Kazimierz was the most Jewish of Polish towns.

Kazimierz was the most Jewish of Polish towns. This perception was reinforced by the Jewish artists who flocked to Kuzmir. Painters who frequented the town included Maurycy Trębacz, Józef Gabowicz, Abraham Neuman, Maurycy Minkowski, Szymon Kratka, Feliks Rubinlicht, Abraham Ostrzega, Józef Seidenbeutel, Leon Lewkowicz, Władysław Weintraub, Chaim Hanft, Maksymilian Eljowicz, Henryk Lewensztadt, Józef Śliwniak, Natan Korzeń, Henryk Rabinowicz, Samuel Finkelstein, Ignacy Hirszfang, Tadeusz Trębacz, Natan Szpigel, Symcha Trachter, Efraim and Menasze Seidenbeutel, Mira Zylowa, Henryk Cytryn, Izrael Tykociński, Samuel Cygler, Gizela Hufnaglówna-Klimaszewska, and many others. Szmul Wodnicki and Chaim Goldberg were born here.

Kazimierz owes the literary legend of the "ideal shtetl" primarily to Szalom Asz, who immortalized it in his novel "Miasteczko" ("A Shtetl"). Zusman Segałowicz earned the title "Kazimierz's bard." Kazimierz was also written about by Lejb Raszkin (Szaul Fridman), Yaakov Gladstein, Yechiel Jeszaja Trunk, Mordechai Canin, and Szmul Lejb Sznajderman—to whom the Vistula spoke Yiddish in Kazimierz.

Ash wrote: " What is the Jordan to me? Wysły (Vistula) is my river. For 600 years, the candles of my ancestors have been reflected in Wysły on the Sabbath ."

Kazimierz was the most Jewish of Polish towns. It was.

Little remains of Jewish Kazimierz. The old synagogue, butchers' stalls, a wooden balcony attached to one of the houses – a Sukkah for the holiday of Sukkot, a plaque commemorating the old cemetery, a monument constructed from damaged matzevot in the new cemetery, and a dozen or so stone tombstones placed by the town's Polish residents, who were cleaning up the area after the war.

There are no Jews in Kazimierz. Dr. Aleksandra Markiewicz, who is organizing the Jewish culture festival in Kazimierz for the eighth time, is trying to preserve their memory. This year, like last year, the festival spanned both banks of the Vistula and also took place in Janowiec.

The program included lectures – the opening address by Piotr Kowalik from the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, devoted to the concept of "pardes" in the Jewish tradition, and a lecture by Professor Wiktor Łojak on the history of the church in Janowiec, in which Professor Łojak gave an organ concert, presenting, among others, works by Jewish composer Louis Lewandowski – as well as concerts by the Tango Attak group and Ola Avigail, who sang Yiddish songs composed by Jewish composers, and the Niwiński band with soloist Mariza Nawrocka, who also performed Yiddish songs.

Thematic walks are a tradition at the festival. This year, due to the ongoing pandemic, there were an exceptional number of them: following Jewish footsteps in Kazimierz, vineyards in Janowiec, and the gardens, orchards, and ravines near the "Pod Wiewiórką" villa.

Karol Siciński, the architect of the post-war reconstruction of Kazimierz (including the synagogue and butcher shops), was the subject of one of the walks, along with a presentation by SARP President Bohdan Lisowski. A meeting with Karolina Prewęcka, the author of a biography of the Jewish painter Mela Muter, and Mariza Nawrocka, an expert on the artist's work, generated considerable interest.

Joanna Zętar from the Grodzka Gate Centre - NN Theatre talked about the Grodzka Gate – a building in Lublin standing on the border between two worlds: Jewish and Polish.

The presentations "Images from the Past: From the History of Jewish Kraśnik" (Mariusz Bieńek) and "Memory Carved in Stone: About the Jewish Cemeteries in Kraśnik" (Magdalena Pulikowska) indicate the future direction of the Festival's development.

Partners of the festival events included the Vistula Museum in Kazimierz Dolny, and the organizer was the Spichlerz Kultury Foundation.

Dr. Halina Postek, Head of the Education Department at MGW

edited by Anna Kilian

Photo: Synagogue in Kazimierz (MGW)