Rivka GETZ and her family members visited Lubaczow back in 2014

 

 

January 2014

Rivka Getz:

How sad and what a loss for humanity.  

When our family came for a brief visit to Lubaczow to visit our grandfathers' graves,  Bogdan was right there, helping out in his kind manner.  He actually volunteered to drive us to  Oleszyce to that cemetery, which he had also cared for.  

He was a really good person and will be missed.  Our condolences to his family.

Rivka, her sister Miriam and many family members came to Lubaczow in January 2014 as you can read about in this post.

https://jewishcemeterylubaczow2015.blogspot.com/2015/02/row-1-grave-17-moshe-koenig.html

Our dear friend Bogdan Lisze z"l has died

 With sadness we announce that our dear friend

      Bogdan Lisze

suddenly died in Stuttgart, Germany on July 27th 2024.

He was buried in Oleszyce , Poland on August 12th 2024.

Bogdan has been such a crucial person for making us all remember the Jews who once lived in Lubaczow and for initiating the transformation  of the Jewish cemetery in Lubaczow  into what it is today.

Simon Lavee and Bogdan z"l in Lubaczow in 2016

 

This photo was taken by Sam and Tamar Halpern during the International Holocaust events in Lubaczow in 2016.

The man to the left is the author of the book Jewish Hit Squad, Mr. Simon Lavee.

Here is the author's description of his book. The book was published by Gefen Publishing House in 2013.

Jewish Hit Squad is about the Armja Krajowa Jewish Raid Unit. This group of partisans operated in the vicinity of Lubaczow - Zamosc June 22, 1941 - July 21, 1944.

My parents were partisans who survived the Holocaust hiding in the woods of southern Galicia. But this is not just another story about Jewish partisans during WWII! The crux of the book focuses on a unique situation – a small band of fighters who not only tried to survive German brutality, but actively fought the Nazis during WWII.

The book first outlines how my parents were involved with an underground Polish movement – the Armia Krajowa (AK). The irony was that this umbrella group did not particularly like Jews, yet operated a Jewish partisan group led by Mundek Lukawiecki (my father) in the forests of southern Galicia. My father’s Jewish partisan group was actually an AK Hit Squad that took out German soldiers, as well as Polish and Ukrainian Nazi collaborators. Most of their missions were carried out wearing German Wehrmacht uniforms, as members of the group (especially my father) were able to speak German. In addition to these planned “hits”, the group also attacked strategic German targets such as fuel trains, military installations, and general sabotaged Nazi operations.

The Hit Squad also undermined the Ost Plan, which was the German/Ukrainian plan to resettle Germans in Zamosc (which became known as Himmlerstadt). The book explains that attempting to stop this plan was in fact the main goal of the AK Partisan movement, led by the local commander, Marian Warda.

At the end of WW II, the book examines how Mundek Lukawiecki enlisted in the Polish Communist Secret Police (UB). He essentially crossed the line to the other side and continued to exact revenge on Nazi collaborators. After the UB discovered that he is simultaneously supporting the Israeli underground Etzel in Palestine by sending them Jewish fighters in 1946, he is forced to flee Poland. The book concludes with my parents’ arrival in Israel in 1948.

In addition to this unique and remarkable story, we have about 50 pictures of the partisan group/hit squad that were taken during WWII and will be an integral part of the book.

Worth reading this article

https://www.jns.org/the-partisans-camera/

One of the members of Mundek's partisans was young Moshe Hoffman.

 He was born in 1929 in Lubaczow. Moshe, who later became  Maurie Hoffman in Australia, wrote a book he called "Keep Yelling!"

https://www.monash.edu/arts/acjc/research-and-projects/online-resources-and-mini-sites/holocaust-memoirs/maurie-hoffman

Tamar and Sam Halpern from Israel were back in Lubaczow in January 2016 for the International Holocaust Day

 Here are some of their photos from that visit.

Simon Lavee , the book he wrote, and Bogdan z"l

Sam Halpern and Bogdan z"l

 Bogdan z"l and Tamar Halpern 

Tamar and Sam Halpern from Israel visited Lubaczow and met Bogdan z"l for the first time in 2015

 Here are some of the photos they took during this visit in 2015.

Bogdan Lisze z"l and his languages

 When I first met Bogdan back in 2002, we discovered that we really did not have any common language. He knew Polish of course, and I did not know Polish.

During the coming years,  Bogdan  learnt some English words and I learnt some Polish words - still not many. His son helped him write the English emails. Those who met him during the last ten years can probably testify to his later level of knowledge of the English language.

Bogdan also started to learn Hebrew words, and improved his Hebrew vocabulary when he visited us twice for longer visits to Israel. Bog means God in Polish so he fondly said his Hebrew given name was Natanel.

The fact that he worked in Germany for the last five years of his life, makes me believe he had to learn German too.

