Going Back to Where it all Began

Today we spent a few hours driving towards the past, probably the only ones in our family who have ever gone back to Szydlow, Rakow and Potok.

Szydlow's official 2006 population is listed as 4,904, but includes 41.5 sq miles. Within the walls of Szydlow, during our 90 minute visit, we saw about 10 people!?

Szydlow Coat of Arms

The legend of Szydlow is interesting. How did Szydlow get it's name?

"Szydło was his name. He was the leader of a band attacking merchant caravans and other travellers. The high road was considered dangerous because of the highwaymen. They robbed travellers of valuables which they stashed in nearby caverns. One time Szydło's bunch attacked a royal retinue and a fighting ensued between highwaymen and royal troopers. The king knelt down on a nearby hill and began to pray. He vowed to build a church there, if the God brought a victory. And the attackers were crushed down. Szydło was taken prisoner and led the king to a cavern with robbed treasures. The king made a donation of the treasure to erect a church and founded a settlement that was named after the highwayman Szydło." (http://www.szydlow.pl/index_en.php?id=foreign/en/history)

Enroute we thought we would take a slight detour to Pinczow, where the local archives are located to see if we could get my Grandmother's birth record.  Good plan...the archive closed a while ago. Oops...oh well I do now have a direct number to call, which I can do from home at a later date. Kind of disappointing, but we tried.

Good News...Made it to Polish Archives Office
Bad News....it's Been Long Since Closed!

A Better View of the Archive Office

As excited as we were, we thought we probably should get lunch somewhere before hitting the open road.  We asked around and found out there was a restaurant in Chmielnik that served Jewish food. That sounded cool, it was on the way, and hey...we are in Poland, so let's try anything.

The Famous (kind of) Cymes Jewish Style Restaurant in Chmielnik

The inside of Cymes seemed cozy and immediately after we came in, the marketing machine of an owner and manager, turned on the Jewish music to accompany our meal.

Cozy and Intentionally Targeted to Jewish Customers

Always time for another group shot before eating.

Michael, Anna and Myer in Cymes Restaurant

We spent some time checking out the all Polish menu, and even with Anna's help couldn't decide what to order, so the owner offered to bring us an assortment of delicacies.  Yes, we should have shared one plate! Wait to you see what they brought us.....

Yes this is Supposed to be Lunch...Are you Kidding Me?

Now I like food just as much as the next guy, and maybe more, but that is a ridiculous amount of food. I should mention that we each had a bowl of chicken soup first.  THEN we got this huge plate of food. Let's see what we have here...goose stomach (skipped that one), dumplings. koogle meatloaf, coleslaw, carrots and other salad, and a few other things which I can't identify (but did try).

Myer is Stunned, but the Good News is...
He Did Order a Diet Coke!

Before we left, the owner asked us to sign a release.  No, I'm kidding. He asked us to sign a guest registry - I told you he was a marketing machine.

Myer Reading Michael's Comments and Signing The Registry

We did enjoy the experience and I left a nice note!

What I Wrote in the Registry at Cymes Restaurant

A quick note about Chmielnik - before the war apparently 8,000 out of the 12,000 residents were Jewish. This fact relayed to us by the owner of Cymes Restaurant.

Time to hit the road.  Although we should have jogged off the lunch, we still decided to drive, so we started with Szydlow, which was 130km and about a 2 hour drive from Krakow.  After spending months viewing images and reading a lot about Szydlow, I would finally see and hopefully feel a bit what it must have been like for them.

Szydlow is the town where my Grandfather who was born in 1900 was born. In fact, my Grandfather Philip, whose Jewish/Polish name was Fajwel left Szydlow on August 25, 1929 for Canada on a ship called the Lithuania, which landed in Halifax.

Many generations of Betels were born in Szydlow:

Fajwel's Parents Yechiel Myer Betel (born 1861) and his wife Zelda nee Krawczyk
Yechiel's parents Josek (pronounced Yossel) Betel (born 1822) and his wife Gela nee Warga
Josek's parents Nuta Betel (not sure of birth date yet) and his wife Ruchla nee Goldberg

So, as far as I know at least 4 generations going back to probably around 1780 or so have been in the same small Medieval Village called Szydlow.

Szydlow 1869 (http://www.szydlow.pl/index_en.php?id=foreign/en/history)

Two hundred and thirty years later we made it back!

Szydlow From Afar

We parked our car and headed for the front gate of Szydlow, called the Krakow Gate.  At one time there were 3 gates to enter Krakow, now, only one remains.

