Monument to 12,000 Shoah victims unveiled in Nowy Sącz

The monument was unveiled on Sunday (August 28) on the culmination of the 80th anniversary of deportation and extermination of Jews from Nowy Sącz to Bełżec death camp. The Shoah Victims Memorial Square is located within the boundaries of the former ghetto, close to the synagogue.

The concrete walls of the memorial are covered with stone plaques with names and surnames of Holocaust victims inscribed on them. A quotation from the Book of Job can also be found there: "Earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry never be laid to rest".

The unveiling took place on August 28 – a special date for the people of Nowy Sącz. It was on August 28, 1942, exactly 80 years ago, that the last Jews of the city were transported to death camps.

The ceremony was attended by nearly 100 descendants of Jews from the Sądecki Region, who arrived from all parts of the world, local residents and authorities, priests of various religions as well as Israeli, American and German diplomats.

In the final part of the event, the participants jointly read out loud all of the names and surnames listed on the walls of the monument. The youngest of them laid stones with names of victims next to the plaques. The gathered then joined together in Jewish El Malei Rachamim and Kaddish prayers, as well a joint prayer of Christian denominations.

The German death camp in Bełżec was a centre of extermination for the Jewish people. From March to December 1942 about 450 thousand people were murdered there, most of whom were Polish Jews as well as the Jewish deportees from Germany, Austria, Czechia and Slovakia.