We start the trip in "Zielona" park and head towards the café at the end of the main lane. When we get to the café we turn left, cross Letnia Street and go along the river Black Przemsza. We cross Robotnicza Street and continue cycling along the river. When we get to the second bridge, we cross the river and now cycle along the river's right bank. We get to Będzin. We turn left, cross the bridge and head towards the castle. After sightseeing the castle, we cycle up the castle hill to an old Jewish cemetery. After sightseeing the cemetery, we take the same route back to Dąbrowa Górnicza.

The castle in Będzin

      The first fortified settlement was founded in Będzin by a Polish prince Bolesław the Bashful. The role of the fortification was to guard the crossing of the river Black Przemsza - an important trade route. During the reign of a medieval Polish king Kazimierz the Great the castle was extended and fortified. It is also the king with who the legend of the settlement foundation is connected. Once, when visiting the castle, the king was supposed to say "We will be (będziem › Będzin) here, and the servants there."

      In fact the name of the town comes from Będa, the name of probable first commander of the castle or owner of local areas (we don't know exactly). Thus the name Będzin means the castle of Będa.

      It was here where an Austrian prince Maksymilian renounced the rights to the Polish throne. King Jan III Sobieski stopped here with his army on the way to Vienna (to liberate the city from the Turks in the 17th century). In the 18th and 19th century the castle slowly decayed and it wasn't until 1960s when the local authorities managed to rebuild it. Currently, the castle resembles the building from the times of king Kazimierz the Great.

      It is believed that deep and a few kilometers long dungeons spread under the castle. In fact the dungeons exist, but were filled with soil. They are waiting for somebody brave enough to explore them.

Old Jewish cemetery

      Before World War 2nd a lot of inhabitants of Będzin were Jews. However, the majority of them suffered the fate of other European Jews and was killed by the Nazis in gas chambers in Auschwitz.

      One of the existing traces of Jewish past of the town is an old Jewish cemetery situated on the castle hill. It was probably founded in 1831 during a cholera epidemic. Among the most prominent people buried there one should mention Jakub Natan - the rabbi of Będzin. Until now around 300 gravestones with traditional inscriptions and carvings have been discovered and preserved. The carvings didn't have only decorative function, but presented different features of the buried person in a symbolic way.

      Local authorities together with Jews from Będzin who survived the German occupation of Poland have been trying to save Jewish relics from the past. As a results of these meetings the Jewish cemetery was cleared up and an obelisk was put in the place of destroyed by the Nazis synagogue. Regular meetings of Jews coming from Będzin are also held. One of them is Jean Maria Lustiger, catholic archbishop of Paris whose parents had left Będzin before the World War 2nd started.

Tomasz Czowalla
Translated by Piotr Badoń