Unveiling of the Memorial stone dedicated to the

Unveiling of the Memorial stone dedicated to the

Unveiling of the Memorial stone dedicated to the Franconian Jews by a
delegation of Franconian communal politicians on May 10th, 2007 in Izbica
(excerpt from the book by Elmar Schwinger: “From Kitzingen to Izbica. Rise and catastrophe of the Israelite
Cultural Community Kitzingen“)
The culture of remembrance awakens in the Lublin region
When the author first visited Izbica and Krasniczyn, the destinations of the spring transport of
1942 which had served as transit ghettos on the way to the extermination camps Belzec and
Sobibor, there was not a single plaque or stone placed by a public or social institution where
so many Franconian Jews met untold suffering, where many of them died or were murdered.
No outward sign told of the thousands of people deported here from many European countries
nor of the exterminated Polish-Jewish communities.
By April 1943 at the latest, the former “Schtetl” Izbica and Krasniczyn were nearly empty of
people and changed into transit ghettos, because the SS had murdered their Jewish inhabitants
in the extermination camps of Belzec and Sobibor. The Jewish cemeteries continued to exist
as silent witnesses, from where most of the tombstones had been removed or used for other
purposes than intended during the ghetto period. In Izbica the camp commander Engels used
them to build a gaol. (The Warsaw Jewish community reversed this only in 2006 when a
small memorial hall was build from the stones.) Besides local Jews many foreign deported
people rest in the cemeteries who died from diseases or malnutrition, or were victims of mass
executions which were carried out preferabely here. After the dissolution of the transit ghettos
the cemeteries were left to themselves, turning into light woodlands with underbrush, nettles
and grass. Dimly the outlines of mass graves were still visible, in Krasniczyn protected from
trespassers by dense thornbushes. Shortcuts led through those last resting-places or very
nearby. Trash left irreverently by passers-by indicated that the feeling for the dignity of the
place was lost. Particularly desolate was the Jewish cemetery in Krasniczyn where children
played and which was also abused as pasture land and a wood store.
There is only a very small number of people amongst the present inhabitants of Izbica and
Krasniczyn who lived there themselves or their parents or grandparents during the time of
ghetto. Most moved there later, mainly from former Polish Galicia which was occupied by the
Russians after the war. Not a single Jew has settled there since. With the people however
disappeared also the memory of the horrific time of ghetto; those who settled in the purlieus
of the abandoned “Schtetl” ignored the past of the community to which they had no
immediate reference. Latent antisemitism may have furthered this. Though neither in Izbica
nor in Krasniczyn there was any sign placed by politics or society commemorating the extinct
Polish-Jewish communities and the uncounted foreign victims of deportation, the visitor
would eventually find two memorials at the cemetary founded by relatives who dedicated a
stony commemoration for their murdered loved ones. A simple plaque a son erected for his
mother, a German Jewess who apparently had converted to christendom, as the cross suggests
which is placed at the left corner of the plaque.
1
Fig. 86/87 Memorial plaque by Helmut Mittermeyer for his mother Gertrude
top picture in 2001
underneath in 2004
2
The inscription:
Wanderer in der Zeit,
der du hier des Weges gehst,
verweile und bete, gedenke
derer die von faschistischen
Mördern gefoltert und gepeinigt
und im Glauben an ihren Gott
und eine bessere Welt gestorben sind.
Ihr Tod sei uns Mahnung
Für immer in memoriam
Gertrude Abt. Mitterbach 1897 - 1942
Dein Sohn Helmut
Wanderer in time
who is walking this path
bide and pray, remember
those who were tortured and tormented
by the fascistic murderers
and who died
believing in God and a better world. Their
death be us a warning
Forever in memoriam
Gertrude Abt. Mitterbach 1897 - 1942
Your son Helmut
Jacub Hersz Griner, single survivor of the large Griner family, who was able to flee as an 11year old child when his mother and sisters were shot at the Izbica cemetery, founded a stately
monument. His biography personifies the tragic complexities of the holocaust. He converted
to catholizism (in free decision, as he emphacises) accepting the new name Grzegorz
Pawlowski according to his certificate of baptism, which saved his live. In later years he
completely turned towards God and became an ordained priest. In 1970 he emigrated to Jaffa
near Tel Aviv where he ministers a small parish. Before he left he had an ready grave
prepared for himself at the cemetery of Izbica which is supposed to receive him one day. His
name and date of birth are engraved on the gravestone, only the date of death is yet to be
added. It is his heart’s desire at least to be united with his family in death, something that was
denied to him in his lifetime. Because the gravestone is located in a Jewish cemetery, the
founder forbore using the cross and instead chose the symbol of the fish. This act required the
agreement of the rabbinate in Warsaw as well as of the Polish catholic church.
