Dear Friends of Nasielsk! Shana Tova and G'mar Chatima Tova. I hope this update finds you all safe and healthy at the start of a new year! In the past year, the work of the Nasielsk Society has developed in dramatic ways, bringing heightened awareness of the history of Nasielsk’s Jewish community to the local residents in Nasielsk and to audiences around the world. I am delighted to share these remarkable achievements, which reflect the commitment and hard work of the members of our group and which highlight the importance of the relationships we have developed with members of the Nasielsk community over the past decade. At the same time, a recent episode demonstrates the need to continue and expand the educational work we have begun with our partners in Nasielsk. So much has happened since my last update. Here are highlights, followed by details and photos below.
After the ceremony, we were treated to the culmination of “This is Our Common History,” the year-long, K-through-12 curriculum for local students focused on Jewish history and culture, created by a team of educators in Nasielsk and led by our friend Olga Ickiewicz.
To cap the day, we screened the documentary film, “Three Minutes—A Lengthening,” based on David Kurtz’s 1938 home movie and informed by my book, Three Minutes in Poland, to a full house at Nasielsk’s Kino Niwa.
Also in May, “Three Minutes—A Lengthening” was awarded the inaugural Yad Vashem Award for Excellence in Holocaust Documentary Filmmaking at the DocAviv Film Festival in Tel Aviv. The film was released in U.S. theaters on August 19 and played in cinemas nationwide. It is now available to stream on Apple TV and Amazon Prime, bringing the history of the Jewish community of Nasielsk to audiences around the world.
Our educational program in Nasielsk continues! The marvelous team of educators in Nasielsk, building on last year’s program in Jewish history and culture, has proposed a new project to develop the high school students’ work into a self-guided tour of important sites related to the town’s Jewish history. This is a great opportunity for you to participate! See below for more information.
Memorial Gate Dedication Ceremony
On Monday, May 16, 2022, more than one hundred people gathered at Nasielsk’s Jewish cemetery to dedicate the Memorial Gate. The Memorial, which incorporates windows from the great Synagogue of Nasielsk recovered in 2019, was installed in March 2021, but our dedication was delayed by the pandemic. The ceremony was the thus the culmination of many years of patient work.
Many members of the Nasielsk Society traveled to Poland to be present for the ceremony, including: Michael Valihora, Barb and Allen Wilen, Arie Yagoda, Marsha Raimi, Zach and Yonina Rothblatt, Yossi Ratowski, and Murray and Shoshana Joseph (left). We were joined by numerous friends and partners, including Przemek Panasiuk, Director of Operations for the Matzevah Foundation; our indefatigable project manager Kasia Sosnowska Gizińska; and Monika and Paulina Dudkiewicz, descendants of Helena Jagodzińska, the Polish woman who helped Maurice Chandler to survive and who has been named Righteous Among the Nations.
Dignitaries from Nasielsk and around the region marked the significance of the event with heartfelt speeches. We heard from Nasielsk’s Mayor Bogdan Ruszkowski (below left); Piotr Puchta (below right), Director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland (FODŻ); Nasielsk’s Secretary Marek Maluchnik; Rabbi Yehoshua Ellis of the Rabbinical Council of Poland; Nasielsk’s priest; and several regional officials. The ceremony concluded with Weronika Rogalska, a 10th grade student in Nasielsk, whose essay about survivor Gloria Rubin was a finalist in the 23rd Annual Chapman University Holocaust Art and Writing Contest.
The ceremony was extremely moving. The speakers all emphasized the importance of remembering not only the fate of Nasielsk’s Jewish community, but also the hundreds of years during which our ancestors formed a vital and vibrant part of Nasielsk’s communal life.
Many stressed the importance of the new bond of friendship and cooperation that today joins the local community and the descendants of Nasielsk’s Jewish community, enriching both the town’s cultural life and granting descendants a meaningful relationship with our ancestral home.
We are grateful to Mayor Ruszkowski, who has been our partner and supporter since 2015, and who welcomed us again with warmth and Andrzej Folwarczny, President and CEO of the Forum, and the Forum’s amazing staff, including Olga Kaczmarek, Director General; Hanna Gospodarczyk, Project Coordinator; and Marta Usiekniewicz, Communications Coordinator.
For ten years, the Forum has shared with us their wisdom, advice, and assistance, and they have conducted two Schools of Dialogue with the students in Nasielsk, helping build awareness in the community of the importance of its Jewish past. And their magnificent reception for our group in Warsaw following the week’s events was a highlight of the trip!
Here’s coverage of our visit from the Forum for Dialogue, and here is coverage of the dedication ceremony in Nasielsk’s newspaper. My remarks are posted in my previous blog.