So let us say that our common kanguages were not the strongest , but Bogdan had a  deep commitment to communicate,  using both his heart and his creative mind to do so. There was also a lot of pantomine...

Bogdan Lisze z"l showed me the local museum in Lubaczow several times

 Bogdan  liked to visit the local museum in Lubaczow.

Their website is both in Polish and in English.

https://muzeumkresow.eu/

The word kresow means borderlands in English, and refer to the areas of Poland close to the eastern borders of the country.

Bogdan showed me how  one department of the museum presents  three of the ethnic groups who once lived in Lubaczow - the Ukrainians, the Jews and the Poles.

Worth visiting!

Here is the history of the museum, again in Polish and in English.

https://muzeumkresow.eu/historia/

I realize reading this that much has happened at the museum even during the years I have visited Lubaczow.

For example this event back in 2022:

https://muzeumkresow.eu/jorcajt-czas-chasydow-wernisaz-wystawy/

Bogdan also showed me the paintings of Marian Kopf (1926-2019) - an artist whose paintings of Jewish life in Lubaczow have become important to me. 

Bogdan Lisze z"l showed me where the Jews of Lubaczow did their Tashlich

Back in 2002, on our way to the local museum in Lubaczow, we approached the bridge over the local river. Bogdan stopped and brought me down to the riverbed to the the left.

"I was told that this is where the local Jews came to do the Tashlich ceremony",  Bogdan told me. So I understood how he had collected stories from the old people in Lubaczow.

Chabad has this text about the Tashlich.

https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/564247/jewish/What-Is-Tashlich.htm

Another text about the Tashlich

https://www.exploringjudaism.org/holidays/rosh-hashanah/tashlikh/what-is-tashlich/

Bogdan Lisze z"l brought me to Belzec a few times

 In 2002, during my first visit to Lubaczow, Bogdan drove me to Belzec. It was a confusing visit. 

When we got there, Bogdan showed me a map that assumably showed the extermination camp of Belzec. Looking at the map and comparing the surroundings, there wasn't  much to explain how close to half a million persons were murdered there between March 1942 and June 1943.

Close to the map was a building that had been part of the camp, and up a little hill was a contruction with some bones around it. We walked up the hill and walked around the forest. 

it seemed unreal to think what had happened here. 

It was difficult to imagine where the borders of this hell had been.

Some relatives of those I know were murdered in the Belzec camp.

How could I explain to them  what Belzec looked like?

Several years later, Bogdan brought me back to Belzec, and a so much had happened.

Belzec had become a memorial,  after years of research.

Bogdan and I walked around a path listing the places the victims had once lived, including Lubaczow.

We walked through  a symbolic "death row" leading up to a wall with given names  of victims. The museum is trying to document as many as possible of the victims - an ongoing project.

Then we visited the memorial museum where texts in English, Polish and Hebrew, presented the history of the Belzec camp.

Here is the website for the Belzec Memorial

https://www.belzec.eu/en

Here is the Wikipedia entry for Belzec extermination camp

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belzec_extermination_camp

Belzec's history is so terrible, but one local family, Maciej and Cecylia Brogowski,  did an incredibly act of courage - they saved a little Jewish girl named Irena. After I had located this family, Bogdan was gratious to bring me to visit that family. His patience, his warm attitude to the family members - it is a good way to remember Bogdan. 

During one of my visits to Lubaczow, Bogdan was willing to bring me to the Brogowski family in Belzec.

Later, on June 11, 2006, Maciej and Cecylia Brogowski were recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations.

https://collections.yadvashem.org/en/righteous/5684693

For me, Bogdan was the person who was by my side both during the visits to Belzec the extermination camp and to that emotional visit at the home of the Brogowiski family.

Bogdan Lisze z"l introduced me to Varenyky - the Ukrainian pierogi

Bogdan brought me to a cozy small cafe in Lubaczow where we ate varenyky. Sadly I do not remember the address, nor the name of the place. I hope it still exists.

Elderly local women were busy preparing local dishes. Local customers poured into the cafe. A few sat down to eat, but most seemed to take boxes with food  home to eat. I loved the atmosphere.

Bogdan explained that what he called something like pierogi ukrainski would be perfect for me, as they were vegetarian.

The dumplings came in two versions - one with potato mash filling, another with cabbage filling, both with fried onions and sour cream.

The taste of these varenyky is closely linked to my memory of Bogdan and he brought me back there during my different visits.

I therefore looked for recipes to recreate the dishes and remember Bogdan that way.

Here is one

https://finefoodsblog.com/varenyky/

and here is another

https://lenaskitchenblog.com/potato-vareniki/

   

Sam and Tamar Halpern from Israel remember Bogdan Lisze z"l

We are very sad to know that our friend Bogdan suddenly died, such a young man.