Fig. 88: Cemetery at Krasniczyn
3
The visitor feels particularly sad about the fact that there are signs of repeated vandalism over
the years. The Griner memorial was damaged but also repaired, the memorial plaque for the
mother of Helmut Mitterbach seems doomed to irrecoverable decay. First, strangers knocked
out the cross, then smashed the plaque; in a few years it will be destroyed completely.
Around the turn of the century, the cemetaries in Izbica and Krasniczyn like the respective
extermination camps of Belzec and Sobibor were in a state quite unworthy of a memorial
place. This was particularly distressingly obvious in Belzec. In the early sixties, that is during
the time of the Eastern Block, an impressive monument was raised there (which doesn’t exist
any more). Attached to an giant stone panelled wall two sculptures were fixed, symbolising
victims turtured to death; next to it a dedication was written in letters of steel, which however
did not refer to the 500,000 Jews murdered there, because under the Sowjet regime
commemoration of ethnic or religious minorities was not permitted. Translated, the
inscription read: “To commemorate the victims of Hitler-terror murdered in the years 19421943”. But soon the place fell into oblivion; wild scrub spread, broken by stretches of high
grass and scars in the vegetation. The people there avoided the area located at the outskirts of
the little town of Belzec, but because of that it magically attracted young people and others
who wanted to remain unobserved. Such a visitor might find, upon exploration of the area,
broken pieces of human bones escaped from the bone mills used by the SS after the camp was
disbanded in order to abolish traces of this crime against humanity. But also remains of
barbecues, empty bottles, cigarette stubs and similar things. In comparison, the location of the
previous extermination camp Sobibor appears considerabely better looked after; over the
years a number of attempts were made by different initiatives in order to give the area a more
dignified shape. Among those are Polish authorities, Thomas Blatt and from the beginning of
the 21st century the „Bildungswerk Stanislaw Hantz“ from Kassel, Germany.
The four journeys undertaken by the author to the Lublin region at a rythm of two years,
partly in hired cars, with a translator and local experts, produced beside sad observations the
pleasant conclusion that since 2002 the culture of commemoration was moving forward.
Before that, the Maria-Konopnicka School in Izbica had taken on the care of the Jewish
Cemetery. They had collected trash, raked up the fallen leaves and within their possibilities
had restored the dignity of the location. For some time now, the school is supported in their
efforts by the „Bildungswerk Stanislaw Hantz“ from Kassel, Germany. Together, memorial
plaques were placed at the mass graves.
In June 2004, at Belzec an impressive memorial site was completed and dedicated under the
auspices of the Jewish community in Warsaw which, using stringently simple materials such
as slag, concrete and iron exerts a rather devastating impression on the visitor. Underlying the
concept is the idea of a giant graveyard, the vast fields of cinder symbolising mass graves.1
From the “ramp”, the “path of death”, the “way of no return” symbolically leads straight
through a dark, oppressive chasm to the gas chambers. “The towering walls extinguish the sky
and conjure up the terror of one of the largest graves in the world.”
Little by little the Jewish community in Warsaw re-acquired the rights of the cemeteries of the
region; the graveyard at Krasniczyn they had fenced in promptly. In November 2006, they
erected a memorial at the graveyard in Izbica, especially dedicated to the Jews of the local
community; the renovation of Sobibor is envisaged.
