To: @PIKHOLZ.PML
Subject: Skalat Memorial day - A Special report

Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2000 21:59:43 +0300

On Shavuot, the sixth of Sivan, fifty seven years ago, Ghetto Skalat 
was liquidated and all remaining Jews whom the Nazis could lay 
their hands on were killed.  This day has since been chosen as the 
official memorial day for Skalat's Jews.  It is marked with a 
ceremony on the following weekday (in this case, today) in front of 
the Skalat monument in the Holon cemetery, which serves Greater 
Tel-Aviv.  (The monument is on the eastern end of the cemetery, 
near the retaining wall of the expressway, next to section 11-heh of 
the cemetery.)

I had the privilege of attending this memorial and of addressing the 
assembled company, having recently visited Skalat.  (I arrived a bit 
late, as I had not been to the memorial previously and the people in 
the cemetery office sent me off in the wrong direction, therefore I 
cannot tell you what happened at the beginning.)

When I arrived, Haim Bronstein - the man who edited the Hebrew 
Yizkor book - was concluding his speech.  There were twenty-five or 
thirty people there altogether.  Haim told us that the lsit of those 
who actually lived in Skalat and who now live in Israel has dwindled 
to forty-seven.  (That is probably an undercount, because he was 
counting invitations, and some households have two Skalaters.)  
Of the forty-seven invitations, seven were returned by the post 
office.  For whatever reasons - probably age and health, for the 
most part - only ten actual Skalaters attended.  The outhers were 
spouses and children.

A number of those assembled had visited Skalat in the last few 
years, particularly for the dedication of the memorial there.

I spoke for about ten or twelve minutes, including a very brief 
description of my visit to Skalat.  I made two major points, neither of 
which was what the audience expected.  One was the importance 
of genealogists as the heirs to the task of preserving memories of 
the towns.  The other was acknowledging those who were killed as 
having been more than just Holocaust victims.  Both points were 
well received and I hope that as a result, we shall have some new 
contributions to our Skalat web site, within SRRG.

The program concluded with the kaddish and E-l Malei Rahamim 
prayers, the the people who led them spoke briefly beforehand.  
(The first was said by a survivor and the second by the son of 
survivors, both kibbutzniks from Kevutzat Yavneh.)

I met a number of people with whom I had had phone or mail 
contact previously , as well as Tzipora Dlugacz Tal, whose mother 
was Cyla Pikholz.  Tzippi and I talked at some length afterwards, 
about various Pikholz matters.  We hadn't met before, but I know 
several members of her family, including her brother.

Several people said they would prepare material for us.

Israel P.

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