Finally I can share with you something absolutely unique – the film by Mateusz Kudła “Dov Landau: my Brzesko”.
Mr. Landau turned 92 in August; he is the only living Holocaust survivor from Brzesko. In May and June 2019 we (myself, Mateusz Kudła and cameraman Łukasz Herod) spent good several hours In Brzesko together with Mr Landau. Dov spoke about his childhood and war-time experiences. Although his entire family perished in the Holocaust, his memories are full of not only nostalgia, but also love, and these stories bring back from oblivion life that is no longer there:
“Every Saturday after supper, we would go together with Daddy to sing some Hebrew songs… When Daddy was going to pray, my brother and I would walk with him and everyone would say, Benjamin and his choir are going to pray. I remember those compliments. I was a child at the time, 7 or 10 years old…
This light-coloured building belonged to my uncle Eliezer Landau. Very nice big apartment. The weddings of all my aunts were organized here…
And on the right there was a confectionery belonging to Neuman. There were two stores, Neuman and Silberman…
There was a lady who had two cows in this yard. My mother sent me every day or every other day to bring two or three litres of milk for the children. We were four brothers at home and she needed milk. She would give me a three-litre pot and I went to this lady for milk. She would pour milk into the pot, straight into the pot…
My great-grandfather lived in this house. He had a lime pit and sold the lime to anyone who wanted to paint their house for the Holy Days…
Here was a synagogue of the Hasidim. We prayed here with Daddy and grandfather. And rabbi Mosze Lipschitz prayed here. The best company…
They set that big synagogue on fire. They put all the Torah scrolls and books for the bimah inside and threw in two grenades to set it on fire. The sky turned black. It burned the whole night. We cried all week long. It was a week or two before the New Year…”
Mateusz Kudła created a very touching film based on these stories of Mr. Landau. I cordially invite you to watch it. The film is in Polish with English subtitles.
And we wish Dov Landau many more years of good health, lots of energy and optimism! And hope to meet again in Brzesko!
© Anna Brzyska, 2020