Want to read more about the Krakow Gate?  "The main structure of the gate is from the 14th century, upper storeys were rebuilt in the Renaissance style at the beginning of the 16th century. It has an attic and two circular towers. There are two rectangular windows between the bays of the storey, and four embrasures in semicircular bays of the attic. Stone stairs in the western wall led to a sentry walkway running along the town walls. The projecting part of the gate has a vaulted arch that used to house an iron portcullis that closed the gate from the inside and was connected to a drawbridge. From the outside, the gate had oaken doors. A square foregate that protruded outside and was connected with the gate itself by means of so called neck was an additional protection of the entrance, protecting a chain drawbridge." http://www.szydlow.pl/index_en.php?id=foreign/en/cracgate

Krakow Gate of Szydlow

On our way to the Synagogue we checked out the canon protecting this medieval village.

Canon Near the Museum in Krakow

Next we headed to the synagogue.  Here is a bit more about the Synagogue "The synagogue is in the northern part of the medieval town. It was built from broken stone in the middle of the 16th century. Stuccos and paintings from the 18th century are still to see today. The building was build on a rectangular plan, a wooden outbuilding was added later on the western side with a gallery for women on the first floor. There is a vestibule on the ground floor. Arched windows, buttresses, attic and strong walls, about 2 m thick, made the synagogue kind of a small fortress.

Inside the synagogue there is Aaron ha-Kodesh - a place where a rabbi put in the Torah after prayers were over. Under plaster, there are remains of wall-paintings and inscriptions of few dates. One of the dates is on the vault under the former bema (raised platform for reading from holy books) between pillars is 1699, the other one on the southern wall next to the name of Jehuda Lejb is 1784. This is the evidence that the synagogue was renovated.

  In the eastern wall, there was a late Renaissance (beginning of the 17th century) altar for the Pentateuch rolls (holy books). At the entrance at the western wall there are rectangular bays to house the fire and coin-box.

  The synagogue features an exhibition of artefacts connected with the Jewish culture, and in particular holy books and sacred objects. One can see a four-metre high statue of Moses holding the Decalogue and 18 brass bass-reliefs with scenes form the Old Testament by the Polish sculptor Prof. Gustaw Zemła. " http://www.szydlow.pl/index_en.php?id=foreign/en/synagogue"

Szydlow Synagogue (built 1534-1564)

One story says..."having an affair with a Jewess Esterka, the king founded in Szydłów one of the first synagogues in Poland." http://przewodnik.kurort24.pl/punkt.php?jk=en&tr=12&pt=2

Interior of Synagogue

The Synagogue was filled with interesting relics such as Torahs, silver Torah pointers, tombstones from the original cemetery, and local artwork.

Lots of Items on Display in the Synagogue

The cemetery of Szydlow is no longer being used and there are no markings or even a way to find the exact location. But, here in the Synagogue/museum they do have a few headstones on display.

Cemetery Headstones Rescued from the Destroyed Cemetery

One thing I wanted to point out. Both Myer and I were astonished at the amount of construction and renovation of Szydlow.  The roads, buildings, and surrounding walls are all being reconstructed, renewed, or repaired.  This felt kind of strange because we both somehow expected to see what it must have been like in 1920.  Change is inevitable everywhere.  Apparently the last major reservation took place in 1946.

After checking out every inch of Szydlow, we decided to launch a relentless search for the Jewish cemetery.  We asked the oldest person we could find and they gave us directions to a spot on the other side of the river on the way to Chmielnik on the right hand side of the road (I think I found it - hard to tell since there are no markings whatsoever).

We Think This is the Original Cemetery Location

Another View of What we Think is the Cemetery Location

After leaving Szydlow we headed straight for Rakow.

"This wilderness became more civilised and populated when Jan Sienieński of the Dębno coat of arms, who was the Żarnów castellan an a devoted believer of John Calvin theories, established the town of Raków in 1567. The name was to commemorate his wife’s coat of arms – Rak (known also as Borowa, Warna or Warnia), depicting a crayfish."  http://pio.wrota-swietokrzyskie.pl/web/guest/606

It turned out to be a cute little village with a town square. Apparently one of the stores around the square was where my family had a business.

Rakow Town Square 

Rakow Town Square

One town to go...Potok. We went from largest to smallest.  Potok is where my Grandmother (Bubbie) grew up.

A funny thing happened on the 5km drive to Potok - actually within the village itself.  You know the joke: Why did the chicken cross the road?  I think that joke started here.

These chickens were playing chicken with us!

The owner did not appreciate that we even considered rushing the chickens as they crossed the road.

This chicken owner was not too happy with us.

Ok, so there wasn't much to Potok, but we did go.

Time to head back for our 2 hour commute to Krakow and yes...dinner!

Wierzynek Restaurant - Boy Were we Hungry?!?

So that was our day visiting the land of our forefathers in Poland.

Tomorrow is the big one - Schindler's Factory, Auschwitz and Birkenau. So, since it is again 1:45 in the morning and I fulfilled my promise of blogging, I need to sleep.

Zzzzzzzzz...till tomorrow.....Goodnight