27.06.2019 | Redaktor

Documentary based on Dov Landau’s testimonies

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

At the balcony of the house where Dov Landau was born.
Wooden storage where Dov Landau’s mother had been keeping her preserves
Wooden storage where Dov Landau’s mother had been keeping her preserves
By Talmud Torah building at Długa street
By the synagogue building at Puszkina, former Łazienna street
At the central market square (Rynek) in Brzesko