Ulanow follow-up

In June 2012, Marla Raucher Osborn recounted how a local man, an avid collector and local historian named Janusz Dąbek, had created a small but impressive museum with a Jewish permanent exhibition in  Ulanów, a small town in southeastern Poland between Zamosc and Rzeszow. See her original post here.

Ms Raucher Osborn now provides a follow up to her earlier report, with further information about the museum and other issues:

Ulanow update

By Marla Raucher Osborn

December 30, 2012

Following my June 2012 visit to the town and the publication of my article by Jewish Heritage Europe, I heard from a number of American Jewish genealogists with roots in Ulanów. Several of these people expressed desire to contact Janusz Dąbek, the local man and founder of the Ulanów historical museum with the small but impressive collection of pre-War Jewish memorabilia. At least one of those who contacted me, Lisa Dashman, made a visit to the town two months after my own visit, arriving with her husband and a hired Polish translator.

Janusz guided them around the town pointing out buildings of Jewish significance and history, showed them the former Jewish cemetery, and provided a tour of his Museum. Afterward, the Dashman group was invited back to Janusz’s home where they, too, had a chance to examine the 1930s era Ulanów ledger of residents (only surnames A to G still exists). Lisa later wrote : « Although I had the house number of my grandmother’s parents, we could not locate it. There exists a cadastral map of Ulanów showing property numbers, but apparently no street map showing house numbers. However, Mr. Dabek informed me very recently that another municipal map has been found…. » Obtaining a copy of this newly found municipal map would be most welcome to those of us with family connections to Ulanów. Since my visit last June, there is renewed life in the Jewishgen shtetlinks page for the town (headed by Susana Leistner Bloch) and it is hoped that with this renewed interest, a copy of the map will be sought out. Susana has also promised to update the town page to include the Dashman visit and my article and photos.

Following the Dashman visit I received several emails from Janusz. One  one expressed his delight and gratitude over hearing from several Americans who hope to visit the town in 2013 and see the Museum and its Judaica objects. A man named Nathan Landburt from Canada also recently telephoned Janusz after reading my article in Jewish Heritage Europe. Their common language: Polish. This man was apparently born in Ulanow but spent the war in Siberia. Afterward he moved from Berlin to Canada. Today Mr. Landburt is 84 years old. Janusz told me he mailed Mr. Landburt several historic postcards of Ulanów after their conversation. In turn, Mr. Landburt sent Janusz a check. This donation was applied toward cleaning the Jewish cemetery. Janusz hopes to obtain enough donations to someday soon get a protective fence built around the Jewish cemetery. He also said he was planning a new exhibit for the Museum. This exhibit would be dedicated to Ulanów’s former Jewish community and would coincide with the 70th anniversary of the destruction of town’s Jews under Nazi occupation.

In late November 2012, I received another email from Janusz, this time to let me know that there is now a page on the Virtual Shtetl for Ulanów:  http://www.sztetl.org.pl/en/city/ulanow/ (I have contributed my Jewish Heritage Europe article as well as my photos from our visit to this page, for the photos, see: http://www.pbase.com/nuthatch/pl_120607_ulanow_m )I encourage others with photos, family stories, and information about the town of Ulanów to do the same!

Finally, while writing this follow-up, I learned that the School of Dialogue did their second project in the Ulanów Middle School. The students are developing a tourist guide to Jewish Ulanow. Here again is the link to Jewishgen’s page for the town: http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Kolbuszowa/Ulanow/sl_ulanow.htm