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Mordechai Lustig, center, escorted by his grandson Alon on the right visit the farm of Mszana Dolne where he spent his summers with his grandfather

Mordechai Lustig liberated in 1945

The great synagogue still stands (Photograph donated by Jean Krieser of Paris, France)

Main entrance to the Great Synagogue (Photograph donated by Jean Krieser of Paris, France)

Mordechai Lustig with Lukadz Polonski local historian in front of memorial plaque honoring the Jews of Sandz. The Plaque is written in Polish, Hebrew and Yiddish, and dedicated to the 25,000 Jews that lived in Sandz and vicinity and were murdered by the Germans. (Photograph donated by Edita Zajac of Nowy Sacz)

The Hassidic court of Bobow is an offshoot of the main Hassidic dynasty established by Rabbi Haim Halberstam in Sandz. The city became a center of Hassidism in Poland and provided the city with a sizable income for the Hassidim visited their rabbi and spent time and money in Sandz. Rabbi Halberstam had many sons who became rabbis in their turn and formed Hassidic courts. The Sandzer Hassidic movement expanded with time and became a mass movement mainly in Galicia, Poland. Most of the Hassidic movement and their rabbis were exterminated by the Germans during the war. Some Hassidic disciples survived the war and re–established the Bobower Hassidic movement namely in the United States, Israel and in Belgium.

The Bobower rabbi is related to the Sandzer hassidut, at the entrance to the Great Synagogue where memorial services would be held in memory of the Jewish victims of Sandz who the Germans and their helpers killed during World War Two.

Mordechai Lustig greets the Bobower Rabbi, spiritual leader of the Bobower Hasidim who came to participate in the memorial services for the Jews of Sandz who were killed during World War Two by the Germans and their helpers. The memorial ceremony would take place at the Great Synagogue.

Rabbi Haim Halberstam

Mordechai Lustig proceeds to the prayer hall surrounded by Bobower Hassidim

Mordechai Lustig seated at the memorial service in the synagogue

Mordechai Lustig describes the liquidation of the Jewish population of Sandz

Mordechai Lustig walks the familiar streets of his native Sandz

The Lustigs promenade in Sandz (Photograph donated by Edita Zajac of Nowy Sacz)

The cemetery of Sandz was almost destroyed by the Germans who removed the tombstones for construction purposes. There are some stones that remained or were restored following the war. But we can see the emptiness of the field. Mordechai Lustig describes to his grandson Alon the cemetery prior to the war.

Mordechai Lustig describes the cemetery to his grandson

Mordechai Lustig and his grandson Alon walking amongst the graves

Mordechai Lustig and his grandson Alon recite the memorial kaddish for the members of their family who were killed the night of the slaughter and were buried in a mass grave at the Jewish cemetery of Sandz. In the background is the burial ground of Rabbi Haim Halberstam that remained untouched during the war.

Lighting candles in memory of the family buried at the cemetery

Memorial to the Jews in Sandz at the cemetery

Memorial plaque erected in memory of all the rabbis, holy men, and Jews who were killed by the Germans and their helpers in Sandz. The memorial was erected by Moshe David Strom, London, Shlomo Zalman Lehrer, Antwerp, and Yehoshua Pinhas Wolff, Australia.

The renovated memorial building of the Halberstam family in Sandz that contained the tombstone of Rabbi Haim Halberstam and those of some family members (Photograph donated by Jean Krieser of Paris, France)

The memorial gravestone of Rabbi Haim Halberstam inside the pantheon of the Halberstam rabbinical family in Sandz (Photograph donated by Jean Krieser of Paris, France)

City of Nowy Sacz honors the Shoah victims of the city (Photograph donated by Edita Zajac of Nowy Sacz)

Mordechai Lustig talks to city youngsters (Photograph donated by Edita Zajac of Nowy Sacz)

Mordechai Lustig tells his life story and explains Jewish items on the table (Photograph donated by Edita Zajac of Nowy Sacz)

Mordechai and Rivkah Lustig promenading in Krakow before heading home to Israel)

