bircza online images and photos

information

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 qehīllat Bircza alive.

the jewish cemetery

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 sign #1 [photo coming soon] The Jewish cemetery is overgrown with weeds, and the elderly caretaker died during the 1990s, leaving nobody to maintain it. The sign in the background reads: ‘Cmentarż Żydowski’ (‘Jewish cemetery’)—without it, one would have difficulty identifying what appears to be a wild field. Credit: Artur Cyruk, 30 May 2006 (Source: Cmentarze żydowskie: Kirkuty.xip.pl)
cemetery sign #2 The Jewish cemetery is overgrown with weeds, and the elderly caretaker died during the 1990s, leaving nobody to maintain it. The sign in the background reads: ‘Cmentarż Żydowski’ (‘Jewish cemetery’)—without it, one would have difficulty identifying what appears to be a wild field. Credit: Chris Wozniak, 1998	cemetery sign #3 The Jewish cemetery is overgrown with weeds, and the elderly caretaker died during the 1990s, leaving nobody to maintain it. The sign in the background reads: ‘Cmentarż Żydowski’ (‘Jewish cemetery’)—without it, one would have difficulty identifying what appears to be a wild field. Credit: Chris Wozniak, 1998
cemetery photo #1 The gravestones are barely legible, many covered with mould and dirt, others broken or fallen over and overgrown with weeds. Credit: Artur Cyruk, 30 May 2006 (Source: Cmentarze żydowskie: Kirkuty.xip.pl)	cemetery photo #2 [photo coming soon] The gravestones are barely legible, many covered with mould and dirt, others broken or fallen over and overgrown with weeds. Credit: Artur Cyruk, 30 May 2006 (Source: Cmentarze żydowskie: Kirkuty.xip.pl)
cemetery photo #3 [photo coming soon] The gravestones are barely legible, many covered with mould and dirt, others broken or fallen over and overgrown with weeds. Credit: Artur Cyruk, 30 May 2006 (Source: Cmentarze żydowskie: Kirkuty.xip.pl)	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: Chris Wozniak, 1998	cemetery photo #6 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 #7 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 #8 In most areas, the cemetery looks like a large wild field, stripped of all signs of human presence. Credit: Chris Wozniak, 1998
cemetery photo #9 This photo, taken in 2005 (seven years after the preceding Wozniak pictures), demonstrates that the condition of the cemetery has deteriorated rapidly. Many of 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 Wozniak pictures), demonstrates that the condition of the cemetery has deteriorated rapidly. Many of the once-visible gravestones have been hidden (or destroyed?) and the cemetery looks as though it has vanished. Credit: Lilli Rubenov, 2005
cemetery photo #11 This photo, taken in 2005 (seven years after the preceding Wozniak pictures), demonstrates that the condition of the cemetery has deteriorated rapidly. Many of 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 ... Hayyah Esther ... Avraham ...’ (A name list of gravestones can be found here.) Credit: Chris Wozniak, 1998
1836 gravestone #1 [Hebrew:] פ"נ [פה נקברה] אשה צנו[עה] ... רבקה בת 'מ אהרן כ["]ץ. כ"ה סיוון תקצ["]ו. תנצב"ה [תהא נשמתה צרורה בצרור החיים]. ‘Here lies: a modest (humble) woman ... Rivqah, the daughter of Mr Aharon KaTS. 25 Sivan 5596 [10 June 1836]. ‘May her soul be bound with the bonds of the living.’ (A name list of gravestones can be found here.) Credit: Artur Cyruk, 30 May 2006 (Source: Cmentarze żydowskie: Kirkuty.xip.pl)	1836 gravestone #3 [Hebrew:] פ"נ [פה נקברה] אשה צנו[עה] ... רבקה בת 'מ אהרן כ["]ץ. כ"ה סיוון תקצ["]ו. תנצב"ה [תהא נשמתה צרורה בצרור החיים]. ‘Here lies: a modest (humble) woman ... Rivqah, the daughter of Mr Aharon KaTS. 25 Sivan 5596 [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
1836 gravestone #2 [Hebrew:] פ"נ [פה נקברה] אשה צנו[עה] ... רבקה בת 'מ אהרן כ["]ץ. כ"ה סיוון תקצ["]ו. תנצב"ה [תהא נשמתה צרורה בצרור החיים]. ‘Here lies: a modest (humble) woman ... Rivqah, the daughter of Mr Aharon KaTS. 25 Sivan 5596 [10 June 1836]. ‘May her soul be bound with the bonds of the living.’ (A name list of gravestones can be found here.) Credit: Artur Cyruk, 30 May 2006 (Source: Cmentarze żydowskie: Kirkuty.xip.pl)
