These few lines were written by a 8 years old Jewish girl to her childhood friend and smuggled out of the Brzesko prison:
“Johnny, please take care of my little kittens and the puppies for I will likely never return “. She was later murdered alongside her mother during the Tarnow ghetto massacre in 1942 and may rest in one of the unmarked common graves within the historic Jewish cemetery there. The cemetery, dating back to the 16th century, was first entirely vandalised by the Germans, then subsequently used by the local Poles as a stone quarry for decades.
“A history of coexistence of Jews and Poles is a rich and wonderful, exciting, extended family saga, intermingling different characters and situations, intrigue and passion, love and hate; a saga made of major historical facts and prime anecdotes , hazard and folly, everyday trivial prose and fantastic creative utopia, all brushed generously on a supportive canvas and ignorant of the fatal logic attached.” (Barbara Suie)
” A long time afterward, I came to understand that the grief that would assail me now and then was because I could do something for the dead but nothing for the living.” (M. G. Zimeta)
The relic is now set to undergo a colossal renovation attempt funded nearly exclusively by the European Union. The Committee for the Protection of the Jewish Heritage in Tarnow, a non-profit, volunteer-only international network, faces the moral and ethical imperative to raise 200,000$ on its own as a pre-requisite condition to activate the funds flow. Please respond to the call from the depths of time and join in the effort of building the bridge in between the living and the living, the living and the dead.
Thank you.
This is my personal, no obligation and no referrence bound initiative to create a fundraising incentive. All benefits will be donated to the Committee for the Protection of the Jewish Heritage in Tarnow, Poland. I will be happy to discuss other ways of mutual investment. You may however wish to approach the project’s Manager directly and make a tax deductible contribution here: http://muzeum.tarnow.pl/kirkut/jewish-cemetery/
Jozef Kapustka
Paris (France)