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Dariusz Popiela raises funds for a special memorial

Dariusz Popiela raises funds for a special memorial 20.2.2018

Dariusz Popiela, Polish kayaker who won silver medal in men’s K1 individual event and bronze medal in men’s team event at last year's Canoe Slalom European Championships, is active also outside the competition arena and has become involved in a special project. Together with his friends he is raising money to restore the memory of the murdered Jews of Krościenko, a village in Southern Poland.


Although he is not Jewish himself he was appalled witnessing the condition of the cemetery which was ruined during the World War II and remained in poor condition until now. Nazis used the gravestones for floorboards and the gravestones were never replaced, while the few remaining memorials and symbols have been desecrated repeatedly.
 
With strong determination to restore the memory Dariusz immersed himself in research to find the names of all the Jews murdered in this village between 1939 (when Germans invaded Poland), and 1942, when the last Jews left the area. The plan is not only to build a memorial with the victim’s names, but also to build a new fence around the cemetery since the current one is in a bad condition.
 
“Probably multiple reasons are responsible, but the fact is that there are many people in Krościenko who are trying to change this state of things and have already taken some effort to save this only sign of the late citizens’ existence,” said Popiela.

 

 

Source: http://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/polish-olympian-raising-funds-to-repair-jewish-cemetery/

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