In the 14^th and 15^th century Nowy Sącz emerged as one of the most important economic and cultural centers of this part of the Kingdom of Poland. The town benefited from its proximity on the trade route to Hungary and also due to royal privileges. During these times, the majority of the town's inhabitants were German colonists. In the 15^th century it produced steel and woolen products, and nearly rivaled Kraków in visual arts. In 1329, In the mid–14^th century, King Casimir the Great built a royal castle here and surrounded the town with a defensive wall. Nowy Sącz was the seat of a castellan and a starosta, becoming an important point in the system of defense of the southern border of Poland. The town was further elevated in 1448 when Bishop Zbigniew Oleśnicki promoted a local church to the status of a Collegiate.Nowy Sącz prospered in the Polish Golden Age (16^th century). It was an important center of the Protestant Reformation. Good times ended in the 17^th century. In 1611 a great fire destroyed much of the town, and during the Swedish invasion of Poland, the town was captured by the Swedes who burned and looted it. Nowy Sacz continued to decline. The city then decided to invite the Jews to settle in Nowy Sacz proper. We do not have specific information about the origin of the Jews of the Nowy Sacz district or where they lived. But we have two records of Jews; one in 1469 dealing with Awraham from Krakow and another one named Abraham, an eye doctor of New Sandec in 1503.

Nowy Sacz was an important trade center with Hungary, and Jewish merchants passed it. The Luborski family who ruled the city were favorably disposed to Jews and hoped to revive the economic life in the city. They managed to obtain a royal permit that permitted Jews to settle in the city. The royal privilege of 1676 (ratified in 1682 by King John III Sobieski) accorded the Jews the right to build their houses on the town's empty lots and to engage in commerce (mainly with Hungary) and weaving. The Great Synagogue, renowned for its beautiful frescoes, was completed in 1746. In 1765 there were 609 Jews (154 families) in Nowy Sacz paying the poll tax and owning 70 houses (595 additional Jewish poll tax payers lived in 103 surrounding villages). At the beginning of the 19^th century Austrian authorities compelled the Jews to live in a special quarter. During the first half of the 19^th century the Hassidic dynasty of the Zanzer Hassidim was established by Rabbi Haim Halberstam In 1880 there were 5,163 Jews (46% of the total population) living in the town, earning their livelihoods from the sale of wood, agricultural produce, and clothing, or engaging in such trades as tailoring, carpentry, shoemaking, and engraving. By 1890 the number of Jews had decreased to 4,120 (32%), to rise again to 7,990 (32%) in 1910. Between 1900 and 1914 a Jewish school was established by the Baron de Hirsch fund, which in 1907 was attended by 204 pupils. In 1921 the Jewish community numbered 9,009 (34%). Tarbut and Beth Jacob schools, a yeshivah, and sport clubs were supported by the community. Over 10,000 Jews lived in Nowy Sacz before the outbreak of World War II, with another 5,000 living in smaller towns of the county.

The German army entered the town on Sept. 5, 1939, and the anti–Jewish terror began. In March 1940 about 700 Jews from Lodz were forced to settle there; in August 1941 a ghetto was established. Two forced labor camps for Jews were built by the Germans near the town: one, in Roznow, existed from the spring of 1940 until December 1942, and the second, in Lipie, from the autumn of 1942 until July 1943. Over 1,000 Jewish prisoners perished in these camps. In April 1942 the Germans arrested all Poalei Zion members in the city and murdered them at the Jewish cemetery. On April 29, 1942, the Germans went on a killing spree and killed many Jews in the city including Mordechai Lustig's entire family. He managed to hide under the blankets and survived. The victims were buried in a mass grave at the Jewish cemetery. In Aug. 24–28, 1942, the entire Jewish population was deported to the Belzec death camp and killed there. A few Jews survived the deportations and were employed by the Germans and then sent to the various forced labor camps. The Red Army fought its way into the city on 20 January 1945. The city was greatly damaged. There were hardly any Jewish survivors.

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