Józef Gara

Józef Gara (born 1929) is a retired miner who speaks an endangered language - Vilamovian, which has only 70 native speakers now, he also created the Vilamovian alphabet. He is an author of poems in that language too. In 2003 he published Zbiór wierszy oraz słownik języka wilamowskiego (A collection of poems and the dictionary of Vilamovian language). In 2004 he collected old Wilamowicean songs, corrected and extended the old ones with a view of releasing them. Between 2004 and 2006 he taught Vilamovian in a primary school in Wilamowice.

Works

Zbiór wierszy o wilamowskich obrzędach i obyczajach oraz Słownik języka wilamowskiego (A collection of poems and the dictionary of Vilamovian language), TIMEX printing house/Stowarzyszenie Na Rzecz Zachowania Dziedzictwa Kulturowego Miasta Wilamowice "Wilamowiane" (Association for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage of the City of Wilamowice "Wilamowiane"), Bielsko-Biała, 2004, ISBN 83-914917-8-1
Kronika historyczna miasteczka Wilamowice (Historical chronicle of the town of Wilamowice), TIMEX printing house, Wilamowice, 2007
"Wymysöjer śtytła" : miasteczko Wilamowice oraz jego osobliwości zawarte w zbiorze piosenek wilamowskich Józefa Gary ("Wymysöjer śtytła: Wilamowice town and its sights set on a set of Vilamovian songs of Józef Gara), Wilamowice: Miejsko-Gminny Ośrodek Kultury (Municipal-Gmina Culture Center), 2007.