Last Tuesday we spent over 5 hours in
Brzesko together with Dov Landau, film director Mateusz Kuda and cameraman
Łukaz Herod, filming Dov. We walked the streets of the city and Mr. Landau talked
about Jews who used to live in Brzesko
At the beginning, we entered the house in the
Market Square, where Mr. Landau had been born. It was an extremely moving
experience – the stairs in the house were the same as 80 years ago, and in the
sidewall we saw a wooden storage in which Dov’s mother had been keeping her
preserves. At least some of these pots and bottles looked like they had been
there since the war time…
As Dov was sharing, I felt as if those people
murdered almost 80 years ago, were coming back from oblivion. An elderly lady
from whom Dov had been daily buying milk for his younger brothers. Attorney
Daiches, who bought a tenament at the Market square together with Dov’s
grandfather, Lobl Landau. Teacher Mandel, whose lessons of Hebrew Dov had been
attending as a little boy. A tenant of a house in the Market Square, who fell
ill and therefore could not escape during the action on June 18, 1942. Mr.
Landau does not remember his last name, but this man was called Israel. He was
shot in his bed, and his wife and daughters were deported to Bełżec. Mr Sznur,
owner of a taproom (is that the right word?) at Kościuszki street, who was shot
because he had not understood the Germans’ demands …
For over 5 hours Mr. Landau – who will turn 91 in
less than 2 months (!) – talked about life in Brzesko before and during the
war. Based on these materials Mateusz Kudła will make a film, and I want to use
this occasion so that to invite all of you to the premiere which will take
place during our next March of Remembrance, on September 15, 2019. The film
will be in Polish with English subtitles.
My gratitude goes first of all to Mr. Landau, but
also to the film director and the cameraman.
Anna Brzyska, June 27, 2019
