HST 2017 Day 13 by Dana Aufiero https://padlet.com/daufiero/7i37tyuioag7 Rabka and Zakopane en-us 2017-03-28 22:34:02 UTC 2024-10-30 17:56:30 UTC hello@padlet.com Today we saw the site in Rabka where a school of Einsatzgruppen (the units that carried out the mass executions, especially in Russia, that were the first implementations of the Final Solution) murdered the Jewish inhabitants of the town. There were three mass shootings in Rabka, and the few Jews who remained secretly buried the bodies and marked the mass graves with large slabs of concrete. What we saw today provided a stark contrast to the pre-war Jewish graves that we have seen at some of the other cemeteries we have visited over the course of the trip, where there is one tombstone per person or family. I think that the mass burial at Rabka goes a long way to show the loss of identity that the Holocaust caused, as even when people tried to treat the bodies with respect, there is still only one plain, blank piece of concrete through which it is impossible to commemorate the many unique stories that were cruelly and unjustly ended in the same location. Thankfully today increasing numbers of people are aware of the site and the tragedies that occurred there, but even so the scope of the Holocaust is so extreme that there are millions of stories that will never be fully known or understood, and countless lost lives have vanished completely from human memory as anything more than one number in six million. peaseg18 https://padlet.com/daufiero/7i37tyuioag7/wish/166248339 2017-04-13 13:50:27 UTC https://padlet.com/daufiero/7i37tyuioag7/wish/166248339 caitlinoh22 https://padlet.com/daufiero/7i37tyuioag7/wish/166264307 Today we visited a Jewish cemetery in Rabka. We were taught the history by a man who put so much research and effort into this place. During WWII, a building close to the woods/cemetery was used as the School for Commanders of the Secret Police and Secret Service. The people from this school were responsible for the mass execution of up to 500 people, mainly Jews. Victims would undress and either sit, stand, or be on a plank in the middle of a ditch, where they would be shot in the back of the head and fall into their grave. The other victims would have to lay the bodies down if they did not fall in the position the perpetrators wanted them. After the war, a group of nuns cleaned the graveyard up and made it into a memorial.

]]> 2017-04-13 14:59:13 UTC https://padlet.com/daufiero/7i37tyuioag7/wish/166264307 Lost Synagogue of abka rileyann9 https://padlet.com/daufiero/7i37tyuioag7/wish/166281842 A big theme for our trip has been "continuity and change over time." Today during our visit to Rabka, we could clearly see how change has impacted an area once rich with Jewish culture. This picture is the only existing photo of the town's synagogue, which was destroyed by the Nazis during World War II. Today all that is left of the synagogue are a few steps  that now lead nowhere. The town is currently working towards building a memorial to honor the lost synagogue.]]> 2017-04-13 16:17:28 UTC https://padlet.com/daufiero/7i37tyuioag7/wish/166281842 The Lost Synagogue in Rabka jangelitud15 https://padlet.com/daufiero/7i37tyuioag7/wish/166854440 Today we were able to visit the town of Rabka, where we met this man named Narcyz Listkowski, who unlocked the history of the the town of Rabka. He told us, when he discovered that his house when he was living he as young boy was once Jewish ritual place. Suddenly, he started to get more curioys and curious about the towns history. What's faciscinating about his work is that, his profession is an electrician and he the research about the history of the town as a hobby and he is very passionate about it. The image you see below, is the steps of the lost synagogue that was destroyed during World War II. These were only uncovered by Narcyz Listkowski and couple people by digging through down the ground. This shows the a big history of the Jewish community that was lost in this town during World War II. ]]> 2017-04-18 18:36:49 UTC https://padlet.com/daufiero/7i37tyuioag7/wish/166854440 The Lost Synagogue Stairs pashmane18 https://padlet.com/daufiero/7i37tyuioag7/wish/167388598 Today we went to visit the town of Rabka, a former Jewish town with small but significant remains of its past. In the past we heard that there had been practically no evidence of the former Jewish presence in the town, only the neglected cemetery we visited. However, the man we met, Narcyz, developed a =n extreme interest in the town and its history, especially after discovering that his house was the former mikvah. One of his most significant steps in uncovering the history of the town was locating the spot of the old synagogue there and even excavating its steps near his house, hoping to have a museum built next to the, to help tell his town's history. ]]> 2017-04-20 22:28:57 UTC https://padlet.com/daufiero/7i37tyuioag7/wish/167388598