On 12 October 2021, a ceremony was held at the Jewish cemetery in Tuszyn to present the new marking of the site. The event was initiated by the Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sport were organised by POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews and National Heritage Institute with the support of the local partner - the Wł. St. Reymont Municipal Cultural Centre in Tuszyn.

The guests were welcomed by the Town Mayor Witold Małecki. The ceremony was attended by, among others: Minister Jarosław Sellin - Secretary of State at the Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sport; Anna Czerwińska-Walczak - Deputy Director of the National Heritage Institute; Jolanta Gumula - Deputy Director of the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews; Jozef Weiniger - President of the Jewish Religious Community in Łódź; Ellen Mains - the descendant of the Jews of Tuszyn and Dawid Szychowski - Rabbi of the Jewish Religious Community in Łódź, who commemorated the ceremony with a prayer. The ceremony was led by Agnieszka Pawlak, Director of the Municipal Cultural Centre in Tuszyn, who read out a letter from Piotr Puchta, Director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland. The ceremony was also attended by pupils from Primary School No. 2 in Tuszyn.

The meeting was crowned with a performance given by a pupil from the Primary School No. 1 in Tuszyn and Music School of Pabianice, Maja Piter. After the official part of the ceremony, those gathered were invited to pay their respects to the deceased resting in the area by placing stones on the gravestones and candles under the cemetery markers.

The ceremony in Tuszyn was preceded by accompanying events aimed at the local community. On 30 September and 1 October this year, educational workshops were held for pupils of Primary School No. 1 in Tuszyn. They allowed the participants to get to know another dimension of the history of their own town and to broaden their knowledge about traditions connected with Jewish cemeteries. The school also received an educational kit entitled “Museum in a box. Town of Malki”, containing replicas of objects and archival photographs from the POLIN Museum’s collection, which allows for playing an educational board game in classes 4-6. The facility will use the kit for educational activities.

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The ceremony was carried out within the framework of the “Jewish Cultural Heritage” programme (Component IV Neighbours: objects, people, stories, Priority 2 Programme of describing and marking selected Jewish cemeteries), made possible thanks to a grant made to the POLIN Museum by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA Fund and the national budget.

The cemeteries have been commemorated as part of the “Marking of Jewish Cemeteries in the Republic of Poland” programme carried out by the National Heritage Institute and financed by the Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sport.

 

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