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Meeting on the Trail of
the Warsaw Ghetto Monuments
ZNAK - Christian Culture Foundation
FORUM, April 2002
"It
has already become a tradition that every year Christians
and Jews meet at the Ghetto Heroes Monument on the first
Sunday after the anniversary of the outbreak of the
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (the first uprising in Warsaw
- as some would say). They come to pray together following
along the trail of the Ghetto monuments"
- says Krzysztof Chmielewski, our Warsaw correspondent.
In this way, they recall the memory
of the innocent victims of extermination, the heroism
of the insurgents and the courage of the Righteous.
This year several scores of people took part in the
ceremony. Some came immediately after participating
in the "Chain for Peace" - a group of individuals,
holding hands, forming a human chain from the Embassy
of Israel to the Embassy of Palestine.
The solemn meeting started at the monument of the Ghetto
Heroes with a prayer by the Warsaw Rabbi, Michael Schudrich.
Rev. Roman Lipinski (of the Evangelic Augsburg Church)
read then a fragment from the Book of Isaac (Isaiah?)
asking for God's blessing for the assembly . People
laid down flowers, lit candles and together read aloud
psalm 44.
The gathering then passed to the Tree of the Righteous,
where Minister Bartoszewski spoke about the actions
of Zegota (The Council for Aid to Jews in Occupied Poland
1942-45) and the grateful memory shown by the free Jewish
State to all the Righteous. He spoke about the memory
of the chief of Zegota's Lvov section - the Polish Christian
woman who spent her last years in Haifa surrounded by
the warmth and care of her Jewish friends. Her funeral
became an opportunity for many survivors to pay her
homage. Minister Bartoszewski expressed his hope that
the Righteous in Poland will also be surrounded with
grateful memory - as those who had the courage to react
against evil and injustice. The representatives of the
Children of the Holocaust laid down flowers under the
Tree of the Righteous. The Lord's Prayer and psalm 10
were said aloud.
At the Stone for the Memory of Szmul Zygielbojm, Minister
Bartoszewski told the story about the meeting of Jan
Kozielewski (Karski) with the Bund representatives in
the Ghetto and their message to the Polish Government
in Exile in London - first of all to Zygielbojm (podac
jego stanowisko w Rzadzie). "I cannot keep silent
and cannot live as long as the Jewish people perish
in Poland" Zygielbojm wrote in his farewell letter.
He committed suicide out of desperation driven by the
helplessness of the Polish Government in London and
the inactivity of the Allies. The gathering was also
informed that the brother of Szmul Zygielbojm, Mr. Reuven
Zygielbojm, had returned to live in Poland.
At the Umschlagplatz, Yale Reisner of the Lauder Foundation
said a Jewish prayer for deceased and then the people
gathered read aloud psalms 70 and 88. The Pope's dedicated
prayer for Jews was also said. The meeting ended with
a speech by Stanislaw Krajewski who thanked all those
who participated in the ceremony. He underlined the
importance of remembering about the time of the genocide.
Finally, people said the last
verses of Kaish Osen Shalom, when storm clouds loomed
and it began to rain.
Krystian Chrzanowski
translated by Irena Bellert
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