The names of the victims were officially read out at the unveiling ceremony at Nowy Targ's Jewish cemetery on Sunday.
The initiative, led by Polish Olympic whitewater kayaker Dariusz Popiela, is part of a wider project designed to remember Polish Jews who perished in the Holocaust during World War II in the country's southern Małopolskie province.
Dariusz Popiela. Photo: Vit Simanek via PAP/CTK
Similar memorials have been put up in the villages of Krościenko, Grybów and Czarny Dunajec in the region, the PAP news agency reported.
In addition to the memorial, commemorative plaques were also unveiled in Nowy Targ on Sunday, and a white Jewish tombstone, or matzevah, was laid on a collective grave.
Moreover, a lapidarium has been established for old tombstones found in the town and nearby areas, some of which are already being renovated, the news agency said.
At Sunday's ceremony, which attracted local residents and officials, one of the project leaders, Karolina Panz, paid tribute to the town's once vibrant Jewish community.
"They had their world here, whose colours are easily forgotten due to the long shadow of the Holocaust," she said. "It is extraordinary that today we can read their names carved in stone, because the overwhelming majority of Holocaust victims will never be known by name."
"At the same time, this ceremony is so very difficult and painful because it makes us aware of what happened 80 years ago to these people, whose existence here was cut short so ruthlessly," Panz added.
Holocaust survivor Anna Janowska said the originators and volunteers of the remembrance project deserved the title of Righteous Among the Nations from Israel.
"They may not have saved lives, but they are saving from oblivion the victims of the horrendous crimes perpetrated by the Germans" against Jews during WWII, Janowska said, as quoted by PAP.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP