WARSAW, Poland (JTA) — A landowner has asked officials of a small town in southern Poland to remove a monument commemorating seven Jews murdered at the site during World War II.
The mayor of Chrzanow informed the Jewish community in nearby Katowice about the request. It is believed the owner wants to sell or lease the land.
Members of the Chrzanow Town Council are discussing how to commemorate the murders should the monument be removed, including asking whoever builds on the land to include a memorial plaque on any new structure.
“Poles also have their memorial places abroad and are fighting for them like lions,” Councilman Kamil Bogusz said in an interview with the weekly Przełom weekly. “Therefore, we should respect such places in our area. People who died there were also Polish people.”
Bogusz, 29, has researched Chrzanow’s former Jewish community.
In 1942, the Germans killed the Jews at the memorial site as punishment for illegal bread baking.
