Source: Text – Alon Goldman, Photographs – Krzysztof Straus and Malgorzata Kaim

A large crowd attended the ceremony, commemorating the 81st anniversary of the liquidation of the Częstochowa Jewish Ghetto, held in front of the Jewish memorial monument on Samuel Willenberg Square.

This is the place from where trains departed, transporting 40,000 Jews from Częstochowa to their deaths in Treblinka extermination camp.

The ceremony also attended by representatives from several Częstochowa schools and of the Straż Miejska (Municipal Guard). Students from the Częstochowa Juliusz Słowacki Liceum Ogólnokształcące performed musical items.

Source: Alon Goldman

For many years, students of Juliusz Słowacki Liceum Ogólnokształcące in Częstochowa, under the leadership of Director Malgorzata Kaim, have been involved in activities aimed at preserving the Jewish heritage of Częstochowa.

On 20th September 2023, a two-part event was held to mark the conclusion of the “Miła 18” Project conducted by the school’s students.

Words: Alon Goldman, The Matzevah Foundation Photos: Asia Sidorowicz

On an almost annual basis, Alon Goldman, Vice-President of the World Society of Częstochowa Jews & Their Descendants and Chairman of the Association of Częstochowa Jews is Israel, has organised and led a clean-up of the Częstochowa Jewish cemetery. Over time, Alon has been joined by volunteers from various organisations, both adults and young people in this holy work.

At this year’s work’s end, Alon Goldman said:

One of the main factors of success is due to Piotr Sadowski,who joined us for the week with his chainsaw. Throughout the week, without any problems, he very successfully dealt with the cutting of the trunks which, for many years, had fallen onto the ground, fallen onto gravestones. The broken branches and the bushes had blocked the a pathway and access to the area and the tombstones within it. Thank you Piotr!

The work is not finished and now, when I get home, thanks to the photos taken by Asia Sidorowicz, I will begin checking which of the uncovered tombstones appear on the map and what needs to be updated.

To all the students and teachers of Częstochowa high schools, who came and participated in the cleaning work of the cemetery – a huge thank you!

To my dear friends, from The Matzevah Fundation and its Chairman Pastor Dr. Steven D. Reece and the volunteer Romero sisters and Paweł Kulig of the “Guardians of Remembrance” – thank you friends!

Thank you also to:

For 2023, the work is done – Kol Ha’Kavod to you all!

If you would like to donate to help support the future work of cleaning the Częstochowa Jewish cemetery, details appear at the bottom of this page.

DAY 1: Monday, 12th June 2023

The 2023 major clean-up of the Częstochowa Jewish Cemetery is underway! This year, volunteers from The Matzevah Foundation and Steven D. Reece and the Fundacja Chrześcijańska Adullam (Adullam Foundation) were joined by students of the Zespół Szkół Ekonomicznych (Economics High School).

The sides of the main pathway trail were quickly filled with fallen tree trunks which had been cut into pieces to enable removal from the cemetery. In some cases, the removal of branches and bushes revealed hid graves. In some places, for the first time, it was possible to see the cemetery fence from the pathway.

During the works, several unfamiliar graves – some hidden in dirt and some having fallen face-down. Very carefully, these were uncovered.

DAY 2: Tuesday, 13th June 2020

This morning, students from the Częstochowa Technical High School (Zespół Szkół Technicznych) joined in the work. Today, much of the work was concentrated in the area to the left of the cemetery entrance.

The challenge was to clear the wall of the bushes which covered gravestones and prevented free passage between the graves and the wall. From the morning, Piotr Sadowski resolutely wielded his saw, pruning the tangled wild bushes and the fallen tree trunks which blocked the passage

Volunteers from the Adulam Foundation, The Matzevah Foundation and the high school students dragged the branches and tree trunks, creating piles to be cleared or shredded.

In the afternoon, World Society friends Paweł Andrecki, Krzysztof Straus and other good people from Częstochowa joined in the work and helped with two more chain saws. The melody of the saws successfully dealing with the wild vegetation was music to the ears. The two new wheelbarrows, which were purchased yesterday, were put to work at top speed and were used in moving the tree trunks to the pathway in order to be removed.

During the day, we were visited by the head of the Municipal Education Department, Rafał Piotrowski, who came to ensure that everything was fine and that his students were doing their job to the best of their ability – and indeed they were!

Tomorrow, around twenty-five students from Dartmouth University Hillel will join in the work. This evening, they were told a little of the history of the Częstochowa Jews and what work will await them  on the morrow

DAY 3: Wednesday, 14th June 2023

The clean-up work in the Częstochowa Jewish Cemetery continued with volunteers from the Adulam Foundation, The Matzevah Foundation and students from the General Sikorski Technical Science High School.

DAY 4: Thursday, 15th June 2023

Today, we farewelled our friend Pastor Steven D. Reece and the volunteers of The Matzevah Foundation and welcomed another friend, Paweł Kulig from the Guardians of Remembrance of Łódź.

Pawel, an expert in cleaning Jewish cemeteries, is routinely involved in cleaning the large Łódż Jewish Cemetery and came to help us in our work.

Robert Kamela and the volunteers of the Fundacja Chrześcijańska Adullam of Częstochowa and the students from Dartmouth University Hillel from the USA are finishing their work with us today. However, also today, we were joined by students of the Zespół Szkół Przemysłu Mody i Reklamy im. W.S. Reymonta (W.S.Raymont School of Fashion and Advertising).

Following yesterday’s rain, the sun smiled on our work. More and more area is being exposed and the bushes which, for many years, covered gravestones, are piled up where the shredding machine turns them into mulch.

