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