Fact check · The video of Sept 1, 2026

Eight claims from the mayor of Opatów. The record says otherwise.

In a 21-minute video, Mayor Grzegorz Gajewski gave residents his account of the grave beneath the town amphitheater. Watch it in English, then see, claim by claim, what the record shows.

Full video, 21:07 English voice-over

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אפטא · ציון רבי מאיר מאפטא בעל אור לשמים

The grave

Under the seating of the town amphitheater in Opatów (Apt) is the grave of Rabbi Meir of Apt, the Ohr LaShamayim, a revered rabbi who died in 1827. His resting place has drawn pilgrims ever since. A few times a year people still come to pray at his grave, and on his yahrzeit hundreds make the journey.

The amphitheater was built over part of the old Jewish cemetery in the 1970s. Since 2022 the Jewish side has asked, with one voice, for his grave to be protected and honored. The request is to obtain the amphitheater space over the grave, with the amphitheater rebuilt elsewhere. At every step they have tried to work with the town: they offered to buy locally, to support the local economy, and they paid their bills in full. They offered to fund an equal replacement amphitheater, based on two actual quotes from reputable companies.

Again and again the mayor agreed to move forward, then reversed (see the timeline). On September 1, 2026, he took his case to the public in this video. His account does not match the record. Below, eight of his claims are set, in his own words, beside what actually happened. Tap a timestamp to hear him say it.

Fact check

Eight claims, in his own words, against the record

  1. 01One team, one message
  2. 02The grave was never carted away
  3. 03Not a favor, but a service the organizers paid for
  4. 04The bills were paid in full, to the mayor himself
  5. 05His price comes from another town’s tender
  6. 06The town has land for a new amphitheater
  7. 07The letter asked for persuasion, not force
  8. 08An equal replacement, not a bigger one
The record says otherwise

Claim 1: One team, one message

The mayor claims

They’re not organized the way our religious groups are … each operates separately, which is also why it’s so hard to talk with them, because they’re not coordinated in any way.

What the record shows

The Jewish side is one coordinated team, with one message. Since 2022 the same request has come from the same people: Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich, Rabbi Joel Halberstam, Rabbi Asher Horowitz, Shea Friedman and others.

  • Only four of them ever spoke with the mayor, and all four carried the same message.
  • The talks did not stall for lack of coordination. As the timeline below shows, the mayor agreed to move forward, then reversed, again and again.
The record says otherwise

Claim 2: The grave was never carted away

The mayor claims

…there was, before the war and also during the war, an Ohel, that is, the tomb of one of the Jewish rabbis… this Ohel was destroyed. The earth from there was dug out and carted away to various places around Opatów.

What the record shows

The grave is still there. Ground-penetrating radar (georadar) surveys done at the site in 2022, including one by Geopartner Geofizyka of Kraków, show it under the amphitheater seating. It was not dug out.

  • His own words place it there: he says aerial photographs from 1944 show the Ohel “under one of the front rows”.
The record says otherwise

Claim 3: Not a favor, but a service the organizers paid for

The mayor claims

Of course, we accommodated them; we ordered drinks and water for them, gave them access to the Opatów Cultural Center and to toilets, and also provided security.

What the record shows

This was not a favor from the town. The organizers offered to buy the beverages locally themselves, to support the local economy. The mayor insisted on ordering them himself, and the organizers paid for them in full (see item 4).

  • In his very next sentence he says so himself: “The costs were supposed to be reimbursed.”
The record says otherwise

Claim 4: The bills were paid in full, to the mayor himself

The mayor claims

…from July to December we could not get them to settle the invoices for the services that had been provided for them. Likewise, the security company they had hired also had trouble collecting that money.

What the record shows

The organizers paid in full, directly to the mayor. The mayor insisted that he alone would order everything, and that he be paid directly. He also required them to hire one specific, very expensive local security company; they had no choice but to agree.

  • The mayor sent his wiring instructions to Rabbi Asher Horowitz, and Rabbi Horowitz wired the full amount directly to the mayor. The bank record of that wire exists.
  • The mayor never came back to say that any amount was unpaid.
The record says otherwise

Claim 5: His price comes from another town’s tender

The mayor claims

…the municipality of Krynica Górska announced a tender to build a similar amphitheater, one-third roofed, with 1,000 seats… I tentatively said 24 million zloty.

What the record shows

His figure is not a valuation of Opatów’s amphitheater. It is another town’s price for a different building. By his own account, he arrived at it by searching the internet for other towns’ projects.

