The book Przywracanie pamięci o trzemeszeńskich Żydach (Restoring the Memory of the Trzemeszno Jews) , 2025), a collective work by members of the Committee for the Preservation and Commemoration of the Jewish Cemetery in Trzemeszno, is the culmination of a four-year-long project carried out by this team, focused on the idea of restoring matzevot to the Jewish cemetery in Trzemeszno. Dariusz Jankowski writes about the value of this project in the introduction in the following words: “... the project had a revitalizing effect on the perception of Jewish issues; it changed mindsets, and ultimately promoted the community ... this project ... preserves cultural heritage.” The above “change in mindset” seems to me to be the highlight of this entire undertaking.
For over 20 years, dozens of matzevot fragments excavated during sidewalk renovation works in the city were treated as a “problem” that no one knew how to handle, so the safest (most convenient?) solution was to do nothing. Importantly, this situation is also presented in the book, and by a long-time co-manager of the city, which speaks in favor of the objectivity of this publication (it is not anybody’s “propaganda mouthpiece”). The “change in thinking” about the found matzevot to a more friendly one matured for years. In retrospect, it can be said that Maciej Adamski, a local history teacher, contributed significantly to this change. In 2014, as a city councilor, he publicly raised at a City Council session the issue of building a lapidarium from the found matzevot, and, together with his students, prepared the first comprehensive discussion of the history of the Jews of Trzemeszno (excerpts of which are included in the book). An equally important event for the “change in thinking” about the history of the town regarded as a “Catholic-Polish monolith” was the historical novel by Jolanta Sroczyńska-Pietz, also a local history teacher, entitled The Shadow of the sundial, published in 2019, depicting the multicultural, multi-faith Catholic-Jewish-Evangelical community of Trzemeszno in the 19th century (the Evangelical cemetery still exists on the outskirts of the town and, unfortunately, is still waiting to be taken care of).
In the spring of 2021, news broke that the found matzevot had “landed” (it is not known why, because no one has admitted to the decision to move them there) at the local Municipal Waste Sorting Center, i.e., simply at a garbage dump; it moved many people and mobilized local media editors (future members of the aforementioned Committee) to create the first photographic documentation. Thanks to the translations of the inscriptions made pro bono by Dr. Sławomir Pastuszka, a Jewish studies scholar, researcher, and caretaker of many Jewish cemeteries in Poland, especially in Silesia, and my initial archival research (including registry books) we learned the identities of the people who were buried in the Jewish cemetery in Trzemeszno, and from whose graves the Germans took the matzevot during the war to use them as curbs for sidewalks. Such were the beginnings of this project. In the book, you can read about the entire project and its side effects (such as the promotion of the town, as mentioned above).
I became involved in the creation of this publication because I believed in its value as a “guidebook.” It shows one of the ways in which the goal of saving the multicultural heritage of our small homelands can be achieved. This project is proof that grassroots initiatives by ordinary residents of a city, town, or village can be effective, especially when they do not encounter resistance from local authorities.
Four years ago, I was completely “green” when it came to protecting this heritage, and I had no idea where to start or who to turn to for help. I am sure that readers of this book who are in a similar situation will find answers to many of their questions and gain confidence in the success of saving similar structures and places in their area. I wish them the best with all my heart.
I have repeatedly stated on various occasions (in my articles) that the so-called Jewish heritage is our national cultural heritage. And that the foundation of protecting this heritage is not only its acceptance, but also its recognition as their own by local communities where these historic buildings and sites are located. Wealthy donors from around the world – assuming such can be found - in the vast majority of cases, will not take direct care of these sites.
Therefore, the attitude of the authorities in Trzemeszno, who take care of the Jewish cemetery, is worthy of emulation. And these are not exaggerated words. Especially now, when people of ill will, or those who are not very wise, or manipulated by others, spread hatred towards everything related to “Jewishness,” mixing history with contemporary politics. As Dr. Sławomir Pastuszka once told me in an interview for Wiez.pl: “A person in a grave is defenseless. If we were to attack a person in a wheelchair, they would have some chance of defending themselves. However, the deceased cannot defend themselves, they will not shout that they need help, they will not ask for their gravestone to be repaired. It is up to us to take the initiative to take care of this.”
Those buried in the Jewish cemetery in Trzemeszno were citizens of that town, and after 1918 they were also citizens of Poland; they paid taxes and contributed to the commercial development of the town and the region. The Holocaust deprived their graves of their natural guardians, who would have been their descendants. None of the 39 Jewish residents of Trzemeszno who were caught here by the war survived. They are commemorated by a plaque hung on a monument made of the surviving matzevot, created – like the book – with the financial support of the Jewish Historical Institute Association in Poland. Incidentally, it was the main funder of all the work on the cemetery, so it is not true that “Jews do not care about their heritage,” as is often claimed. However, the Jewish community in Poland is too small to take care of all Jewish cemeteries or objects belonging to this heritage, referred to as “Jewish.”
I am glad that the community of Trzemeszno, from which I come, gives such a beautiful, ecumenical witness.
Agnieszka Kostuch
Przywracanie pamięci o trzemeszeńskich Żydach (Restoring the Memory of the Trzemeszno Jews) ,collective work edited by D. Jankowski, Trzemeszno 2025.
Translated by Kasia Smialkowski