Greeting to the gathering for the Dawid Rubinowicz Days from Goldie Szachter

I wish to extend my deepest heartfelt greetings on this wonderful occasion. I am deeply grateful to Ewa Wymark, Jan Palysiewicz, as well as Mayor Krak and the Bodzentyn municipality for having made every effort to make it possible for my husband and me to be with you today. Unfortunately, my chronic back pain has made it impossible for me to take advantage of their most generous efforts. Of course, I have extremely fond memories of Bodzentyn.

My childhood memories are very deep and constitute some of the happiest times of my life. I can never forget the many times my family and I celebrated the Jewish holy days in the synagogue on Wysola Street. Nor can I ever forget the many times I played in and around the Zamek with family and friends, or the wonderful spring and summer strolls with my parents through the meadows and forests which once existed behind the mill, or the exhilarating sled rides through the snows with my siblings during the winters, and so much more. Sadly, all this came to a tragic end when Nazi Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, igniting World War II. The Nazis brutally oppressed the Poles, particularly the intelligentsia, although all Poles suffered severely, resulting in the perishing of countless innocent victims. The Jews, however, were singled out for total extermination of every man, woman and child, resulting in the systematic sadistic torture and slaughter of 90% of the 3,300,000 pre-World War II Jewish population.

I wish to personally congratulate Mayor Krak, the Bodzentyn municipality and the Dawid Rubinowicz Society for their extraordinary efforts in planning this momentous occasion. The establishment of the Dawid Rubinowicz Museum is an absolutlely noble gesture on the part of all responsible for it, as it perpetuates the memory of the Jewish Community which existed and thrived there for at least a century. The renovation of the Jewish Cemetery touches me even more personally, inasmuch as both my grandmothers, my maternal great-grandfather Alter Szachter and his wife, as well as numerous other relatives lie buried there.

I would have loved to have witnessed the play based on my memoirs, and I wish to thank and congratulate all who worked to prepare and perform it.

Thank you all for all you have done.

With deep gratitude,

Sholom and Goldie