Andrzej Wielocha
A popular scientific session „Jews in the Carpathians” was organized by the Carpathian Society, Society of Lesko’s Friends and the Bieszczadian Community Centre under the sponsorship of the Bureau for National Minorities of Polish Ministry of Culture. It took place on May 17-19,1991 in the Bieszczadian Community Centre in Lesko.
The initiativeto organize such a session originated in the Carpathian Society and wasbased on one of the main Society’s tasks — breaking old nationalistic prejudices through reliable researches and presentation of culturalcontribution of various nationalities and ethnic groups to the overallimage of the Carpathians. We believe that it might become a starting point for more extensive activities aiming at saving the remnants,scarce today, of the many centuries of the presence of Jews in the Carpathians. We hope that it can encourage greater interest in the Jewish culture in the Carpathians.
The presence of Jews in theCarpathians, which ended with the Holocaust tragedy, cannot be erased because of the irremovable impact left by it, but it could be forgottenif we lose the ability to see and understand it. Whether one likes itor not, over long centuries Jews became a part of Carpathians, participating in formation of its history and culture. On the otherhand, Carpathians also had their part in Jewish history. So it is important to maintain carefully all that which has been preserved andserves as evidence of this presence: to gather information, to save the monuments. This is our main task for today. It is a huge task, so wehave to encourage as many people as possible to join it.
We hopethat this session helped — even in a small degree — in saving that partof the Carpathian culture which was a contribution of the Jewish community living there. We hope also that it might encourage others tosearch for, and research on, all those remnants, both materiał and nonmaterial, which still can be found, sometimes in the least expectedplaces — in language, music, ornamentation and customs of the contemporary inhabitants of Carpathians.
The session was addressed to all friends of Carpathians, especially to tourist guides. More than70 persons from various parts of Poland and a few from abroad (Germany,Netherlands, Ukraine and USA) and many inhabitants of Lesko took partin it. Czytaj dalej