More and more gravestones are being uncovered, photographed. At a later time, they will be checked to see if they are in our records.

DAY 5: Friday, 16th June 2023

Words: Alon Goldman, The Matzevah Foundation Photos: Asia Sidorowicz

A ceremony was held, at the Częstochowa Jewish Cemetery, to consecrate the three restored mass graves of Częstochowa Jewish intelligentsia who were murdered by the Nazis, at the cemetery, during Purim, on 20th March 1943.

To learn more about the circumstances surrounding these murders, click HERE.

Words: Alon Goldman Pictures: Krzysztof Strauss

This week, the clean-up work at the Częstochowa Jewish Cemetery continued with aid from the Nissenbaum Family Foundation.

Responding to a request from World Society Vice-President Alon Goldman, a team of skilled workers from the Foundation spent two days working at our Cemetery – and they worked wonders!

The Nissenbaum Family Foundation was founded in 1983, with the aim of saving Jewish testimonies and heritage in Poland. It was the first foundation established in Poland after World War II and, for years, its activities have been focused on the restoration and protection of Jewish cemeteries throughout Poland.

We sincerely thank Gidon Nissenbaum and Wojciech Łygaś
for their positive response to our request to lend us such an important helping hand.

The next work week will take place between 12th-16th June 2023. During that week, Alon Goldman will be assisted by Pastor Steven Reece and volunteers from the MATZEVAH Foundation from the USA, Pawel Kulig and volunteers from the Guardians of Remembrance Foundation from Lodz, our friends the volunteers of Fundacja Chrześcijańska Adullam of Częstochowa and students from Częstochowa high schools.

Source:: Alon Goldman

This year’s first concentrated cleaning work at the Częstochowa Jewish cemetery took place on 22nd-25th May 2023.  The work was a joint operation involving the Association of Częstochowa Jews in Israel, the City of Częstochowa and the city’s Education Department, a collaboration which began in June 2022.

Around one  hundred students, from four Częstochowa high schools participated in the concentrated work : General Anders High School,  Jan Kochanowski High School, K. Puławski Mechanics and Electrical High School and the Automotive Professions High School.

The purpose of the project and the involvement of the students was not only to clean the cemetery, but also to allow the youth of Częstochowa to learn about Częstochowa’s multicultural history and the contribution of the city’s Jewish community in the life of the city and its development over the years.  As part of the project, the students also received a lecture on the subject from the historian Wiesław Paszkowski.

This week of work could not have come to fruition without the efforts of several dear friends of the World Society: Rafał Piotrowski – head of the Education Department of the City of Częstochowa, Izabela Sobańska-Klekowska – Chair of the Częstochowa branch of the TSKŻ, Cr. Jolanta Urbańska – Deputy Chair of the Częstochowa City Council and advisor to the Mayor on Jewish community issues, Elżbieta Ferenc – Director of the Adullam Foundation of Częstochowa; Iwona Brzezowska  – Principal of General Anders High School and Robert Kamela of the Adullam Foundation from Częstochowa.

Our sincere thanks to all the students and teachers who took part in this activity. 
Your involvement is greatly appreciated and is not to be taken for granted.

The next work week will take place between 12th-16th June 2023. This week, Alon Goldman will be assisted by Pastor Steven Reece and volunteers from the MATZEVAH Foundation from the USA, Pawel Kulig and volunteers from the Guardians of Remembrance Foundation from Lodz, our friends the volunteers of Fundacja Chrześcijańska Adullam of Częstochowa and students from Częstochowa high schools.

Source: czestochowanaszemiasto.pl

Source: Izabela Sobańska-Klekowska & Jolanta Urbańska

The Częstochowa branch of the TSKŻ commemorated the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
by organising a ceremony at the Częstochowa Jewish Memorial.

Members of the Częstochowa TSKŻ were joined, in the ceremony, by representatives of local government, other organisations and schools, as well as members of the Częstochowa community.

Source: Izabela Sobańska-Klekowska

The student rally, held at the University of Warsaw on 8th March 1968, which was brutally suppressed by the communist government headed by Władysław Gomułka, turned out to be a spark which ignited one of the most complex socio-political crises in Poland’s post-War history. This crisis resulted in the pacification of Polish intellectual life and in the forced migration of 13,000 Polish Jews, who had fallen victim to the government’s brutal antisemitic campaign.

The Częstochowa TSKŻ commemorated the 55th anniversary of this event.

On 17th March 2023, members heard Częstochowa TSKŻ chairwoman, Izabela Sobańska-Klekowska deliver a lecture on “Częstochowa Echoes of March’68”. Sitting at a common table, they listened to the history of those who left Poland with a one-way passport. Discussion included the Gdańsk Railway Station in Warsaw, which was the departure point for most of those emigrants and also learned about the plaque there, which commemorates the site. Following the lecture, members recalled their friends who had left Częstochowa at that time.

On 27th March 2023, the Częstochowa TSKŻ invited its member to a lecture by historian, Wiesław Paszkowski, on “The Origins of March’68”. The event was attended by Dr Zdzisław Wolski, a member of the Polish parliament, who spoke about his friends who had left at that time, and by Ms Jolanta Urbańska, Deputy Chairwoman of the Częstochowa City Council and special advisor to the Częstochowa Mayor on the Jewish community and on Jewish affairs.

Wiesław Paszkowski spoke about the events, moods and the political situation which resulted in the mass escape, from Poland, of persecuted Jews.

Words and photographs: Alon Goldman Video: Orion TV