The last couple years we did not have much contact with him.

But before that he helped us a lot in Lubaczow at the cemetery, and at the municipality of Lubaczow and Oleszyce.

We got to know his family when he invited us for dinner at his renovated home, he was very proud of his work.

He was a very good handyman and  was a very kind person.

 

Dear Eva, thanks to you and Bogdan we found our ancestors graves at the Lubaczow cemetery.

  *************************************************************************

Here are some posts that may give you some background for the Halpern family.

https://jewishcemeterylubaczow2015.blogspot.com/2015/08/if-you-have-halpern-ancestor.html

https://jewishcemeterylubaczow2015.blogspot.com/2015/03/row-10-grave-10-group-six-moshe.html

The grave of Salomon Halpern (born ca 1863, died 1936).

שלמה בן מו"ה משה שמשון ז"ל

Photo by Sam and Tamar Halpern.

https://jewishcemeterylubaczow2015.blogspot.com/2015/02/row-1-grave-15-salamon-halpern.html

https://jewishcemeterylubaczow2015.blogspot.com/2015/02/row-1-grave-29.html

Bogdan Lisze z"l cleaned the Jewish cemetery, again and again, over the years

This is part of my observations after my first to visits to the cemetery in 2002 and 2003:

"Despite Bogdan Lisze's attempt to clean the cemetery before my first visit, part of the cemetery was a real jungle. 

The part that he had cleaned in 2002, was covered again with bushes when I came back in 2003."

From the blogpost

https://jewishcemeterylubaczow2015.blogspot.com/2015/01/why-start-new-blog-in-2015.html

Bogdan Lisze z"l as the photographer - a thank you I posted back in 2015

Bogdan has been dedicated to the Jewish cemetery in Lubaczow for many, many years, long before I met him. It is hard to imagine how my own visits to Lubaczow without his help and resources. 

He lives in this area, and he often visits the cemetery, and he has made both drawings and taken beautiful photos of the gravestones. 

During my own visits I have always been in a hurry, and my photos are more like snapshots.
You can see from Bogdan's photos how he has cleaned and prepared the stones, before taking great care to get as clear a photo as possible. Impressive!

Bogdan has agreed to let me add his photos to the blog. He wrote that his son Alexander Olek Lisze has helped him with some of the photos.

If you use the top left corner of the blog and write Photos: Bogdan Lisze , you will find his photos.

Thank you, Bogdan!

A visit in 2015 by the Bard family from England

 

Photo: Bogdan Lisze

Read the story here:

https://jewishcemeterylubaczow2015.blogspot.com/2015/09/located-by-relatives-grave-of-lea-bard.html

Kosha Pakman from Israel remembers Bogdan z"l

For Kosha Pakman from Israel it was important to visit Lubaczow with his son in 2017 and honor the grave of his ancestor Simcha Benjamin GABEL (1835 - 1915).

Photo: Kosha Pakman

Seen with Kosha Pakman's eyes,  this visit was possible because of my documentation of the cemetery.

Seen with my eyes, the documentation of the cemetery would not have been possible without Bogdan, and I hope to show that in additional posts.

Here is the link to Simcha Benjamin GABEL's grave:

https://jewishcemeterylubaczow2015.blogspot.com/2015/03/row-9-grave-7-benjamin-gabel.html

Alejandra Walzer Moskowic from Argentina remembers Bogdan z"l

I met Bogdan Lisze thanks to Eva Floersheim when I travelled to Lubaczow with my father in 2014 to see the place where my grandparents had been born and from which they emigrated to Argentina during the interwar period, leaving behind most of the family, unaware of the horror that awaited them.

Bogdan impressed me in a resounding way. I didn´t know that there could be people like him. His uniqueness was driven by respect and passion, It was a passion for knowledge moved by a deep conviction: getting to know can be a way of doing justice. Tzedek, tzedek tirdof. Bogdan´s ethics was deeply alike to the spirit of our people.

During our stay in Lubaczow we visited the city, the museum, we had lunch at the lake and on the second day he opened for us the doors of his house and the boxes of the documents he treasured. We were allowed to see the signature of my great-grandfather Meyer Walzer. It sounds small but for us it was huge . My father and I hug each other with joy.

At the time Bogdan was studying Hebrew with some cassettes while driving his car. He always smiled to us and also comforted me when I couldn't hold back my tears in the Ghetto area. He was a little younger than me, but he made me feel as a well-protected child at that moment.

I was convinced we would see each other again one day, but now I know that it won't happen.

As Jews we should honor people like Bogdan in the highest possible way and I, being a secular person, will say kaddish for him once I finish this text.

A Tzadik have passed away, may the enormous and beautiful heavens welcome his soul with tenderness.

Photos Alejandra sent from the trip back in 2014.