Objects

“You photograph snatches of time that has stopped,” Hanna Giza said (questioningly) when interviewing Tadeusz Rolke. The photographer replied: “Er... Well, these towns still exist for me. I choose places which would look as they did in 1939 –hadn’t they fallen apart– or which even still look like in 1939, if they haven’t fallen apart yet. This is my subjective way of looking. It has nothing to do with objective documentation of religious, cult or any other places” (http://www.rosikonpress.com/wywiad_449/Tadeusz_Rolke.html, accessed 18 November 2020).

This photo, taken in 2005, turned out to be only a sad testimony of the times when the magnificent synagogue in Dąbrowa Tarnowska was gradually falling into ruin. The large metal dumpster in the foreground is the symbol of decay. When Rolke took this photo, the side elevation of the building and the façade covered with a triangular tympanum were still showing divisions in the giant order, arcades with niches finished with full arches, remnants of plaster and traces of decorative work (rustication) on the façade. However, the panes in the windows were already broken, and only a clamping of iron beams was containing the final decay of the synagogue. Today, after years of local authorities’ efforts, the synagogue looks completely different. After the renovation carried out in 2010–2012, we can admire not only the architecture of the building, erected in the second half of the 19th century, but also renovated polychromes in its interior. It houses the Centre for the Meeting of Cultures, and the synagogue is open to visitors.

For more information about Dąbrowa Tarnowska and the history of the local Jewish community, read the Virtual Shtetl website: https://sztetl.org.pl/en/towns/d/317-dabrowa-tarnowska.

Renata Piątkowska