The images below have been collected from various individuals and researchers who have obtained (or taken) photographs of the Bircza area, or images relating to the community. At the right of the page, you will find an index for the photographs, separating them by category. Large pictures have been reduced in size to fit below; to view the full size, click on the photo. Information about the origin of the pictures (such as the photographer) is included below each one; these individuals own the rights to these images and must be contacted if you intend to distribute or reproduce them. If you have any images of this region, please contribute them to the website by contacting me. By pooling our resources, we can keep the spirit of qehīlat Bircza alive.

countryside photo #1 This picture was taken on the outskirts of Bircza and shows the type of countryside in which the city is located. Credit: Lilli Rubenov, 2005	countryside photo #2 This picture is a view from the top of Bircza, taken from a high point overlooking the town. Bircza is situated in very pretty countryside. Credit: Linda Grapel-Lipson, 2000
city centre photo #1 Shops and buildings in Bircza’s city centre. Credit: Lilli Rubenov, 2005	city centre photo #2 Shops and buildings in Bircza’s city centre. Credit: Lilli Rubenov, 2005
city centre photo #3 ‘Mirko Market’, one of several shops and buildings in Bircza’s city centre. Credit: Lilli Rubenov, 2005	delicatessen ‘Delikatesy Max’ (‘Max’s Delicatessen’), one of several shops and buildings in Bircza’s city centre, located near the Market Square. Credit: Lilli Rubenov, 2005
market square photo #1 Bircza’s Market Square. Credit: Lilli Rubenov, 2005	market square photo #2 Bircza’s Market Square. Credit: Lilli Rubenov, 2005
market square photo #3 Bircza’s Market Square. One can see the War Memorial on the other side of the street. Credit: Chris Wozniak, 1998	administrative building Bircza’s main administrative building, in the city centre. The town crest can be seen to the right, on the wall. Credit: Lilli Rubenov, 2005
main road photo #1 Houses and shops off a street (‘Ul. Wojska Polskiego’, or ‘Polish Army Road’) that goes from the main road to the Market Square. A sign on the centre building reads: ‘Sklep Wielobranżowy’ (‘General Store’); the building on the right states: ‘Sklep – Spozywczo – Przemysłowy’ (‘Store – Food – Supplies’). Note that this is the same building as the following photo, but taken seven years later (2005). Credit: Lilli Rubenov, 2005	main road photo #2 A street sign on the white building reads: ‘Ul. Wojska Polskiego’ (‘Polish Army Road’). This street goes from the main road to the Market Square. On the side of the road are various houses and shops. Signs on the white house read: ‘Sklep Wielobranżowy’ (‘General Store’) and ‘Sklep – Spozywczo – Przemysłowy – Crystyna Curpiel – Bircza’ (‘Store – Food – Supplies – Crystyna Curpiel – Bircza’). A sign hanging by the door reads: ‘W Sklepach najtaniej’ (‘Very cheapest’). Farther down the street, a sign on the yellowish building says: ‘Odzież na wage’ (‘Clothing by weight’). Note that this is the same building as the previous photo, but taken seven years earlier (1998). Credit: Chris Wozniak, 1998
main road photo #3 Various houses and shops off the main road of Bircza. Credit: Chris Wozniak, 1998	main road photo #4 A street from the main road to the Market Square. On the building is a street sign: ‘Ul. Wojska Polskiego’ (‘Polish Army Road’). Credit: Chris Wozniak, 1998
street photo #1 Street behind the municipal office. Credit: Chris Wozniak, 1998
street photo #2 A street leading to the church. Credit: Chris Wozniak, 1998	street photo #3 Houses and buildings along the streets of Bircza. Credit: Lilli Rubenov, 2005
street photo #4 Houses and buildings along the streets of Bircza. Credit: Lilli Rubenov, 2005	street photo #5 Houses and buildings along the streets of Bircza. Credit: Lilli Rubenov, 2005
street photo #6 Houses and buildings along the streets of Bircza. Credit: Lilli Rubenov, 2005	street photo #7 Houses and buildings along the streets of Bircza. Credit: Lilli Rubenov, 2005
street photo #8 Houses and buildings along the streets of Bircza. Credit: Lilli Rubenov, 2005	street photo #9 Houses and buildings along the streets of Bircza. Credit: Lilli Rubenov, 2005
szkolna st (painting) Painting of Szkolna St by Antoni Rudawski. For more information about this remarkable Bircza teacher and painter, click here. Painted: Antoni Rudawski, undated Credit: Joanna Zientek, 2000	bircza in winter (painting) Painting of Bircza in the wintertime by Antoni Rudawski. For more information about this remarkable Bircza teacher and painter, click here. Painted: Antoni Rudawski, 1965 Credit: Joanna Zientek, 2001
old oak photo #1 Chris Wozniak photographed himself standing by the famous Old Oak of Bircza. Credit: Chris Wozniak, 1998	old oak photo #2 The Old Oak of Bircza. Credit: Chris Wozniak, 1998
old oak photo #3 The Old Oak seven years later, in 2005. Credit: Lilli Rubenov, 2005	nearby forest This is the sign at the entrance to the forest just outside of Bircza. Nearby is a sign that says skiing. Credit: Linda Grapel-Lipson, 2000
bircza postcard Postcard of Bircza from the 1970s. Credit: Joanna Zientek, 1970s