1920 gravestone #1 [Hebrew:] פ"נ [פה נקברה] אשה צנועה וכשרה רכה בשנים נקטפה ימי ... מ' חי בריינדל בת ר' מ' שמואל יעקב ז"ל נפ' ... ימים בשבט תר["]פ תנצב["]ה [תהא נשמתה צרורה בצרור החיים]. ‘Here lies: a modest (humble) and proper woman, tender in years, taken from the days ... Miss Ḥayy[ah] Brayndel, the daughter of Shmuʾel Yaʿqov, of blessed memory, died ... in Shvat 5680 [January–February 1920] ‘May her soul be bound with the bonds of the living.’ (A name list of gravestones can be found here.) Credit: Artur Cyruk, 30 May 2006 (Source: Cmentarze żydowskie: Kirkuty.xip.pl)	1920 gravestone #2 [Hebrew:] פ"נ [פה נקברה] אשה צנועה וכשרה רכה בשנים נקטפה ימי ... מ' חי בריינדל בת ר' מ' שמואל יעקב ז"ל נפ' ... ימים בשבט תר["]פ תנצב["]ה [תהא נשמתה צרורה בצרור החיים]. ‘Here lies: a modest (humble) and proper woman, tender in years, taken from the days ... Miss Ḥayy[ah] Brayndel, the daughter of Shmuʾel Yaʿqov, of blessed memory, died ... in Shvat 5680 [January–February 1920] ‘May her soul be bound with the bonds of the living.’ (A name list of gravestones can be found here.) Credit: Linda Grapel-Lipson
1922 gravestone #1 [photo coming soon] [Hebrew:] פ"נ [פה נקבר] איש תם ... יצחק אייזק בן ... שמואל רפאל הלוי ... נפט['] כ["]א אלול תרפ["]ב תנצב"ה [תהא נשמתו צרורה בצרור החיים]. ‘Here lies: a modest man ... Yitsḥaq Ajzyk, the son of ... Shmuʾel Refaʾel ha-Lewi ... died 21 Elul 5682 [14 September 1922.] ‘May his soul be bound with the bonds of the living.’ (A name list of gravestones can be found here.) Credit: Artur Cyruk, 30 May 2006 (Source: Cmentarze żydowskie: Kirkuty.xip.pl)	1922 gravestone #2 [Hebrew:] פ"נ [פה נקבר] איש תם ... יצחק אייזק בן ... שמואל רפאל הלוי ... נפט['] כ["]א אלול תרפ["]ב תנצב"ה [תהא נשמתו צרורה בצרור החיים]. ‘Here lies: a modest man ... Yitsḥaq Ajzyk, the son of ... Shmuʾel Refaʾel ha-Lewi ... died 21 Elul 5682 [14 September 1922.] ‘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 #5 (A name list of gravestones can be found here.) Credit: Artur Cyruk, 30 May 2006 (Source: Cmentarze żydowskie: Kirkuty.xip.pl)	gravestone #6 [photo coming soon] (A name list of gravestones can be found here.) Credit: Artur Cyruk, 30 May 2006 (Source: Cmentarze żydowskie: Kirkuty.xip.pl)
gravestone #7 [photo coming soon] (A name list of gravestones can be found here.) Credit: Artur Cyruk, 30 May 2006 (Source: Cmentarze żydowskie: Kirkuty.xip.pl)	gravestone #8 [photo coming soon] (A name list of gravestones can be found here.) Credit: Artur Cyruk, 30 May 2006 (Source: Cmentarze żydowskie: Kirkuty.xip.pl)
gravestone #9 (A name list of gravestones can be found here.) Credit: Artur Cyruk, 30 May 2006 (Source: Cmentarze żydowskie: Kirkuty.xip.pl)	gravestone #10 (A name list of gravestones can be found here.) Credit: Artur Cyruk, 30 May 2006 (Source: Cmentarze żydowskie: Kirkuty.xip.pl)
gravestone #11 (A name list of gravestones can be found here.) Credit: Artur Cyruk, 30 May 2006 (Source: Cmentarze żydowskie: Kirkuty.xip.pl)	gravestone #12 (A name list of gravestones can be found here.) Credit: Artur Cyruk, 30 May 2006 (Source: Cmentarze żydowskie: Kirkuty.xip.pl)

other religious places

synagogue #1 The synagogue on Wałowa Street, built in the Nineteenth Century, served as a hardware store and storage site for the municipality following the Holocaust. In 2005, following the collapse of its roof, the authorities decided to demolish the building. Credit: Wikipedia, 2007	synagogue #2 The synagogue on Wałowa Street, built in the Nineteenth Century, served as a hardware store and storage site for the municipality following the Holocaust. In 2005, following the collapse of its roof, the authorities decided to demolish the building. Credit: Wikipedia, 2009
synagogue #3 The Bircza synagogue was destroyed entirely during the Holocaust, leaving only the foundations upon which a private residence was partially constructed. Credit: Wikipedia	rabbi’s house This building served as the home of the rabbi for the Jewish community of Bircza. Since the Holocaust, it has become a private residence. Credit: Wikipedia
miqvah Built in the Nineteenth Century, the Jewish miqvah (ritual bath) is a one-storey building that is one of the few Jewish structures to survive the destruction of the Holocaust. Credit: Wikipedia	view of the church View of the local church (top right) from the Jewish cemetery. Credit: Chris Wozniak, 1998
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
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

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