Alternate names: Iwaniska [Pol], Ivansk [Yid], Ivaniska [Rus], Russian: Иваниска. איוואניסקה - Hebrew. 50°44' N, 21°17' E, 28 miles ESE of Kielce, 8 miles SW of Opatów (Apt). 1900 Jewish population: 1,996. Słownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego (1880-1902), III, p. 312: "Iwaniska". ShtetLink. Iwaniska is a village in Opatów County, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship in south-central Poland and the seat of the administrative district called Gmina Iwaniska 14 km (9 mi) SW of Opatów and 50 km (31 mi) E of the regional capital Kielce. The village population is 1,300. Restoration project in 2006 and in 2007. Rededication ceremony: "On October 23 [2006], U.S. Embassy Warsaw Political Officer Daniel Gedacht and Political Assistant Kasia Dragan attended a rededication ceremony for the opening of the Jewish Cemetery in Iwaniska, Swietokrzyskie Province. The event was attended by over 100 local townspeople and more than 100 guests, who traveled from the United States and Canada. The rededication marked the culmination of five years of work and cooperation between the U.S.-based Poland-Jewish Cemetery Restoration Project (PJCRP), the Warsaw-based Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland, and local authorities. Much of the restoration work was undertaken by local school children who gathered materials used for building from the forest..." Download the Ivansk Project eNewsletter (pdf, 1,25M) Ivanks Project. Jewish Ivanskers website. [May 2009]
US Commission No. 000247. In Tarnobrzeg. The US Commission is not finished rechecking this file [2000].
In a rural hilly area, we found a few shards sticking out of the earth. Hostile farmers were walking their cattle. It was terrible and depressing. Source: [February 1998] Betty Provizer Starkman; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Norton Taichman <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> update: Thank you for posting a summary of the reclamation of the Jewish cemetery in
Iwaniska (Ivansk in Yiddish). I write to point out some errors as well as provide additional information as follows:
- Local school children did not play any role in restoring the cemetery. They did not gather materials as indicated in the summary
- No mention is made of the people who actually funded the project: the Jewish descendents of Ivansk. Without their support NOTHING would have happened!
- Approximately 60 (not 100) guests from Canada, USA and Israel attended the rededication.The people of Iwansika treated us with courtesy and consideration. There were no"hostile farmers". The experience of one person does not mirror that of my colleagues and I who visited the town on numerous occasions. I believe Betty'sexperience was the exception, not the rule.
I am the editor of the Ivansk Project e-Newsletter, which you reference in your summary. [November 2009]