Before August 23rd, when the first transporta of people departed from Nowy Sącz ghetto do the death camp in Bełżec, concentration of Jewish citizens of towns of the region was being conducted. Those, whe were deemed to weak to walk this – often long and exhausting – way were killed on the spot. During the “remembrance week”, on the days of anniversaries, we’ve met in places where those crimes occured. They were often hidden places, off the beaten track, away from people’s sight. Today it’s us who are responsible for keeping the memory of these events alive and for never letting this excessive crime be forgotten.

— Sunday, 8/16/2015, 5:00 PM, Stary Sącz
On Sunday a walk in the footsteps of Jewish citizens of Stary Sącz took place. Our guide through the town’s past was Łukasz Połomski.
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— Monday, 8/17/2015, 5:00 PM, Stary Sącz
We’ve commemorated the anniversary of Stary Sącz ghetto liquidation. We’ve also lit candles and left flowers at the monument in Piaski district, where more than 90 people, citizens of Stary Sącz, were executed.

— Wednesday, 8/19/2015, 4:00 PM, Gorlice
We’ve lit candles under the monument dedicated to the extermination of Jewish people of Gorlice and walked through the town in Jewish footsteps. We’ve also visited the cemetery and the execution site of about 700 citizens in the forest nearby. Our guide was Mr Tomasz Pruchnicki.
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— Thursday, 8/20/2015, 5:00 PM, Biała Niżna (Grybów)
We’ve lit candles and left flowers on the mass grave of 360 Jewish citizens of Grybów murdered in Biała Niżna. Kaddish was intonated by Eliezer Guraru, the chief rabbi of Kraków.
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Those, who survived these dreadful days and reached the Nowy Sącz ghetto were soon to be taken away together with the citizens of the city to the death camp in Bełżec. To honour the memory of over a dozen thousand citizens of the city and region exterminated then, we’ve planned for th 73rd anniversary of the liquidation an exceptional celebration in which many citizens of the city and guests from outside took place – including also the Young Ambassadors of Tolerance.

— Friday, 8/21/2015, 6:00 PM, House of History (21 Pijarska str)
A meeting called “Every victim has a name” took place These words are the title of a book by Mrs Ewa Koper, who is a guide in the Bełżec Museum. The book tells the fate of individual victims of the camp and shows that each one of them not only had a name, but also a family, their own life, dreams and desires, that were brutally taken away during the Holocaust.

— Saturday, 8/22/2015, 6:30 PM, House of History (21 Pijarska str)
To live, as though everything is a miracle – was a title of a meeting with Markus Lustig (one of the last Jewish citizens of Sącz, who survived the ghetto) and with his family. Markus told us about his life, hard experiences of war, love to his family town and region and his great affection towards life, that he constantly feels and that he shares with everything around him.

Markus also agreed to meet with the Ambassadors on Tuesday 25.08. in the House of History, so that they could talk to him about the pre-war world of the Shtetl of Tsanz, that is gone and lingers on only in the memory of people like him.

— Sunday, 8/23/2015, 7:30 PM (meeting place – the Town Hall)
A walk entitled “A path I will never forget” – we’ve heard about the last walk of Jewish inhabitants of Sącz from Artur Franczak and Łukasz Połomski.
The walk ended on the 3 Maja square, where at 8.15 PM the Memory Appeal began. the appeal was accompanied by – apart from official speeches of exceptional guests – also by a touching performance by the Young Ambassadors of Tolerance.
At 9 PM in the Evangelical-Augsburg Church a moving play was staged.
A REHEARSAL, based on the motifs of the “Post office” by Rabindranath Tagore performed by Nomina Rosae Theatre, directed by Jan Korwin Kochanowski. The same play was staged by Janusz Korczak with his pupils two weeks before the Warsaw ghetto liquidation.

The commemoration ceremonies were organized by The Shtetl of Tsanz (Nomina Rosae Foundation) and Voivodship Public Pedagogical Library in collaboration with the House of History, Evangelical-Augsburg Parish and Beskid Hotel.

Artistic performances accompanying the ceremonies were organized as a part of Young Ambassadors of Tolerance project, organized within the Citizens for Democracy programme, financed by the EEA funds.