In June 2021, leaders of the Gąbin community, including Mayor Krzysztof Jadczak, joined with Polish and global Jewish leaders, including Poland’s Chief Rabbi Michael Shudrich, to unveil a placard recognizing the Jewish community that existed in Gąbin for hundreds of years and prayed in its historic wooden synagogue.
Jewish Plaque in Gąbin town square in both Polish and English. Engraved photographs are either historical images or photos of Wasilewski’s model synagogue reconstruction.
Gombin Rabbi and Mayor during the Gombin Marker unveiling ceremony on June 9th, 2021 in Gąbin, Poland. Photo credit to Michal Sroka.
A plaque commemorating the Jewish community of Gąbin was unveiled in the Old Market Square on June 9, 2021. The installation was an initiative of the Gombin Jewish Historical and Genealogical Society and the Mayor of Gąbin. Thanks to online communication, descendants of Gąbin’s Jews and others from all over the world participated in this emotional, historical moment. Engraved photographs are either historical images or photos of Wasilewski’s model synagogue reconstruction.
Jewish people lived in Gąbin from the 15th century until the Second World War when the Synagogue was burned down and the remaining Jewish community was murdered in the Holocaust. Gąbin had been a multicultural town where Jews lived mainly in peace with Polish, Ethnic German, “Hollander” and other ethnicities.
The unveiling was attended by many guests, including the Chief Rabbi of Poland Michael Schudrich, the Mayor of Gąbin Krzysztof Jadczak, and the designer of the plaque Wojciech Wasilewski. All speakers stressed the importance of dialogue, mutual understanding, and multiculturalism in today’s world. The event can be summarized in the words of Gombin’s renowned Jewish poet, Rejzel Żychliska: “I want to walk here once more on the grass and weep to the sky and to the wind that howls in my face.”
View a webcam that looks out over the Old Town Market Square and captures the Jewish Plaque.
The unveiling ceremony was featured in an article from the Nasz Gabin website: “Żyjemy nadal- odsłonięcie Tablicy Pamięci Społeczności Żydowskiej Gąbina” (English: “We go on living- the unveiling of the plaque commemorating the Jewish community of Gąbin “).
Read the original Polish version of the article and view the photo collection.
Read the article translated to English.
