LUBLIN A JERUSALEM OF THE NORTH OSLO 3 STOCKHOLM GLASGOW DUBLIN DONCASTER LIVERPOOL LONDON Lublin boasts a great EINDHOVEN LUBLIN KIEV history of a Jewish com- POLIN: munity who dwelt in the The Shadows “Here SHALL YOU DWELL” city for several centuries. MUNICH It mirrors the history of of the Long-Gone Town Polish Jews in general, with all the wealth of their social, reli- gious, and political life. An extraordinary “ambassador” of Lublin in the world is the protagonist of The Magician of Lublin, a book by the Nobel Prize winner Isaac Bashevis Singer. BURGAS Lublin has a well-deserved place in the history of Polish Jews since, as the legend has it, it played a role in the decision on the Jewish BARCELONA settlement in Poland. While in flight from pogroms in the West, a group of Jewish travellers were passing by an oak wood near a set- tlement called Lublin. To their surprise, the branches of the trees were labelled with messages saying, “Po-lin,” which is Hebrew for “stay here.” This term later became the Jewish word of Poland. HERAKLION TEL AVIV The Lublin Jews made up one of Poland’s most populous commu- ThE JEWIsh COMMUNITY nity. It began to flourish in the 16th OF LUBLIN century. 1547 saw the inauguration of the first Hebrew printing facility, one of the oldest and most important in Poland. In 1567 the famous Solomon Luria Talmudic Academy was established and soon became known Europe-wide. In 1623 the Lublin printing house issued The Zohar, the foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought LUBLIN AIRPORT (LUZ) which spread across this part of Europe. Between 1580 and 1764, Lublin www.airport.lublin.pl hosted the Council of Four Lands (Va’ad Arba Aratzot). It was the supreme body of the Jewish self-government in the Polish Republic. Air services to Lublin: Tel Aviv, Munich, London Stansted, In the late 18th century, Lublin was among the key hubs of Hasidism, London Luton, Liverpool, Doncaster, Glasgow, Eindhoven, promoted by the local charismatic individual named the Seer of Lublin. Dublin, Oslo Torp, Stockholm Skavsta, Barcelona, ​​Kiev. After the death of the tzadik in 1815, his tomb – existing to this day – Holiday destinations in 2017: Burgas, Heraklion. become a pilgrimage site for Hasids from all over the world. 4 5 The Second World War brought ber 1943, more than 42 thousand Jews were executed in the about the Holocaust. Lublin OPERATION concentration camp in Majdanek and in the labour camps in is one of the symbolic cities Trawniki and Poniatowa. Over 20 months, day after day, larger REINHARDT in the story about the exter- and smaller groups and communities of Jews were extermi- mination. On 16 March 1942, nated. The operation claimed 2 million Jewish souls, mainly Lublin saw the departure, as part of the German Operation from Poland but also from other European countries. In order Reinhardt, of the first transport of Jews to the death camp in to meet the original schedule of the operation, three death Bełżec. The operation aimed to round up and exterminate all camps were erected: Bełżec, Sobibór, and Treblinka. Also, Jews living in the General Government (name of an adminis- the camp in Majdanek near Lublin served a similar function trative district created in the former Polish territory annexed temporarily. Operation Reinhardt was the core the Holocaust. by Germany in 1939). The operation’s HQ was seated in Lublin. Never before had the world seen such an atrocity. Those 20 The crime wave that started from Lublin, rolled across the months of Operation Reinhardt left an indelible imprint on General Government and returned to Lublin for its climax: our culture and civilization, and on the history of this place. the ultimate extermination of the Jewry. On 3 and 4 Novem- Tomasz Pietrasiewicz In the second half of the 19th century, Lub- YESHIVA ChachMEI LUBLIN: lin Jews had their own A Jewish Oxford in Lublin schools, newspapers, social associations, The reasons are twofold. On the one hand, we have obligations sports clubs, and a hospital. The early 20th century marks a fur- WHY IS IT to fulfil for the murdered. Many eyewitnesses of the annihila- ther growth of the Jewish community. Jews were even invited IMPORTANT tion reported that before executions some of the captives cried, to sit on the municipal council. In the period between WW1 and “Remember us!” WW2, Lublin witnessed the opening of Yeshiva Chachmei Lublin TO REMEMBER? (School of the Wise Men of Lublin), a higher educational estab- On the other, we do it for the future. If we keep talking about lishment for Torah study, by Rabbi Meir Shapiro. It was 1930 and it, we hope that this will not happen again. More than that, Lublin