priest’s house #1 This beautiful building was once the synagogue of a vibrant Jewish community. Today, with no Jews remaining, the old synagogue has been converted into a house for the local priest. Credit: Lilli Rubenov, 2005	priest’s house #2 This beautiful building was once the synagogue of a vibrant Jewish community. Today, with no Jews remaining, the old synagogue has been converted into a house for the local priest. Credit: Lilli Rubenov, 2005
priest’s house #3 This beautiful building was once the synagogue of a vibrant Jewish community. Today, with no Jews remaining, the old synagogue has been converted into a house for the local priest. Credit: Chris Wozniak, 1998	priest’s house #4 This beautiful building was once the synagogue of a vibrant Jewish community. Today, with no Jews remaining, the old synagogue has been converted into a house for the local priest. Credit: Chris Wozniak, 1998
view of the church View of the local church (top right) from the Jewish cemetery. Credit: Chris Wozniak, 1998	presbytery (painting) Painting of a presbytery by Antoni Rudawski. For more information about this remarkable Bircza teacher and painter, click here. Painted: Antoni Rudawski, 1961 Credit: Joanna Zientek, 2000

the cemetery gate The large Jewish cemetery is overgrown with weeds; with the Jewish community gone, nobody takes care of this eternal resting place for long-dead residents, which is slowly being forgotten by both time and man. At the entrance, the gate itself is near gone, only the stone frame remaining, but barely visible underneath the weeds. Credit: Chris Wozniak, 1998	cemetery photo #1 The Jewish cemetery is overgrown with weeds, and there is no-one who truly takes care of it. The sign in the background reads: ‘Cmentarż Żydowski’ (‘Jewish cemetery’). Credit: Chris Wozniak, 1998
cemetery photo #2 The Jewish cemetery is overgrown with weeds, and there is no-one who truly takes care of it. The sign in the background reads: ‘Cmentarż Żydowski’ (‘Jewish cemetery’). Credit: Chris Wozniak, 1998	cemetery photo #3 The gravestones are barely legible, many covered with mould and dirt, others broken or fallen over and overgrown with weeds. Credit: Chris Wozniak, 1998
cemetery photo #4 The gravestones are barely legible, many covered with mould and dirt, others broken or fallen over and overgrown with weeds. Credit: Chris Wozniak, 1998	cemetery photo #5 The gravestones are barely legible, many covered with mould and dirt, others broken or fallen over and overgrown with weeds. Credit: Jacek Proszyk, 2004
cemetery photo #6 Without the sign, which says ‘Cmentarż Żydowski’ (‘Jewish cemetery’), one would have difficulty identifying what appears to be a wild field. Credit: Chris Wozniak, 1998	cemetery photo #7 In most areas, the cemetery looks like a large wild field, stripped of all signs of human presence. Credit: Chris Wozniak, 1998
