[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 155 (Friday, November 7, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2187]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                COMMENDING THE LUBOML EXHIBITION PROJECT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JERROLD NADLER

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 5, 1997

  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend and call attention 
to a project of passion and nobility, a project dedicated to the 
preservation of a world lost to us. It was a world of happiness and 
light. A world of families and children, of community and spirituality. 
It was the world of the Polish town of Luboml. In 1942, it was from 
this Earth untimely ripped--destroyed by an evil that marched across 
Europe leaving death in its path. More than 4,000 members of Luboml's 
Jewish population were killed by the Nazi barbarians. Only 51 survived.
  Now, thanks to the efforts of a New York businessman, Aaron 
Ziegelman, we are able to get a glimpse of this lost world. Mr. 
Ziegelman, who was born in Luboml, came to this country in 1938 at the 
age of 10. When he, his mother, and his sister left for America, more 
than 50 residents of the town came out to bid them farewell; only one 
of those residents survived the Holocaust. Mr. Ziegelman has made it 
his mission to keep alive the memory of those who perished: the memory 
not only of their deaths, but of their lives.
  In 1994, Mr. Ziegelman initiated the Luboml Exhibition Project. So 
far, the project has collected nearly 2,000 photographs and artifacts 
from more than 100 families and from archives from around the world. 
These include a hand-embroidered matzo cover; a photograph of three 
young girls smiling for the camera; a picture of Lubolm's bustling 
market day; a group portrait of the ``Luboml bicycling club''; a school 
identification card; a photo of an ice skating party. As Mr. Ziegelman 
said, ``Before they were victims, they were people,'' and therein lies 
the deepest sense of tragedy.
  Seeing life breathed into this perished world, one cannot help 
thinking of the hundreds, or even thousands, of towns just like Luboml. 
Towns where families were torn apart, where children were not allowed 
to grow into adults, where vibrant lives were cut short. Considering 
Luboml, this quintessential 20th-Century tragedy once again takes on a 
more concrete, more personal resonance. Thanks to the work of Mr. 
Ziegelman, we are once again reminded of the fundamental belief we are 
voicing when we say, ``Never Again.''

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