1
Compare Belzec Memorial: „Description of the Concept of the Cemetery Memorial to the Victims of the
Nazi Death Camp in Belzec“, http://www.deathcamps.org/belzec/memorial.html
4
Fig. 90: Memorial site at Belzec
From an idea to unveiling the memorial
The visitor, standing at these places around the turn of the century was overcome by grief,
outrage and humility, because they imparted the impression that the crime of holocaust was
followed by moral wrong. Posterity was only hesitatingly prepared to make restitution to the
victims of their dignity through outward signs, if at all. The Jewish brothers and sisters
seemed forgotten in their suffering, their dispair and their cruel and mindless death. But this
could not be, must not be the last word of history! Born from this sentiment, in July 1999,
probably at the lowest point of memorial culture in the Lublin area, the author devised a plan
to have a memorial erected in Izbica dedicated to the Frankonian and all Jews murdered in the
holocaust. The potential participants of this project as well as further people who would come
along with us in spirit were supposed to face the crime against humanity perpetrated under
German name, they would liberate their fellow Frankonian Jewish citizen from the anonymity
of the genocide, perceive them in their individuality and dignity and “escort” them on their
path of fate; and they would set a clear symbol to those nameless victims who have no graves
and whose place and time of death we do not know.
When the author presented this idea in Kitzingen in the course of a memorial presentation, it
found supporters across all parties. In order to implement the concept, he convened a working
group of seven personalities involved in remembrance culture: Albrecht Fürst zu CastellCastell (Castell), Jesko Graf zu Dohna (Castell), Rosa Grimm (Würzburg), Bernd Moser
(Kitzingen), Dr. Josef Schuster (Würzburg), Dr. Elmar Schwinger (Wiesenbronn) und Pia
Vogel (Oberscheinfeld). After tedious preparatory work, the group brought the project to a
successful conclusion within two years. All members of the working group made their
5
unmistakeable contributions, without which the project would not have succeeded. A special
role was that of the mayor of Kitzingen, Bernd Moser, who used the administrative and
technical apparatus for the project. The working group also was permitted to use his
conference room in the town hall for their evening meetings.
All Franconian municipalities along the Main river who had previously harboured Jewish
communities, as well as the cities of Nuremberg and Bamberg were invited to participate at
the erection of the memorial stone at Izbica. The group of participants of finally eighty people
consisted of delegates, among those numerous mayors and councillors from Franconian
municipalities, mainly along the river Main: from Aschaffenburg, Bad Kissingen, Bad
Neustadt an der Saale, Castell, Elsenfeld (Obernburg), Gaukönigshofen, Gerolzhofen,
Giebelstadt, Hammelburg, Hassfurt, Karlstadt, Kitzingen, Kleinheubach, Kolitzheim,
Miltenberg, Münsterschwarzach (Frankenwinheim), Unsleben, Wiesenbronn and Würzburg.
Middle Franconia was represented by Fürth, Nuremberg and Spardorf.
Twenty six school children and four teachers from three Franconian gymnasiums, the EgbertGymnasium in Münsterschwarzach, the Friedrich-Koenig-Gymnasium in Würzburg und the
Julius-Echter-Gymnasium in Elsenfeld went on the journey, in cooperation with the
"Landeszentrale für politische Bildung” in Munich. Jewish fellow citizens from Nuremberg
and Fürth who had lost relatives in the Lublin region also came with us. The American Jew
Walter W. Reed, originally from Mainstockheim, whose parents and brothers were lost in
Izbica, joined us from the USA with his wife Jeanne und son Andrew. Thomas Blatt, born in
Izbica, survivor of both Izbica and Sobibor and now living in Bellevue/ USA is perhaps the
most competent witness and expert of the area. He has recorded his memories in several
books. We were able to win him as a companion and guide.
The group of participants consisted of three parties, the delegates from Franconia, the Jewish
representatives, mostly elderly people and the pupils. The participation of the school children
was of particular concern for the organizers; if nothing else, a future should thus be given to
the memorial culture in Franconia, which is now mainly supported by the older generation.
The unveiling of the memorial was part of a six-day journey visiting the places of suffering
and death of Franconian Jews in the Lublin area: the former transit ghettos of Izbica and
Krasniczyn as well as the respectice former extermination camps of Belzec and Sobibor. Also,
a guided tour was attended at the transit ghetto of Piaski, where Jews from the areas of
Munich and Augsburg were deported. Jewish museums and the splendid synagogue of
Wlodawa that survived through lucky circumstances (it was used as a store by the occupants)
gave impressions of the culture of a lost Jewish epoque. Wreathes were layed for the nonJewish Polish victims of the Nazi terror at Izbica and Krasniczyn.