cemetery photo #8 This photo, taken in 2005 (seven years after the preceding pictures), demonstrates that the condition of the cemetery has deteriorated rapidly. Today, even the once-visible gravestones have been hidden (or destroyed?) and the cemetery looks as though it has vanished. Credit: Lilli Rubenov, 2005	cemetery photo #9 This photo, taken in 2005 (seven years after the preceding pictures), demonstrates that the condition of the cemetery has deteriorated rapidly. Today, even the once-visible gravestones have been hidden (or destroyed?) and the cemetery looks as though it has vanished. Credit: Lilli Rubenov, 2005
cemetery photo #10 This photo, taken in 2005 (seven years after the preceding pictures), demonstrates that the condition of the cemetery has deteriorated rapidly. Today, even the once-visible gravestones have been hidden (or destroyed?) and the cemetery looks as though it has vanished. Credit: Lilli Rubenov, 2005	gravestone #1 [Hebrew:] פ"נ [פה נקברה] ... אם הבנים ... אשה צנ[ו]עה ... חיה אסתר ... אברהם ‘Here lies: ... was a mother of boys ... a modest (humble) woman ... Hayyāh Esther ... Avrāham ...’ (A name list of gravestones can be found here.) Credit: Chris Wozniak, 1998
gravestone #2 [Hebrew:] פ"נ [פה נקבר] יצחק ... שמואל רפאל הלוי ... תנצב"ה [תהא נשמתו צרורה בצרור החיים]. ‘Here lies: ... Yitshāq ... Shmū’el Refā’el ha-Lewī ... ‘May his soul be bound with the bonds of the living.’ (A name list of gravestones can be found here.) Credit: Chris Wozniak, 1998
	gravestone #3 [Hebrew:] פ"נ [פה נקברה] אשה צנו[עה] ... רבקה בת מ אהרן כץ. כ"ה סיוון תקצ["]ו. תנצב"ה [תהא נשמתה צרורה בצרור החיים]. ‘Here lies: a modest (humble) woman ... Rivqāh, the daughter of Mr Ahārōn KaTS. 10 June 1836. ‘May her soul be bound with the bonds of the living.’ (A name list of gravestones can be found here.) Credit: Chris Wozniak, 1998

the bircza manor, c. 1911 The large manor in Bircza, c. 1911. The oldest and most prestigious family in Bircza lived there for hundreds of years. Jonas Lewental recalls that the manor owner died, succeeded by his son who was shortly killed in a riding accident. The heir had many half-brothers through his father’s nurse, but he had been the only true-blood heir. Postcard owner: Chris Wozniak, [1911]	bircza manor entrance The entrance to the Bircza manor’s access road. Credit: Lilli Rubenov, 2005
school The Bircza school. Credit: Lilli Rubenov, 2005	bircza castle postcard Postcard of the neo-Gothic castle in Bircza, after the Second World War. Credit: Joanna Zientek, 2000
bircza castle (painting) Painting of the Bircza Castle by Antoni Rudawski. For more information about this remarkable Bircza teacher and painter, click here. Painted: Antoni Rudawski, undated Credit: Joanna Zientek, 2001	krasiczyn castle (painting) Painting of the Krasiczyn Castle by Antoni Rudawski. For more information about this remarkable Bircza teacher and painter, click here. Painted: Antoni Rudawski, 1960 Credit: Joanna Zientek, 2001

