Barbara Smoleńska and Elżbieta Hołyńska-Grzesiak, teachers at the Henryk Sucharski General and Vocational School Complex in Bolesławiec, told us about this year’s edition of the wonderful “Save Your Great-Grandfather’s Grave from Oblivion” campaign:
For the first time, the group of 23 people from Bolesławiec included representatives of so many institutions: students from seven schools (ZSOiZ, ZSM, ZSB, I LO, Gimnazjum No. 3 and No. 4, and the Piarist Gimnazjum), teachers, firefighters, members of the Society of Friends of Lviv and the Southeastern Borderlands, an editor from Telewizja Bolesławiec, and the driver from Tomada who, besides driving us, also worked in the cemeteries.
For the first time, together with Wiktor Podgórski, president of the “Studio Unika” Film Association in Kremenets, Wiktor Podgórski, we organized a concert at the Juliusz Słowacki Museum in Kremenets, featuring students from the music school in Vyshnivets and our volunteer Anna Wróblewska (I LO). Just before the concert began, a tour group from Bolesławiec arrived at the museum. We were all pleasantly surprised—we had not expected such a large audience, especially one from our hometown.
For the first time, during one trip, we completely cleaned up three Polish cemeteries (Sieniawa, Kolodno, and Ivanchany).
For the first time, at the cemetery in Sieniawa, we managed to cut down huge, dry, old trees. This was possible because firefighters from Bolesławiec and Zbarazh worked with us.
In Yazlovets, at the Convent of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, we were invited by the priest leading a youth retreat group from Lviv Oblast to join in activities and spend time together with young people from Ukraine. Naturally, we accepted the invitation. On the last day of our stay in Yazlovets, we met with the Archbishop Metropolitan of Lviv, Mieczysław Mokrzycki, who gave us a very warm welcome and congratulated the young people on their kind and sensitive hearts. It was a pleasant surprise that he found time to go with us to the cemetery in Yazlovets and see the results of our work.
On the way home, all participants declared that they would go again next year. In addition to working in the cemeteries, they visited Lviv, Zbarazh, Kremenets, Vyshnivets, Husiatyn, Buchach, Złoty Potok, and Yazlovets. They felt at home because everywhere we went, we encountered great warmth and friendliness.