Press On | Walk in Remembrance Day 3 | Glogowek to Prudnik

by Michael Nelson

Press On | Walk in Remembrance Day Three route

After another long day on the walk which took Al and Mike from their campsite near the abandoned Jewish cemetery outside of Glogowek along the busy 40 roadway and with a brief lunch stop at Laskowice, they arrived in Prudnik at sunset to be met by the mayor and town officials.  

Al and Mike walked 17 miles in moderate winter weather with a high temperature in the mid 30ties.

Here is a collection of scenes from today's walk.

Abandoned Jewish cemetery outside Glogowek, Al and Mike stop for lunch and to dry out belongings, Shrine in Laskowice, Norwegian TV crew interview
Group photo at Town Hall with Mayor Grzegorz Zawislak (3L), town officials Marek Radom (3R), Ryszard Zwojewski (2L) and local historian and guide Marcin Husak (R), Biblical scene at former residence of prominent Jewish German businessman Samuel Frankel, 

The Neustadt Work Camp which manufactured textiles including tents for General Erwin Rommel's Africa Corp was a Allied POW camp until it was evacuated in 1944.  The POW prisoners were replaced by 400 Hungarian Jewish women in September 1944.  During the evacuation of Nazi work and concentration camps as the Soviet forces advanced towards the area,  Jewish women prisoners were selected and killed who could not make the march.  Approximately 100 victims including 27 prisoners from the Auschwitz-Blechhammer Death March are buried in the mass grave in the Jewish cemetery.

Al places a stone at mass grave for Jewish prisoners killed during the evacuation of the work camp and death march victims, Jewish cemetery in Prudnik, Neustadt Work Camp

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Dinner and accommodations at Niemyslowice gymnasium organized by community members

Our thanks and appreciation goes out to the hospitality and warm welcome to the mayor and his staff in Prudnik and the generous and gracious reception of the community in Niemyslowice.  And last but not least,  the fascinating and knowledgeable walking tour of historic sites on a cold winter night in Prudnik.

We will remember and cherish the kindness and wonderful time spent with our Polish friends.