To visit the Jewish cemetery in the district of Brodno was one of the most impressive experiences during my trip to Warsaw in December. Some days ago I received the scans of the film negatives. Here is a first selection of the black and white photos.
The cemetery of Brodno was devastated during the German occupation, but it were the Communist postwar authorities who destroyed it finally. The grave stones were torn out and collated at a central point. Today this part of the cemetery is a sea of grave stones. Some of the stones were assigned as building material. They were used for pavilions in parks or as a mount for a Soviet Memorial. What has been done to objects – in this case grave stones – speaks until today about the violence that was done to the people. Brodno cemetery remains a puzzle that no one can put together. Destruction is something very sustainable.
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Thank you for another impressive and moving blog entry.
Have your travels taken you to Tarlow, Poland or that vicinity? If so, do you have any photos of that area?
Thank you.
Hello Martin,
No, I have not been to Tarlow yet. Maybe one day…
Hi, I’ve learned of your work from Virtual Shtetl. I live in Argentina with my family who are all polish jews descendants, some of them Holocaust survivors. I thank for your work and for making it public. I hope to visit some places in Poland in the future, meantime your photos are an inspiring journey.
Best regards,
Andrea Szapiro
Hi Andrea, thank you for your touching comment! If the photos are inspiring, they reached more than I hoped they would. Best wishes to you and good luck for future trips!
Christian