“People, not Numbers” project

Dariusz Popiela, a whitewater canoeist and Olympian from Nowy Sącz, has been restoring the memory of Jewish victims of the Holocaust in southern Poland for several years. In 2018, he realized the first edition of the project "People, not numbers" in Krościenko nad Dunajcem, where a monument was erected to commemorate the local community murdered during the Holocaust. In 2019, a similar project was implemented in Grybów.

The third edition of the project was carried out in Czarny Dunajec in 2020. As part of the action, a central monument and two stone plaques with the names and ages of 494 victims of the Holocaust from Czarny Dunajec and the surrounding towns, as well as two monuments (large white matzevot) placed at four mass graves, which were identified and secured with the help of the Rabbinic Commission for Cemeteries.

Restoration of the Jewish cemetery

The Jewish cemetery in Czarny Dunajec was established in the second half of the 19th century. For many years after the war, the area deteriorated and fell into ruin. One matzevot was left in the cemetery, most of the tombstones were overgrown with grass. The first cleaning action of the Jewish cemetery in Czarny Dunajec took place in 2016 on the initiative of Michał Szaflarski. At that time, the commune office, students and teachers from the local school, as well as volunteers from Podhale and other regions of Poland helped in the work. From 2016, the cleaning campaign took place every year, with time more and more people joined it until 2020, when the cemetery underwent a huge change thanks to the project "People, not numbers".

Holocaust anniversary commemoration

The first ceremony dedicated to the memory of Jews who once lived in Czarny Dunajec and the surrounding villages, and mostly died in the Holocaust, took place during the unveiling of the monument on October 11, 2020 as part of the "People not numbers" project. On August 29, 2022, on the 80th anniversary of the Holocaust of the Jews from Czarny Dunajec, another ceremony was held at the Jewish cemetery. Descendants also came to Czarny Dunajec for the first time. The next celebrations will take place every year on August 28 - a day that is a symbolic end of the Jewish community in Czarny Dunajec.