19th-c. bircza townsfolk (painting) Painting of 19th-Century Bircza townsfolk in holiday dress by Antoni Rudawski. For more information about this remarkable Bircza teacher and painter, click here. Painted: Antoni Rudawski, undated Credit: Joanna Zientek, 2000	löwenthal family, late 1920s The Löwenthal family outside their home in the late 1920s. From left to right: Mindl and Dawid (back row); Matilda, Jonas, and Sara (front row). Credit: Jonas Lewental, late 1920s
	pre-war schoolboard This photo depicts the Bircza school board (prior to the Second World War), which included the former head master (who was killed in Katyń), the Rabbi, the Polish and Ukrainian priests, and the teachers with Antoni Rudawski among them (second from the right, bottom). Credit: Joanna Zientek
school play, c. 1934 Picture of Bircza school children of Polish, Jewish, and Ukrainian nationalities performing a well-known fairy tale, around 1934. Credit: Joanna Zientek, 1934	school faculty, late 1940s Photo of the Bircza school teachers, including Antoni Rudawski (left, at top), taken shortly after the Second World War. Credit: Joanna Zientek, late 1940s
teachers in the market place Antoni Rudawski and some of his colleagues at the Bircza market place, after the Second World War. Credit: Joanna Zientek	antoni rudawski, 1960s Antoni Rudawski, in his 60s (during the 1960s). Credit: Joanna Zientek, 1960s

bircza war memorial postcard (front and back) Postcard of the war memorial in the Bircza Market Square. The back side of the postcard has the following Polish text: On the top left, the caption reads: ‘Pomnik ku czci poleyłych w walce z bandami UPA. – fot. Z. Postępski’, translated approximately as: ‘People who were killed by the Ukrainian bandits. – photo [by] Z. Postępski’. At bottom is a copyright notice (‘Włszelkie prawa zastrzeżone’). Also, down the centre is a notice for the printing company (Ruch) which reads: ‘Diuro wydawnicze «Ruch»’. The stamp space in the top right corner lists the price, etc.: ‘32-1912 / Foto «Ruch» / z. 38 I72 / n. 1000 egz. [1000 copies] / V-8 / cena zł 1,70 [price 1.70 złoty] / + 20 gr[osze] / na SFBiI’. Credit: Jonas Lewental

bircza war memorial plaque This is the plaque on the war memorial placed in the middle of the town square. During the day, men tend to congregate in front of it. The date (1944 – 1947) indicates the meaning of the memorial, which commemorates the glorious Polish fight against the Ukrainians, who apparently tried to claim this area as their own. Credit: Linda Grapel-Lipson, 2000

bircza town crest The town crest of Bircza which is located just off the main square. Credit: Linda Grapel-Lipson, 2000

town crest at town entrance photo #1 The Bircza town crest visible on a road sign, while entering the town. Credit: Lilli Rubenov, 2005

town crest at town entrance photo #2 The Bircza town crest visible on a road sign, while entering the town. Credit: Lilli Rubenov, 2005

road distance sign A distance sign on the road near Bircza. It lists the distance to Przemyśl as 29 km and to Medyka as 42 km. Credit: Lilli Rubenov, 2005	road at town entrance Sign announcing the town name on the road entering to the city. Credit: Lilli Rubenov, 2005
har tsiyyōn (mt zion) memorial plaque Har Tsiyyōn (Mt Zion, Jerusalem), memorial plaque issued in honour of the Holocaust victims from the Bircza area. Translation of the Hebrew: ‘To remember forever: ‘In honour of the qehīlāh (community) of Bircza and its environs (next to Przemyśl, Galicia) that were murdered and fell in the years of the Shō’āh at the hands of the Nazi Germans and their followers (let their names be forgotten). ‘The Rememberance Days are the 16th of Av (August) and the 16th of Kislew (December). Their blessed memory will never be forgotten. ‘May their souls be bound with the bonds of the living. ‘The Rememberance Organisation of Bircza Survivors in Israel and Abroad’ Credit: Jonas Lewental	mt hebron cemetery monument Names of former Bircza Jews, who are buried at the Mount Hebron Cemetery, are engraved on this monument at the Mt Hebron Cemetery in Flushing (Queens), New York. Credit: Phyllis Kramer and Rhoda Gordon, 1998
yad vashem memorial #1 At the Valley of the Communities, in Yad Vashem (יד ושם), the Israeli Holocaust Museum, the names of Jewish communities are carved into stone walls to forever remember them. Here, one can see Bircza and the nearby cities and towns (such as Przemyśl, Chyrów). Credit: D Gershon Lewental	yad vashem memorial #2 At the Valley of the Communities, in Yad Vashem (יד ושם), the Israeli Holocaust Museum, the names of Jewish communities are carved into stone walls to forever remember them. Here, one can see Bircza and the nearby cities and towns (such as Przemyśl, Chyrów). Credit: D Gershon Lewental