The memorial stone which Pia Vogel obtained and provided with an inscription consists of a
block of unhewn shell limestone from Frickenhausen, the Franconian home of the victims and
is fixed on a foundation of concrete. The inscription covers two cast bronze plaques: The plate
with the memorial text is embedded in the stone, the second smaller plaque mentioning the
transports is fixed to the foundation. The text addresses passers-by in four languages: Polish,
German, English and Hebrew. Since Jews from Middle and Upper Franconia were also
deported in the transports, all areas of Franconia are covered by the dedication.
6
Fig. 92 The bronze plaques
7
Fig. 91: Memorial stone for the Franconian Jews
The unveiling of the memorial stone took place in the morning of May 10th, 2007 in Izbica.
The ceremony took about zwo hours and was attended by the Franconian delegates as well as
a Rabbi from Warsaw, the priest and the mayor of Izbica, the head of the Maria-KonopnickaSchool ( a 10 form comprehensive school committed in the care of the local Jewish cemetery)
together with some teachers and school children; local people spontaneously joined the
ceremony. representatives of our visitors group held short memorial speeches which were
translated into Polish by our translator: for the working group spoke Albrecht Fürst zu
Castell-Castell, on behalf of the victims spoke Walter W. Reed, for the Frankonian
municipalities spoke mayor Bernd Moser, the schools were represented by schoolchildren of
the Friedrich-Koenig-Gynmnasium in Würzburg2. The Maria-Konopnicka-School contributed
with two school girls presenting poems.
One of the most moving occasions of this six-day jouney came, when the former Jew from
Mainstockheim, Walter W. Reed, who is immediately affected in his biography, revealed his
“personal feelings” to the congregation during the unveiling ceremony. Walter W. Reed only
survived because his parents had sent the 14 year old boy, who was the oldest of three
brothers, to Belgium in order to have him in a safe place until he was called to emigrate to the
United States. However the situation changed dramatically after the invasion of German
troops. Finally, the 14 year old was able to reach his American asylum in a life threatening
adventurous journey. Without the farsight of his parents, Walter W. Reed judged facing the
memorial stone: “I myself would be one of those who you honour today.”
2
The speeches may be found at the town archives in Kitzingen, o. S.
8
Fig. 93: Memorial speech by Mr. Reed
“My dear parents never met their daughter-in-law Jeanne and also not their three grandsons,
among them Andrew who is here with us today. We are convened here today in order to
commemorate those inhuman atrocities and to honour the memory of the poor victims. I
would like you to consider that not just thousands of innocent victims were tormented and
murdered here. No, they were rather individuals – each with the right to a good live – and
they were fathers, mothers, grandparents and many, many small children. And what was
perhaps even worse: Before the “final solution”, those people were hated, denounced and
harried for nine years in Franconia.
The German government has offered to me, such as to all survivors, reparation. Many have
accepted that and it is their right to do so. I totally rejected it, - the only thing that I wanted
back were my parents and my two brothers – and that the Federal Government was not able
to do. Also I never wanted to come here because that also cannot satisfy the impossible. [...]
What are my thoughts in this agitating place?
To forget – that is not possible [...].
To forgive – that is not possible; because what has happened here cannot be forgiven.
Reconciliation – that is why we have come together here and that we must achieve; otherwise
there is no hope at all.
To honour the victims, that we want to do. And not alone those six million Jewish murdered
ones, also the millions of German and Allied soldiers – and also the millions of German and
other civilians from all over Europe who were victimized in the name of the insane and
inhuman plans for the thousand year old Reich.”
The children of the Friedrich-Koenig-Gymnasium presented their contribution in the form of
a dialogue:
9
“Lost and incredulous we face an act, to be more precise, thousands of acts whose extent,
whose . . . consequences we can neither grasp nor approximately comprehend. . . . It is now
our task, our generation’s, to bear it in remembrance and hand it on. . . . It occurred three
generations ago. Therefore we cannot speak any more of a direct responibility for our past.
We are not responsible for what happened but for what will happen. The possibility of a
repeat of similar atrocities is not at all beside the point. . . .
