| Odletajka – November 6, 2025 |
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Among those present at the ceremony were: Jakub Beczek, representative of the Chancellery of the President of Poland; Omer Chechek-Katz, Deputy Ambassador of Israel; Rabbi Dawid Szychowski; Bishop Mieczysław Cisło; Karol Stolarczyk, parish priest of the Teratyń Parish; Pastor of the Pentecostal Church Czesław Uszyński; Piotr Lichota, Director of the Chancellery of the Mayor of Chełm; Szymon Patkowski, Secretary of the Uchanie Municipality; Dariusz Czujkowski, Director of the Municipal Cultural Center in Uchanie; Shlomit Beck, Chairwoman of the Chelmer Organization of Jews in Israel, together with a group of descendants of Jews from Chełm; Adam Dudziński, representative of The Polish Association of The Righteous Among Nations; as well as residents of Odletajka and the surrounding area. The ceremony was led by Zbigniew Niziński, President of the Foundation. After laying floral wreaths, prayers were raised by the rabbi, bishop, and pastor. The tragic events of December 1, 1939, were recalled during the ceremony. The victims were murdered during the Death March. The Germans gathered about 1,800 Jews—men aged 16 to 60—at the square in Chełm. They then drove them toward the Soviet zone, through Hrubieszów to Sokal on the Bug River, shooting those who weakened along the way. After the column passed, the bodies of murdered Jews lay along the route, and the residents of Odletajka, under German orders, buried them by the roadside. A 98 year old resident of Odletajka, an eyewitness to these events, recounted the tragedy during the ceremony.
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In Odletajka, the The Lasting Memory Foundation, placed a Memory Stone to mark the burial site of about 70 Jews murdered by the Germans on December 1, 1939, during the Death March from Chełm to Sokal. Local residents and guests from Poland and Israel attended the unveiling ceremony of the Memory Stone.
