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  • Dr. Heidi M. Szpek’s new book, Pillar of Sorrow: The Story of the Memorial Pillar to the Victims of the 1906 Pogrom and two 1905 Massacres in Bialystok, is now available in paperback and Kindle at Amazon.com. This volume tells the story of the memorial pillar just recently restored by the BCRF. Included are a background story of the pogrom and massacres told through the lens of the pillar and surrounding memorial tombstones, the early history of the pillar, vandalization and theft of the pillar, restoration of the pillar as well as a translation of the inscriptions on the pillar.
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  • August 13, 2023. Bialystok, Poland. “For years it was said that there were matzevot in the hill. For years, however, no one undertook to check it. The topic was taken up only by Americans who have been conducting restoration works at the Jewish cemetery at Wschodnia Street for years.” READ: The memory of Jewish Bialystok restored by Americans (wyborcza.pl)
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A man in black shirt standing next to woman.
(May 2023) Jewish Heritage Europe reports: Poland: Miejsce, a small Jewish museum, opens in Białystok, spearheaded by longtime Jewish heritage activist Tomasz Wiśniewski
Visit Miejsce or https://www.jewishbialystok.pl/
     

 

 

 

Press Release. Discovery of Mound Matzevoth. Bialystok, Poland, August 2022
     

 

(August 2022) – “The USA-based 501c3 non-profit organization, Bialystok Cemetery Restoration, Fund would like to announce an extremely important discovery of significant importance to the Jewish history of Bialystok, Poland.” 

PRESS RELEASE 08182022 BIALYSTOK CEMETERY HEADSTONES DISCOVERED R2 pdf

     

 

 

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A lapidarium of the Jewish Cemetery will be built on Central Park.
     

 

(August 2022) – “A lapidarium of the Jewish cemetery, which was buried after World War II, will be created in Central Park on Kalinowskiego Street. Matzevot found on Boya-Å»eleÅ„skiego Street, which have just come from the Jewish cemetery in the city center, will go there.” (Read the Story)

     

 

 

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Bialystok. Matzevoth from the Jewish Cemetery will return to their place.
     

 

(August 2022) – “The center of Bialystok will be the place where a lapidarium of the Jewish cemetery, where the Central Park was created, can be built.” (Read the Story)

     

 

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Discovery in a neighborhood square. 100 valuable tombstones were unearthed
     

 

(August 2022) – “Discovery in a neighborhood square. 100 valuable tombstones unearthed” (Read the Story)

     

 

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Who is Miriam, daughter of Yehuda?
     

 

(August 2022) – “Bialystok. Sensational discovery from the early 19th Century in a mound next to the Jewish Cemetery on Wschodnia Street.”(Read the Story)

     

 

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Righting A Wrong     

 

(May 2019) – “For the past two summers, Ali Flagler ’17 has helped bring dignity and visibility to the Bagnowka Jewish Cemetery in Bialystok, Poland.”
 (Read the Story)

 A man in black shirt standing next to woman.Restoring Her Family’s World War II Jewish Cemetery in Poland     

 

(May 2019) – “Poland was always on my bucket list, but I never expected to spend my summers there volunteering to restore a Jewish cemetery.” (Read the Story in the May 2019 Edition [link to internal blog feature])

A man in black shirt standing next to woman.Goffstown woman works to help restore Jewish cemetery     

 

(February 2019) – “Local, Vivianne Schill, fulfilling a long-held dream to participate in international community service.”  (Read the Story)

     

 

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Lessons Learned From Visiting Bialystok Cemetery     

 

(January 2019) – “What visiting one of Poland’s ‘invisible’ cemeteries taught me about the Holocaust in a way no documentary could.”  (Read the Story)

      

 

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Righting a Wrong     

 

(November 2018) – “Why New Hampshire’s Ali Flagler spent her summer vacation in a Jewish cemetery.” (Read the Story – Page 21)

A logo of the company yilnasPolish Jewry Today     

 

(February 2018) – “Amy and Josh Degen, of the Bialystok Cemetery Restoration Project, join Poland’s Honorary Consul General to discuss the resurgence of Jewish culture in Poland today.” (Read more)

      

 

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Report: 2017 Bialystok Jewish Cemetery Restoration Project     

 

(November 2017) – “One section of the cemetery designated for restoration offered a literal puzzle of tombstone bases and tops to be painstakingly sorted per this cemetery’s burial patterns.” (Read the Story)

A boston globe logo with the word " the boston globe ".Restoration effort returns dignity to Jewish cemetery in Poland     

 

(January 2017) – “What we’re doing is a drop in the bucket in global terms, but doing something to restore the cemetery’s dignity has been very meaningful.” (Read the Story)

      

 

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Preserving the Past     

 

(December 2016) – “If our grandfather did not leave Bialystok for the United States in 1928, we probably never would have been born.” (Read the Story)

      

 

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Groton couple restoring Jewish cemetery in Poland     

 

(August 2016) – “Amy and Josh Degen would be hard pressed to call their 12-day trip to Poland a vacation.” (Read the Story)

      

 

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Restoration of Jewish cemetery to preserve a vanishing heritage     

 

(July 2016) – “Bialystok is like much of Eastern Europe in that it has Jewish cultural festivals and memorials, but very few Jewish people.” (Read the Story)