brzezawa The town of Brzezawa. Credit: Jacek Proszyk, 2004

kreców The town of Kreców. Credit: Jacek Proszyk, 2004

The following documents and lists can also be found, with detail and explanation on the Bircza area lists page. Click here to view the various lists.

jewish community signatures, 1904 List of signatures appended to a Bircza document (1904). More information and detail on this document can be found here. Credit: Jacek Proszyk, 1904

community stamp #1 Bircza community stamp (undated). Credit: Jacek Proszyk

community stamp #2 Bircza community stamp (undated). Credit: Jacek Proszyk

community stamp #3 Bircza community stamp (undated). Credit: Jacek Proszyk

community stamp #4 Bircza community stamp (undated). Credit: Jacek Proszyk

community stamp #5 Bircza community stamp (undated). Credit: Jacek Proszyk

community stamp #6 Bircza community stamp (undated). Credit: Jacek Proszyk

natan beisem’s signature, mid-19th century Signature of Bircza Jewish community head Natan Beisem (mid-19th Century). Credit: Jacek Proszyk, mid-19th Century

marriage announcement, 04 march 1904 Public announcement regarding the marriage of Frīdā, the daughter of Bircza Rabbi Morddekhāy Shapīrā (Markus Spira), to Ya‘aqōv Yitshāq, the son of ‘the righteous famous’ Lwow Rabbi Dōv Be’er Blāndwayyn (Blandwein) in Bircza on 17 Adar (04 March) 1904. The poem at the top of the document is an acrostic, spelling the names of both the bride (right column) and the groom (left column). Credit: Jacek Proszyk, 04 March 1904

rabbinical legal ruling Intervention letter issued by Przemyśl Head Rabbi Yitshāq Yehīrā Shme‘lqīs (Schmelkes) regarding the work of a new butcher (‘Mosheh’) in Bircza, operating without permission from the Bircza rabbinate, which prohibits the purchase of meat from this unlicensed butcher. Credit: Jacek Proszyk

shulhān ‘ārūkh, 1863 Title page of a Shulhān ‘Ārūkh, published in Sztetyn in 1863 (5624). This holy book was the property of the Bircza religious seminary (bayt ha-midrāsh), whose stamp is evident on the inside cover, along with signatures of various community members. Credit: Efraim Hibner, 1863

shulhān ‘ārūkh, 1895 Title page of a Shulhān ‘Ārūkh (first volume), published in Warszawa (Warsaw) in 1895 (5655). This holy book was the property of the Bircza religious seminary (bayt ha-midrāsh), whose stamp is evident on the inside cover, along with the signature of a community member. Credit: Efraim Hibner, 1895

polish business directory: bircza and stara bircza, 1929 Polish business directory entry for the town of Bircza and the village of Stara Bircza, 1929. More information and detail on this document can be found here. Credit: Paul Rubinfeld, 1929

nowe horyzonty article, 1940s An article (in Polish) about Bircza from Nowe Horyzonty, written in the 1940s, which mentions the teacher and painter Antoni Rudawski. For more information about this remarkable Bircza teacher and painter, click here. Credit: Joanna Zientek, 1940s

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