  • The tender he describes, at the price he cites, was for the amphitheater in Krynica-Zdrój: a far more elaborate project, with reinforced-concrete structures, a special roof, backstage, sanitary and stage systems.
  • Krynica-Zdrój had first estimated the project at little more than half the price it ended up paying. Only one company bid, and the town accepted that single bid to avoid losing government funding.
  • He then adds his own guess for land and inflation, and calls the result “tentative”.
The record says otherwise

Claim 6: The town has land for a new amphitheater

The mayor claims

…at the time when the Jewish side rejected this proposal of mine and was preparing its own … both of these sites, which I had potentially been considering as places where a new amphitheater for the residents of Opatów might perhaps be built, well, ceased to be an option.

What the record shows

The town’s own budget documents show it has enough land for a replacement site. Its 2026–2035 long-term financial forecast lists seven plots prepared for investment, six in Opatów and one in Wąworków, totalling 4.665 hectares, plus a further 1,702 m² plot in Opatów.

  • The timing does not hold either. On May 1, 2025, the mayor himself wrote that the land had already been sold, eight months before the estimates were made in January 2026.
The record says otherwise

Claim 7: The letter asked for persuasion, not force

The mayor claims

…the Jewish side turns to the Marshal’s Office with a claim, a demand, a request that the Marshal force the mayor of Opatów to sell the amphitheater to the Jewish side…

What the record shows

The letter did not demand that the Marshal force a sale. His own reading of it in the video shows this: it asks the Marshal’s Office to “contact the mayor directly, call on him to accept our generous offer”.

  • He himself explains that the Marshal “has no authority over the mayor”. Nothing he reads out claims otherwise.
  • He calls it “blackmail” by “citizens of a foreign state”. Yet the passage he reads out only asks the Marshal’s Office to talk to him and urge him to accept an offer. It contains no threat and no demand.
The record says otherwise

Claim 8: An equal replacement, not a bigger one

The mayor claims

…the only solution that would make it possible for me to even consider moving the amphitheater to another location would be a modern building … worthy of Opatów and worthy of the 21st century.

What the record shows

No one asked for a modern, larger building. The request is a moral one: to return this site to the Jewish community so the holy place can be restored. In return, the Jewish side offers to fund an alternative amphitheater, the same as the existing one.

  • The offer is based on two actual quotes, from a contractor and an appraiser, for a replacement building the same as the existing one. The mayor shows them himself in the video.
  • The Jewish side offered to go with the higher of the two quotes.
  • The quotes were gathered and confirmed as legitimate by the organizers’ lawyer, Kevin Foglar. They come from well-known, reputable companies, including the Kraków contractor KPB Cracovia.
  • The mayor was given the companies’ details and is welcome to call them to confirm the pricing.
  • By his own account, the existing amphitheater needs costly repairs: its roof leaks and it is unusable when it rains.
  • It has been used roughly three times a year for about ten years, and the Cultural Center next door has its own hall.
  • Yet he calls this offer “not even worth spending time on”.

Since 2022

Agreed, then reversed

  1. 2022Request to investigate the site and restore the grave. The mayor consents, then reverses the same day.
  2. Dec 12, 2022The heritage conservator has permitted the work; the mayor issues a “final and unalterable” refusal.
  3. Feb 1, 2023A meeting with the mayor is “positive”; he will “think about it”. Nothing follows.
  4. Jun 26, 2023Town officials propose finding a new site, building a new amphitheater and ceding the parcel once building starts. Nothing follows.
  5. Summer 2024The mayor agrees to sell and asks for a legal entity and a written request; both are delivered. He promises an appraisal and a contract within a month. Neither comes, and the town stops responding.
  6. Jan 15, 2025The mayor tells the organizers’ lawyer he refuses to sell.
  7. Jan–May 2025An independent licensed appraiser is engaged and paid. On May 1 the mayor writes that the land for a new amphitheater has been sold and talks are “pointless”. In mid-May, the day the appraiser confirms payment, he says there will be no sale.
  8. Jul 2025The mayor agrees “terms of cooperation” with the Chief Rabbi of Poland. The day after the yahrzeit, he declares all talks “definitively closed”.
  9. Jan 2026Two quotes for a replacement the same as the existing one are delivered.
  10. May 7, 2026The mayor is willing to negotiate and asks for architectural details and contact with the estimators.
  11. June 2026The town fences the site off. On June 25 the mayor tells the organizers’ lawyer he has “zero interest” in selling.
  12. Sept 1, 2026The mayor publishes this video.

Where it stands

The grave of Rabbi Meir of Apt is still under the amphitheater’s seating. The Jewish side has spoken with one voice, paid its bills in full, and offered to fund an equal amphitheater for the town. It asks only that the space over his grave be returned to dignity, and it remains ready to work with the town toward that solution.