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Our Itinerary in Poland     

Our Ohr Yisrael  Poland trip ”4th journey in Conjunction with JRoots was led by Rabbi Garson “

Covering Sunday 22nd – Tuesday 24th May 2011 Sunday 22nd May when

we flew to Krakow then to Auschwitz/Birkenau, Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest of Nazi Germany's

concentration camps and extermination camps, operational during World War II. Following the German

Invasion of Poland in September 1939, Oświęcim was annexed by Nazi Germany and renamed

Auschwitz, Auschwitz killed between 1.1 – 1.3 million, about 90% of whom were Jews from almost every

country in Europe. Most victims were killed in Auschwitz II's gas chambers using Zyklon B.

Then drive to Krakow and the Jewish quarter of Kaziemierz weToured  Kaziemierz - Kaziemierz, the

former Jewish quarter in Krakow, comprises the most intact and significant collection of Jewish buildings

in Central Europe today. The area includes seven remaining synagogues (the Alte, Remuh, High, Popper,

Isaac, Kupa and Tempel synagogues), the extensive old and new Jewish cemeteries, Jewish streets

with remains of Hebrew and Yiddish inscriptions, market places, and numerous other buildings of Jewish

significance, such as Yeshivot, Jewish orphanages, hospital buildings, etc we had dinner with a Righteous

amongst the Nation vernight was in Tarnow

Monday 23rd May Breakfast Drive to Tarnow - The last member of the small post-war Jewish community

here died in 1993, which meant the movement of the prayer room interior to the regional museum. A

monument marks the deportation of the first prisoners to Auschwitz from the town in 1940. Many other

sites of Jewish interest remain, including the 1904 mikveh building, the famous Bimah, a plaque marking

the site of the New Synagogue, Goldhammer Street, and the Jewish cemetery. Zbilatovska Gura –

Site of mass murder site of the Tarnow Jews. Continue to Lancut -The former synagogue from 1761 was

completely overhauled in the 1980s and has been stunningly restored, with wall decorations from

18th and 19th centuries. The Jewish cemetery also still remains. We stopped at

the Ohel of the Holy Ropshitzer Rav.

Tuesday 24th May Continue to Belzec - The Nazis commenced construction of Belzec in November 1941,

as a result of Aktion Reinhard - the Nazi plan to exterminate two million Jews in the Generalgouvernement.

In total, 600,000 people, mostly Jews and a few hundred gypsies, were murdered at Belzec

Return to the area of Rzezow stopping at Lizensk - This is still an important Chasidic center

today, as the ohel of Reb Elimelich of Lezajsk attracts pilgrims from around the world, making the

surviving cemetery one of the largest sites of Jewish pilgrimage in Poland. The former synagogue and

yeshiva buildings also remain, and in 1990 a new mikveh was opened. Dinner and Overnight in Rzezow

Breakfast

Drive to Rymanov

The first Jewish families settled in Rymanow in the second half of the 16th century, At the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries Rymanów became an important Hasidism centre with Rav Menachem Mendel, a talmid of the Noam Elimelech moving to the town.In 1900 the Jewish community numbered 2,861 people, In the period between the wars, over 80% of the trade businesses belonged to Jews. The Nazis took over Rymanów on the 9th of September, 1939. One of the soldiers from the 7th Waffen Mountain Division recalled this moment as follows: […] We expelled all the inhabitants capable to serve in the army to the market square. It is a scene difficult to describe. 90 men are of Jewish origin, by looks, genuine Lebanon

merchandise. And here they are: this gibbering nation, raising their hands up and begging: “Messrs Germans, let us live, spare our lives, Messrs Germans!” The Holocaust of the Rymanów Jews started on the 1st of August, 1942. This day all healthy men, aged between 15 and 35 were taken to the camp in Płaszów. The most numerous group was led to the railway station and transported to BełŜec.

We will continue to Bobow and then back to Krakow Over the bridge from Kazimierz is the former WWII ghetto, situated in the Podgorze area of the city, where traces of the ghetto wall can still be found, as well asSchindler's ‘Emalia’ enamel factory.

Dinner

Drive to airport

A fifth trip is currently in the planning for 5772 (2012)

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