobia.