Memorial Hall of Rudnik Jewish Community

On the initiative of Stanisława Tutka "Save from Oblivion" Foundation named after Stanisława Tutka, on June 12, 2022, in Rudnik nad Sanem, the opening of the Memorial Hall of Rudnik Jewish Community took place. The opening was made by: descendants of the Zucker family – Perets Zucker, his sister Malka and the founders of the "Save from Oblivion" Foundation – Barbara and Piotr Tutka. The Memorial Hall of Rudnik Jewish Community is dedicated to the Jews of Rudnik who lived in Rudnik nad Sanem until 1939.

 

Speech by Peretz Zucker

June 12, 2022

Dear ladies and gentlemen,

Today, we are very excited to mark the opening of the Memorial Hall in its permanent location dedicated to the commemoration of the Jewish community that lived in Rudnik nad Sanem for many years.

My family and I have just come from Israel in honor of this special event.

My sister Malka Ita Amalia Zucker and I, Perets Arie Leib Zucker, children of Moshe Eliyahu Zucker, named after our late grandparents, descendants of the Zucker family who lived in Rudnik for several generations until the outbreak of World War II and Nazi German invasion of Poland.

Here with me, my dear wife Irit, who is also a second-generation Holocaust survivor, and my niece Liron, who is a third-generation Holocaust survivor.

In September 1939 our family was expelled from Rudnik by the Nazi Germans to the east and made a long journey around the former USSR and other countries.

This journey lasted about 9 years over thousands of kilometers, which our family went through as destitute refugees, persecuted, hungry, sick and humiliated.

The mother of the family, our grandmother, Malka, Ita Amalia, may she rest in peace, did not survive the hardships of the journey and she perished on the way. Only recently, after 80 years and many efforts, her burial place has been located.

For us, the establishment of the Memorial Hall for the Jewish community is an important and special event of closing the circle and connecting to the roots of the Jewish community in general and the roots of our family in particular.

It is very exciting for us that the place of the memorial hall is adjacent to the house where our family lived.

We would like to express our full appreciation and gratitude to all the respected parties who have contributed, supported and assisted in this wonderful project.

We would like to express our special thanks and appreciation to the Stanisław Tutka Foundation and its leaders Dr. Barbara Tutka and Prof. Piotr Tutka for their hard and dedicated initiative and hard work over several years in researching, locating information, gathering materials and organizing this permanent memorial hall.

In particular, I would like to personally express my full appreciation to them for the special and exciting privilege of honoring me and allowing me to be a full partner in helping to set up the exhibition and even inviting me and my family to attend this exciting ceremony.

We would also like to thank the dear Mayor Rudnik and council members for their support and assistance in approving the place and its organization.

At this opportunity, I would also like to express my gratitude to my dear wife Irit, who has accompanied me for a long time in an emotional and complex journey of exploring family roots and has helped me in the most professional way to contribute our part in setting up the exhibition.

I hope that this wonderful project will set an example for similar initiatives and projects to commemorate other Jewish communities throughout Poland.

With your permission, I will quote from the vision of the prophet Isaiah:
"… and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore".

Thank you very much and we hope to see you in Israel.

Perets Zucker

 

Photo gallery from the opening of the Memorial Hall