Today we have congregated in order to commemorate the suffering of the Jewish population
of our homeland Mainfranken during those dark years. We are dedicating a memorial of
stone commemorating them and showing that we will never forget them. But is it not just as
important . . .. to raise memorials in our heads?
Memorials in our heads, that would be tolerance towards other cultures and religions as well
as regard of human rights.
Memorials in our heads the commitment for peace, for freedom and democracy all over the
world.
To build memorials in our heads means to further international understanding, to foster joint
recollection and commemoration and toguard against forgetting.”
Fig. 94: Schülerinnen aus Izbica
Like a central theme, all memorial speeches contained the appeal: “ We must not suppress or
forget the holocaust!” Fürst Albrecht zu Castell-Castell struck the hearts of the congregation
when he said:
“We have convened here to face our memories . . . Because it was like that, because the dark
side is part of our humanity, it applies to all of us regardless whether we are old or young,
regardless which religion or nation we belong to. Recollection must never cease; because
only then the past may serve us as a warning, only then commemoration is possible and
10
sensible. Commemoration is also associated with honouring and dignification. I honour
someone by thinking of him, by not forgetting him. This we wish to do here and hope that
many people will see this memorial stone and understand. It is a modest gravestone, but a
worthy one from home. With this stone we honour those resting in the earth, those who never
received a dignified burial but even in death remained dispised, dishonoured and reviled. We
commemorate our Franconian fellow countrymen in mourning, we old ones also with shame
and repentence.”
The Rabbi from Warsaw spoke the Kaddish for all Jews perished in holocaust. When, after
that, Arno Hamburger, the chairman of the Jewish community in Nuremberg, came forward to
speak the kaddish for his murdered relatives, Fürst Albrecht zu Castell-Castell sank to his
knees.
The mayor of Kitzingen, Bernd Moser, who spoke on behalf of the Franconian municipalities,
pointed to the political importance of the project:
“A memorial day like this one is also an encouragement for the future; because it articulates
over the generations the firm determination with which we wish to do justice to our
responsibility towards all our fellow men and towards our democratic society. Let us continue
to take close attention, to listen carefully and to take sides, for our fellow men, for their rights
and dignity.
I bow before the Jewish victims of the Franconian municipalities.”
Fig. 95: The Mayors of Izbica and Kitzingen and the Head of Maria-Konopnicka-School
The “hope of reconciliation” which Walter W. Reed had mentioned in his commemorative
address burgeoned when the mayor of Izbica embraced his collegue from Kitzingen, after he
layed a wreath for the Polish victims of national socialism at the memorial for the Polish
11
soldiers lost in the wars; it became tangible when the accompanying Jews from Nuremberg
expressed that they had less fear now for Germany’s future, having met the young people
from our school delegation.Hope burgeoned also because the Maria-Konopnicka-School will
take on the care for our stone and will set up a history room containing all the documents
about Judaism and the holocaust, using the donation we bestowed on them for the care of the
cemetery. In an central position, that room is graced by a ceramic picture made by Mrs. Reed
in the USA and brought to Izbica for the Polish school children. It shows children caring for
the Jewish cemetery and bears the title: “Shalom. We thank you for your contribution so that
the past will not be forgotten.”
That it is possible to overcome trenches is demonstrated most convincingly by the fact that
Jews and Christians, Poles and Germans approached each other without prejudice during this
project and cooperated. The erection of the memorial stone would not have been possible if
our local Polish helpers would not have supported us with word and deed, first during the
organisation and later during our stay in the Lublin region: our translator Sylwia Masiewicz,
the mayor of Izbica Karol Jerzy Babiarz, the head of the Maria-Konopnicka-School Roman
Kierepa. We will always remember that the priest, the mayor, the head of school and the
people of Izbica permitted us to place a memorial in the midst of their community, that they
offered us such a dignified site for it and that they partook in the ceremony. Particularly
knowing, that this would not have been possible only a few years previously.
When the author is permitted a wish it is this: that the seed grain of reconciliation sown by our
delegation on May 19th, 2007 may sprout through constant care into a powerful plant.
Fig. 96: The kneeling Prince Albrecht zu Castell-Castell
12