began to be referred to as a “Jewish Oxford.” In 1939, the we hope to prevent the recurrence of the circumstances that Jewish population totalled 43 thousand people out of 120 thou- had led to the annihilation. So, we have moral obligations to sand of all city inhabitants. those who are gone as well as to those who are yet to be born. These obligations address the past and the future. Lublin is at the heart of the mythical land Shortly after liberation from the German occupation, Lublin was THE LOST WORLD OF SHTETL of small towns as de- home to the world-first initiative of recording – in a formalized scribed by I.B. Singer. way and following certain pre-defined framework – the stories It is just a stone’s throw The myth-making quality and testimonies of Holocaust survivors. Thus, the city that saw from Kazimierz Dolny, Zamość, Szczebrzeszyn, Józefow, Biłgoraj. of the Lublin region is seen the beginning of Operation Reinhardt initiated the process of These small towns called “shtetl” created a multi-ethnic and SHTETL IN LITERATURE in the works of many collecting accounts and memories of those who did not perish. Europe-unique cultural landscape for several hundred years. Jewish writers, among We can see that Lublin has a special place in the history of Polish They were not found elsewhere in Europe. A great part of the them: Jakub Glatsztejn, Jews: from their settlement and life in Poland to the annihilation. Jewish diaspora is rooted in such shtetls. They emigrated from Szalom Asz, Icchak Lejb Perec. Do not overlook the famous their small towns to enrich the world culture, art and science “wise men of Chełm,” the legend of the Golem (also from in an unprecedented way. Yet, that world is no longer. The only Chełm), or countless stories about tzadiks recounted by Hasids thing we can do is to tell stories about it and demonstrate how (including one about the Seer of Lublin). No wonder, Lublin and it contributed to Europe’s cultural heritage and that some of this the towns and villages of the Lublin region surface on the contribution, though wonderful, still remains undiscovered. pages of many books written in Yiddish, Hebrew, or English. 7 The Traces In 1939, the Jewish population totalled 43 thousand people out of 120 thousand of all city inhabitants. During WW2, the Germans of Jewish Lublin exterminated all Jewish residents, and the Jewish quarter was demolished. Yet, today’s Lublin reveals dozens of spots and sites permeated with the Jewish culture and heritage. The Grodzka Gate is one of THE GRODZKA GATE the first brick elements of Grodzka St. the city’s fortifications built in 1342 with the permission granted by King Kazimierz Wielki. At the end of the 18th c. the reconstruction of the building was carried out accord- ing to the design by Dominic Merlini. Throughout centuries the Grodzka Gate was also called the Jewish Gate, because it used to be a passage from the Old Town to the Jewish District. With the passage of time, it became a place on bor- derland of two worlds: the Christian and the Jewish one. At present, the „Grodzka Gate – NN Theatre” Centre is located here, where are collected the materials connected with Lub- lin’s history and cultural heritage. The plaque on the building at Zamkowy Square 10 com- memorates the personage of THE SITE OF a prominent man from Lublin THE HOUSE OF – Yaakov Yitzhak Horowitz- YaaKOV YITZHAK Sternfeld – the „Seer of Lu- HOROWITZ-STERN- blin”. He was a tzaddikim, one FELD – „tHE SEER of the spiritual leaders of Has- sidic movement, a student of OF LUBLin” Elimelech from Leżajsk. The 11 Zamkowy Sq. „Seer of Lublin” founded the manor house and the syna- gogue at Szeroka Street 28. 8 9 THE WELL ON FORMER SZEROKA STREET THE NEW JEWISH CEMETERY Bus Station, 5 Walecznych St. near Ruska St. Because there was no place for further At Jateczna Street there was The well located nowadays interments on the Old Cemetery, the the oldest and the biggest in the centre of the bus new one was opened in 1831. With the THE SITE OF synagogue in Lublin, also called station, till the end of the passage of time, there were buried THE FORMER Maharshal-shul’s Synagogue II World War functioned as here the most imminent representa- GREAT LUBLIN after the name of Salomon a well supplying water for tives of the Jewish municipality of Luria (1510–1573), one of the the dwellers of this part of SYNagOGUE Lublin, among others: Majer Szapiro, greatest rabbins and rectors the city. Today, it is a for- – MahaRSHAL-SHUL members of the Eiger dynasty, Marek of the local yeshiva during the gotten, voiceless witness of history, which was the centre Arnsztajn. The cemetery was com- Tysiąclecia Ave.