“In 2008 we attended a meeting in Będzin’s city hall, where we received brief information that Bedzin’s so-called Cukerman Gate was the location of a private Jewish prayer house with original colored wall decorations and that it was “immediately available to let” for anyone willing to do so. We had no doubt that it should be us who rented the place! It would be difficult to live with the knowledge that we could have saved something as precious as this, yet had not done so. To be effective in our actions we established a foundation and we invited a few friends to join it, among them historians and experts. Its name – “Cukerman Gate” – is a reference to a small courtyard in Będzin where the aforementioned prayer house stands. The house is one of the few remnants in the city’s topography that testifies to the bygone presence of its former inhabitants. The pre-war owner of the prayer house was called Nuchim Cukerman. Today, Cukerman Gate – as well as us – conducts research and educates, as well as preserving the heritage and centuries-old signs of the Jewish presence in Będzin and its vicinity.”
Karolina and Piotr Jakoweńko