Our family home in Poland

1 year ago
29

Before the Polish cop came down to "get rid of the Jews" I explored the home or the remnants of the home I knew was my family home in Parczew Poland.
Both Sol and I walked around the area taking photos. I tried to come to terms with the fact that this was the only linkage I had to my ancestral families past. It's very difficult to swallow that a bunch of murderers could come into this town and uproot more than half the inhabitants condemning nearly all of them to brutal treatment followed by a brutal death. Consider also that most of those peoples families had lived in the town for decades and probably even several centuries.
Their crime was the fact that they were Jews.
In this video I was angrily waffling on and in the end I spoke the following in "Mama Loshen" (Yiddish)...
"may they all be burned to a crisp, the Germans and the Poles and may they all be completely wiped out for what they perpetrated".

After the Polish cop came down and revealed his identity. After I cooled the situation with the property owners to the satisfaction of all, the Polish cop asked..."what are you doing now?"
Sol expected me to tell him we are now leaving for Lublin.
I told the cop I want to go to the Jewish Cemetery in Parczew. Sol was freaking out a little knowing it would be best if we just left. He was correct of course but something was telling me to press the issue a little further.
The cop immediately said you can follow me, I will take you there. So we did. We followed this Polish pig to a large Christian Cemetery. He had taken us somewhere I definitely did not need to see. Was it done purposely? I'm sure it was.
When we arrived there he asked me..."Is this OK?" I told him yes this is fine. I gave him a small token of our appreciation, a small wrist band with an Australian flag on it. I wanted him to remember us. I wanted him to remember the Jews still live.
I wanted him to know we are everywhere despite the nazis, despite the collaborative Poles.
I told him thank you for your help but we need to head out to Lublin. Talk about being escorted out of town.
As I rode away from Parczew with Sol behind me I began crying in my helmet. My mind simply said "you are leaving the family behind". Irrational thoughts purveyed my consciousness but I had no control. This was the first of many such outbursts of tears and regret that accompanied me on this harrowing but important journey.

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