2025 Częstochowa Jewish Cemetery Clean-Up is Done
Sources: Alon Goldman, Asia Sidorowicz, Pawel Kulig, Kasia Ryś, Piotr Merenda, Szymon Browarski
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.
DAY 1: Wednesday, 21st May 2025
The preparations are over and this morning we started the first day of work. The weather smiled on us today.
As every year, the Adullam Foundation from Częstochowa (Fundacja Chrześcijańska Adullam) and its director, Elżbieta Ferenc, have joined our work. On each of the five working days, 8-10 of their volunteers take care of all the logistical arrangements.
Today, they were joined by about forty students from General Anders High School in Częstochowa. A senior school teacher, Kasia Ryś, said that “for the students, working at the cemetery was a great experience. It was an opportunity to learn about the cemetery’s history as an integral part of our city. The young people also had the opportunity to show their commitment, which contributes to restoring this place to its former glory”.
Our friend Pawel Kulig, from the Guardians of Memory (Strażnicy Pamięci) also helped with today’s work. He has extensive experience in cleaning Jewish cemeteries, due to his work at the Jewish cemetery in Łódź.
Throughout this year’s cleaning, the work is overseen by our friend Robert Kamela from the Adullam Foundation.
The work focused on removing fallen or overturned tree trunks, which were cut down a few weeks ago by professional loggers, and on moving bushes and branches to the shredder.
During the day, we were surprised to discover that, despite the neglect, there is interest in the cemetery – a class of students from Elementary School No. 3 from Kiedrzyn near Częstochowa came to visit the Cemetery, as did historian Wiesław Paszkowski with a group of Częstochowa retirees.
DAY 2: Thursday, 22nd May 2025
The second day’s work ended successfully today and, like yesterday, the weather was again kind to us.
Today, the volunteers from the Adullam Foundation (Fundacja Chrześcijańska Adullam) were joined by students from the Częstochowa Economic Schools Complex (Zespół Szkół Ekonmicznych w Częstochowa).
The students and volunteers were busy removing tree trunks, which had been cut down a few weeks ago by professional loggers, taking the branches and bushes to the shredder,which we have rented for the work, and to the path from which they will be removed at the end of the work.
DAY 3: Friday, 23rd May 2025
Today,about sixty-five volunteers from the Adulam Foundation (Fundacja Chrześcijańska Adulam) were joined by students from the Bolesław Prus Vocational High School. They continued working on the previously prepared plots, taking the felled trees, bushes and branches out onto the path for clearing and shredding.
In a plot of about 100 square meters, we’re conducting an ecological plant control experiment, without the use of chemicals. Ecological sheets were covered with shredded branches. In a few months, we will find out whether this is a solution for the control of wild plants in open areas and between the tombstones.
Today, Uri Heller, a young Israeli who is currently in Warsaw, the grandson of Holocaust survivor Dr. Irena Talmon nee Bugajer z”l from Częstochowa, came to the city to research his roots and also joined in the work.
During the work, and with the assistance of Izabela Sobańska-Klekowska, the chair of the TSKŻ branch in Częstochowa, he also managed to find graves of his family members (Bugajer and Hatka) in the cemetery.
A film about the story of his grandmother’s miraculous rescue was screened several years ago at the Documentary Film Festival in Częstochowa and in Israel. I hope that, with the assistance of the family, it will soon be available for viewing online.
DAY 4: Monday, 26th May 2025
For a while, today, we thought that the rain that fell in the morning would stop the cleaning work. However, as the time approached for the work to begin, the rain stopped and the sky began to clear.
Today, the volunteers from the Adullam Foundation (Fundacja Chrześcijańska Adullam) were joined by students from the John Paul II Technical High School. Together, they worked non-stop, continuing to clear the area where we had carried out the preparatory work. The piles of trunks and branches, next to the path, kept growing. The branch shredder was working non-stop and, slowly, we begin to see the areas that had been hidden by dense vegetation.
