On August 5, 2002, Carolynn and I visited Tarnobrzeg, for a half day of our tour of Eastern Europe. Before we went there I corresponded with Sociology professor Dr. Annamaria Orl-Bukowska at the Jagiellonian University. I had asked about going by train from Krakow, and she wrote: “there would be as much chance of finding a person who spoke English at the train station in Tarnobrzeg as finding a person who can speak Polish at the train station in New Orleans. She recommended a guide from the Orbis Travel Agency in Krakow.

Our driver and guide Irek Ostrowska picked us up at our hotel in Krakow. We drove on two-lane country roads, seeing small farms, cabbage fields, trees lining the roads, groups of one to four cows, horse-drawn carts, small homes with beautiful flowers and apple trees, people walking along the roads. We crossed the Vistula river, and arrived in Tarnobrzeg at 10:30 am. We went two blocks east of the Square to the former Synagogue which is now the City Library. We talked to someone in the office who spoke a little English, who phoned Katoryna Opiola, to whom we had been referred by Gayle Schlissel Riley. She said she would come see us at the Library  in about 30 minutes. I asked for information about the Synagogue, and they gave me a copy of a several page article which was in Polish. We walked to the Square, and sat outdoors at a restaurant on the East side of the square, for coffee. We had a good view of the Square, which was clean, with paving stones, no automobiles and  very few people. We went into the restaurant, which was a small basic four walls with no decoration. The old white Church with the high steeple is located at the other side of the Square, at the north west corner.

We went back to the Library, and soon Katoryna arrived. She is tall, black hair, blue eyes, and has a strong hand-shake. She spoke with enthusiasm, in Polish, translated by our guide. She led us across the square to the Mayor’s office, which is south of the west side of the Square. It is a small quaint building, and Mayor Tedeusz Zych, who speaks English, was away on vacation. She led us across the square to the USC ( Urzad Stanu Cywilnego), which is a functional appearing building located south of the east side of the Square. Katoryna is in charge of the USC, which is the office of civil marriage registration, which was required by the former Communist government. She took us to see a woman in a small office. We waited outside the office while she talked to a family from Italy searching for old records. They did have birth records there, but  she told us there were no records there before 1900. Those are located in the Archives at another town. If I sent our family names to them in Tarnobrzeg, they would try to search for them at the other location.

 I asked Katoryna about the plaque in memory of the Jews of Tarnobrzeg killed in the Holocaust. She led us back to the Library, the former Synagogue, and showed us the plaque which is located on an exterior wall.

Katoryna said we should go to see the former estate of the Tawnoski family. We said our guide could take us, but she insisted that she go with us. We drove there, at a location a little west and several blocks north of the Square. Our guide said it was the palace, which is an impressive looking building, located down a long driveway. We looked at it through a wrought-iron fence. It is now used as an agricultural school. She told us they once raised a fine breed of horses there.

I offered Katoryna some money for her services, but she declined saying it is part of her job. She left after a warm Polish handshake and goodbye.

We were in Tarnobrzeg only a short time, but  it was exciting and a thrill to be there in person. It was good to connect with the past, but also sad that so much previous vital  Jewish life there had been destroyed.