For years now the students from our school have been taking care of the Jewish cemetery in Jasienica Rosielna. During WWII there was a ghetto in Jasienica, to which the Jewish population of the area was taken. on the 10th of August1942 the Germans murdered around 600 Jews in the cemetery. They were buried in a mass grave. Maztevot were destroyed and used to harden roads. Presently there is a memorial plate in the cemetery remembering the tragedy of the Jewish population here. Nearby the memorial plate some few fragments of old maztevot have been collected. The cemetery grounds are surrounded by trees. The local authorities take care of the grass mowing, the students regularly visit the cemetery and clean the plates round the mass grave and light candles.

On the 2nd of March a group of students taking part in the programme visited nearby Brzozow. First we visited the old Jewish cemetery. The cemetery is enclosed by a fence on which there is the symbol of Judaism- The Star of David . Inside there are many fragments of shattered matzevot and only one which has survived intact. Mrs Kaznowska later told us more about the history of the cemetery.

Our next destination was the local Regional Museum of A. Fastnacht, at which there is an exposition on the Jews from Brzozow and the surrounding area. Mrs Kaznowska told us on the history of the Jewish settlements in our region, about the religion and tradition of the Jews, and above all about the extermination of the Jews during the war in our region. We also found out that the Jewish cemetery in Brzozow was destroyed by the Germans during the war, and the shattered maztevot were used by them to build roads and even public toilets. To further degrade the Jews, the Germans forced them to carry out these works. After the war the toilets were taken apart and the remaining fragments of the maztevot were collected in the wood by the mass grave dating back to the war ( the mass murder was carried out by the Germans just as it had been in Jasienice, in August 1942. over 1000 people were murdered ) Later on the saved matzevot fragments were taken to the former Jewish cemetery where they can be found to this day.

We also went to the nearby forest to visit the mass grave and light candles. There is a monument on the site of the mass grave founded and designed by Mr Natan Weiss, one of the few surviving Jews of Bzrozow. Nearly the whole of Mr Natan Weiss’ family is buried in the mass grave. We also visited a monument built in the memory of the events that took place in 1942 which is near the mass grave, by the Brzozow- Malinowka road. During this school year a group of students from our middle school took part in a competition organized by the Shalom foundation and wrote a piece of work on the theme of “ On Common Ground”- the history and culture of the Polish Jews.» back