"This is Our Common History": Nasielsk’s Educational Program in Jewish History and Culture
After the dedication ceremony, we enjoyed an entertaining and emotional musical and dramatic program, created by the students, focusing on the history of the town’s Jewish community and embracing Nasielsk’s multi-cultural past. The extravaganza included songs from “Fiddler on the Roof” sung in Polish, traditional Polish songs and dances performed by the kindergarteners, and a skit based on Isaac Bashevis Singer’s “The Demon.”
The kids did an amazing job! We applaud the teachers, who dedicated their hearts and talents to making the program such a beautiful tribute to our shared past.
Following the program, high school students who had participated in the School of Dialogue led us on a guided tour of important sites in the town’s Jewish history.
We visited the cemetery, the former Yeshiva founded by David Leib Szmerlak, which now serves as Nasielsk’s high school; the site of the synagogue; the home of Maurice Chandler’s family; and the site of the former Filar button factory, which now features a strikingly beautiful
mural created on local initiative by artist Kinga Szczypek, commemorating the factory and its Jewish owners.
Following the students’ presentation, our friend, the historian Stanisław Tyc (right), gave the group a guided tour of Nasielsk’s new History Museum, which includes a display dedicated to the history of the Jewish community.
As the fitting conclusion of our visit with the students, on Tuesday, May 17, members of our group spent time with several school classes, including those participating in the Forum for Dialogue’s School of Dialogue. Zach Rothblatt gave a presentation of his family’s history in Nasielsk, going back
seven generations. His gifts to the group— t-shirts with “Nasielsk” written in Hebrew—were a big hit, as was ice cream with Michael, Marsha, Barb and Allen.
For those of us who were privileged to meet and speak with the students and to share the fruits of their work, the visit fully rewarded our group’s many years of effort to have the significant role of the Jewish community recognized and honored as an integral part of Nasielsk’s history.
“Three Minutes—A Lengthening”
On the evening of the memorial dedication ceremony, we held a special screening of the documentary film, “Three Minutes—A Lengthening,” based on David Kurtz’s 1938 home movie of his return visit to Nasielsk, and informed by my book, Three Minutes in Poland, in Nasielsk’s Kino Niwa. The film is directed by Bianca Stigter, co-produced by Academy A ward-winner Steve McQueen, and narrated by Helena Bonham Carter.
The site of the event was significant: The Kino Niwa was already in operation in 1938, and survivors Maurice Chandler and Leslie Glodek recalled sneaking in as children to watch their first movies.
Following the screening, director Bianca Stigter and I held a Q&A session and the reaction was stirring. The audience was powerfully moved by the screening, with numerous audience members in tears.
There was a sense of wonder and appreciation that this history, which was not available for discussion and study during the Communist years, is now a lively topic for members of the community. They were eager to discuss the stories and recollections that had come down through their families about the Jewish community, including the day of the deportation.
Members of the audience expressed enormous gratitude that Nasielsk and its history was receiving attention in the wider world. The Mayor said that David Kurtz's 1938 film was one of the most important documents in the history of Nasielsk. Here is a link to the Q&A.
“Three Minutes—A Lengthening” premiered one year ago at the Venice Film Festival. Since then, it has played for audiences at film festivals around the world and at theaters across the United States.
At the end of May 2022, “Three Minutes—A Lengthening” was awarded the inaugural Yad Vashem Award for Excellence in Holocaust Documentary Filmmaking at the DocAviv Film Festival in Tel Aviv. This is a singular and deeply meaningful honor. Director Bianca Stigter very generously donated the prize money to the Nasielsk Society. Thank you, Bianca!
“Three Minutes—A Lengthening” has also received Best Documentary awards at the Dublin International Film Festival and the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival and has been long-listed for the European Academy Awards and the Netherlands Film Academy’s “Golden Calf Award.”
The film has received widespread publicity and coverage in national and international media, bringing the history of Nasielsk’s Jewish community to audiences around the world. You can read some of the wonderful reviews: here: The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Time Magazine, CNN, BBC, NPR’s “All Things Considered” and “Fresh Air.”
You can view the trailer here. If you are interested in seeing the film or in bringing it to your local community, please contact the U.S. distributor, Super Ltd., using this website.
For me and other members of the group, the two days in Nasielsk surrounding the dedication of the Memorial Gate and the screening of the documentary, felt like the fulfilment, beyond anything we had imagined possible, of our long-held hopes to honor Nasielsk’s Jewish community and to build lasting ties with the town’s current residents.
