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Post war experiences of Bodzentyn
 
 
”I went here to find family vital records and was introduced to a very elderly (non-Jewish) man who had made a study of the former Jewish community. He told us of a Jewish cemetery. By car, we went to the outskirts of this very poor town to an area where new homes are being built. Nearby was a very steep hill that we climbed. The area was untouched. We wound our way through trees, weeds; grass over our knees, and stumps and brambles. Beautiful wildflowers and wild raspberries covered the area. Much to my amazement, we were shown an old undisturbed Jewish cemetery containing 81 unmolested tombstones. Many of the stones were illegible but others could be read. Most were still standing. The area would have to be cleared of 50 years of natural growth in order to document this cemetery. It covered an area of perhaps 4 acres; and the view from the top of this hill was extraordinary. Perhaps, the cemetery survived because of its isolated location. Now that housing is going up to the base of the hill, how long will it survive?”

- Betty Starkman (February 1998, USA)
 
 

 
 
“I visited Bodzentyn 3 summers ago and discovered the cemetery, a very fine cemetery with beautiful engravings on the tombstones. Much of the shrubbery had been cleared away by schoolchildren, so that the tombstones were visible. We spoke with their teacher. A Polish friend from Krakow who took us to Bodzentyn stopped her on the street to ask the way to the cemetery and they started talking. She was a young woman who taught in primary school. I asked myself then, what could be done to preserve the cemetery.”

- Susan Vaillant
(May 2008, France)
 
 

 
 
“In 1957 I went to Bodzentyn. I was hiding first, after I arrived. I didn't want to say that I was a Jew. After the war there was this incident with one Jew, who had a store next to the seminary. He had been in Auschwitz, and survived. Noach Binsztok was his name. When he was liberated he went to see his house and store and the Poles killed him.
[…]
When I went to Bodzentyn right after the war, this Jewish cemetery was still there, but all the mazevot had been destroyed. And there was only one grave which was left, also falling apart a bit. This was my grandfather's friend's grave. He was a Jew, an old man, a highly respected person in town; he had a Requests and Applications Office. His name was Lajder Chmielnicki. I don't remember when and how he died.”
[…]
I came back to get the birth certificates, all the documents that everyone’s dead, death certificates and all that, I had to arrange it. I didn't say anything to anyone. I slept near the cemetery. There was this old woman there, a widow, Jacwiong was her name. She let me sleep on straw for 15 zloty. I spent the night, got out in the morning. I didn't want to say anything then. I started to gradually recognize the neighbors, Poles, because there were no Jews left by then. No one recognized me. I was wearing a normal hat. I don't have a hooked nose. Finally I revealed who I was. After half an hour the entire town knew that Josek's son had come back. And Josek was god for them. So when I came to Bodzentyn I saw that everyone was very glad to see me and I started remembering where everything was. I sniffed around there, where my family had lived before the occupation.”