Podwilk

In the interwar years the seat of the Jewish community was Jabłonka. It also included the residents of both Lipnicas, both Zubrzycas, Podwilk, Piekielnik, Orawka and Chyżne. Prayers were held every week in private homes; on the major holidays the Jews of Podwilk gathered in the house of Leopold Einhorn.

In Podwilk, Leopold Einhorn traded in cattle, Moric Rendel and A. Schanzer sold general goods, and Hermina Stieglitz ran a tavern. The Jewish community of Upper Orava ceased to exist on 6 June 1942.

In 2019 the Jabłonka district cut down the trees and marked out the cemetery, which had been completely overgrown. Of the smaller places where the foundation works, it is the first cemetery on which so many matzevot have survived.

In 2024 the fence was repaired, a new gate made by Krzysztof Turwoń was installed and the greenery was tidied. Several fallen stelae were uncovered and set back on their original bases where their authenticity was beyond doubt. The remaining fragments were restored by Edward Haluch and placed in a lapidarium.

In 2025 a memorial made by Marian Leksan and his family was erected on the surviving floor of the former House of Purification, reached by a stone path. It gives the names, ages and last places of residence of the victims.

Pupils of the local school helped to tidy the cemetery, and workshops and meetings on the history of the Jewish residents of Orava were held during the project. The project was made possible by the support of the Ledor Wador Foundation.

Regional members of parliament took part in the ceremony, together with delegations of the Jabłonka and Lipnica Wielka districts, which together cover 14 villages of Orava. The village heads brought stones of remembrance from their villages and laid them at the memorial. Pupils of two Podwilk schools prepared stones with the names of the 154 victims and laid them during the shared reading of the names.

The El Male Rachamim prayer was recited by Tomasz Grebner of the Jewish Community of Kraków, and its translation was read by Anna Brzyska of the Forum for Dialogue. Father Zbigniew Fidelus, parish priest of Podwilk, and Father Hieronim Wróblewski, secretary of the Committee for Dialogue with Judaism of the Polish Bishops’ Conference, also took part in the prayer.

Lucyna Borczuch presented the history of the Jews of Orava, and the historian and genealogist Adrian Jarosz spoke about the past of the cemetery. Eyal Bloch from Tel Aviv, a descendant of the Jews of Orava, joined by telephone and greeted those present in Slovak. Commemorations will be held every year around 6 June.