Marsha Raimi expresses what the trip meant to her: “It may sound a bit corny and I've never said this before, but the trip was a life-changing experience for me. I was overwhelmed by the reception we received in Nasielsk, and all the work the town has done to recognize its Jewish descendants in the diaspora. For me, there were two moments that really connected me to my ancestors: seeing the film in the Kino and adding my button to the mural on the button factory.” Thank you, Marsha, for joining us in this work, and thank you to all who helped to make these powerful and meaningful events possible.
Nasielsk’s Educational Program Continues!
Building on the tremendous work the teachers and students did in the first year of Nasielsk’s educational program in Jewish culture, the educators are applying for a grant this year to create a self-guided tour of significant sites in Nasielsk’s Jewish history. Following QR codes through the town, visitors will be able to access text, audio and video explaining the history and telling stories related to specific sites in town, including the cemetery, the synagogue, the Yeshiva, the Filar button factory, and many private homes. I encourage you to participate in this remarkable program. Your family history can become an accessible part of the story of Nasielsk, so visitors can gain personal insight into the life and fate of its Jewish community. Please email Olga directly if you would like more information: <olgaickiewicz@wp.pl>.
The Nasielsk Society is dedicated to supporting this educational initiative and the teachers who have created it. The teachers’ commitment to this program is the realization of our long-held hope that the history of Nasielsk's Jewish community would receive recognition as part of the local history and would be studied, honored, and remembered by the next generation and generations to come.
Vandalism of the Memorial Gate
Finally, some disturbing news, which demonstrates the need for us to continue our efforts. In the first week September, someone vandalized the Memorial Gate, breaking the glass panels in the windows recovered from Nasielsk’s great synagogue. The incident was reported by Nasielsk Society member Yossi Ratowski. Mayor Ruszkowski responded immediately to this deplorable act, promising to repair the damage and to install security cameras at the site. He has also directed local police to investigate the crime and to increase their visible presence at the site. Members of the community have spoken up to condemn the act, and a report appeared in Nasielsk’s newspaper.
Here is the statement I issued on behalf of the Nasielsk Society:
The descendants of Nasielsk's Jewish community condemn this act of vandalism in the strongest terms. The Memorial Gate was dedicated in May 2022 on behalf of Jewish citizens of Nasielsk, who lived and died in Nasielsk for hundreds of years. This was our home, and the Memorial marks the resting place of our ancestors. It is sacred ground, as sacred to us as the Church and its graveyard are to the Christian citizens of Nasielsk. We are outraged by this senseless crime. Above all, we are saddened by this attack on the good work and the good will of so many people in Nasielsk and around the world, who have joined together to preserve and honor Nasielsk's Jewish history. We are grateful to Mayor Ruszkowski for his prompt and sympathetic response. And we invite the residents of Nasielsk to join us in condemning this crime and in continuing the necessary work of education, remembrance, and reconciliation.
This incident is heartbreaking. Perhaps we are tempted to respond that it was inevitable, or that it shows the hopelessness of working to change attitudes and engage with the local community. I disagree. I believe the community’s response shows the effect of the work we have been doing. People in Nasielsk have expressed the feeling that this is an act of vandalism against the town itself and its values, not just against us. They have responded by underscoring their support for us and our mission and for our shared desire to foster mutual respect. To me, the town’s response demonstrates the necessity for us to continue our support for educational programs and to continue building relationships of trust and friendship with the town’s citizens and leaders.
Fundraising
Your financial support is critical to the future of these educational efforts. The events of the past few months clearly demonstrate that our decade of work in Nasielsk has not only had a long-term effect on the cultural attitudes of the town, they have also helped many of us to restore a sense of connection with our past and given a sense of purpose to our remembrance. To all of you who have donated to the work of the Nasielsk Society, thank you. To date, your contributions have supported the educational program; been used to design, build, install, and dedicate the Memorial; and do partial grounds-keeping at the cemetery. Looking ahead, funds will be used to: design, build, and install a fence around the cemetery property, and continue to support educational programming in Nasielsk. With your help, we are making a difference, preserving and honoring the memory of our ancestors and assisting Nasielsk’s teachers in bringing Jewish history and culture to the next generation. To those who have not yet contributed, I urge you to do so. The preservation of Nasielsk’s Jewish history is in your hands. WE CAN’T DO THIS WITHOUT YOU! The Nasielsk Society for Remembrance and Reconciliation has established its official 501(c)(3) status and can now issue receipts for tax-deductible contributions. With the advent of our website, you can now contribute through PayPal. Just go to Nasielsksociety.org and click Donate! If you prefer, make your check payable to The Nasielsk Society and mail to: The Nasielsk Society c/o Glenn Kurtz 2323 Laguna Street Apt. 401 San Francisco, CA 94115 Thank you all for your support. Glenn
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