DAY 5: Tuesday, 27th May 2025
Today is the fifth and final day for 2025 of the concentrated cleaning week of the Częstochowa Jewish Cemetery.
Volunteers from the Adullam Foundation (Fundacja Chrześcijańska Adullam) were joined, today, by students from the Częstochowa Kazimierz Pułaski High School of Mechanics and Electricity.
Today, work continued on the plots where professional loggers and the Nissenbaum Foundation work group had prepared the area in advance. The students were busy taking the felled tree trunks and branches onto the path for shredding and removal.
Szymon, the shredder operator, and his assistant, worked non-stop and, by the end of the day, finished shredding all the branches and only piles of shredded material remained for removal from the cemetery grounds.
Throughout the week, we enjoyed good weather, which allowed us to carry out the work without interruption. The results can be seen in the growing piles of logs and branches along the path and in the areas that are beginning to be revealed after years of having been hidden by dense vegetation.
Due to the extensive preparatory work carried out, the volume of our output this week was quite extensive. But there were still many felled logs and branches in the area to be removed,. We hope that the Częstochowa TSKŻ will continue the effort and organise volunteer days to complete the cleanup work.
As this was the final day of our 2025 clean-up, it’s appropriate to thank many people:
- our World Society Vice-President, Alon Goldman
- Elżbieta Ferenc, Director of the Adullam Foundation, for mobilising and organising its volunteer group, for caring, storing and maintaining our work tools from year to year and for supporting all the logistical aspects of the work.
- the team of volunteers from the Adullam Foundation – hardworking people with huge hearts
- Robert Kamela, of the Adulam Foundation, who in Alon Goldman’s absence, managed all the work at the cemetery, managed the Adulam Foundation volunteer team and the students, worked non-stop each day and contributed greatly to the success of the work
- Rafał Piotrowski, head of the Częstochowa Municipal Education Department, for his cooperation and for recruiting the schools and their students for our project.
- Iwona Brzezowska, Director of the General Władysław Anders High School Complex, Principal of the General Anders High School, for the contacts she made with the school principals and organising their work schedule for all the days of the week.
- the Czestochowa school principals and their students, who volunteered to help with the work and had the opportunity to learn a little about the history of the Jews of Częstochowa and their bitter fate in the Holocaust:
General W. Anders High School and its principal, Iwona Brzezowska.
Economics High School and its principal, Maciej Trzmiel.
Bolesław Prus High School and its principal, Dariusz Rataj.
Pope John Paul II High School for Technical Professions and its principal, Patrycja Rozpondek.
Kazimierz Pulaski High School and its principal, Tomasz Dobosz. - our dear friend and partner Krzysztof Straus for his commitment to the work, support, and assistance in everything that was needed.
- Izabela Sobańska-Klekowska, Chairperson of the Częstochowa branch of the TSKŻ, for her support and concern that everything would go smoothly..
- Częstochowa Deputy Mayor, Łukasz Kot, for his assistance in setting up chemical toilets for the students and the container for clearing vegetation waste and for ensuring the safety of the workers at the cemetery.
- Wojciech Łygaś and the Nissenbaum Family Foundation for the help of the professional working group they sent to carry out the preparations.
- Pawel Kulig from the “Guardians of Remembrance”, a true friend, who came to Częstochowa and helped organise the work on some days, based on his extensive experience in cleaning
the Jewish cemetery in Lodz. - The City of Częstochowa and the Mayor Krzysztof Matyjaszczyk, who, although they do not recognise their ownership of the cemetery, support my work with everything I need.
Thank you everyone and we hope to see you all again next year – or maybe even sooner!
Together, with your support, we can do much more!
!יחד עם התמיכה שלכם נוכל לעשות הרבה יותר
The Association of Częstochowa Jews in Israel supports these works by financing the purchase of tools and gloves,
as well as protection against ticks and mosquitoes.
We also hire skilled aborists and mulching machines as needed.
Together, with your support and contribution, we can do more! A donation to support our activities can be made as detailed below:
