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COMMUNITIES

BEREZA KARTUSKA POLAND JUST AN AVERAGE TOWN OF THE ERA

BEREZA KARTUSKA, POLAND, JUST AN AVERAGE TOWN OF THE ERA, Birch "behind the Polish clock": lively and carefree.

GOSTYNIN POLAND

GOSTYNIN, POLAND, a funeral in Gostynin. Immediately after the German army entered the town in Sept. 1939, mass arrests and attacks on Jews began along with requisition and looting of Jewish property. Jews were ordered to hew the old wooden synagogue into pieces and carry them to German inhabitants for fuel. They were ordered to pay two "contributions" (fines) in succession; when the president of the community was unable to collect the second sum in time, he sent a delegation to the Warsaw Jewish community (on a German suggestion) and received the required amount. A ghetto was set up in Gostynin which was at first open, but subsequently surrounded by barbed wire. Order was kept by Jewish police. Most of the Jews left the ghetto every morning for hard labor assignments. In August 1941 transports of men and women began to be sent to labor camps in the Warthegau. The ghetto was liquidated on April 16–17, 1942, when nearly 2,000 Jews were sent to the death camp at Chelmno. By the end of the war all traces of Jewish life in the town had been obliterated. The cemetery had been desecrated and destroyed, the tombstones hauled away, and the tomb (ohel) of the local ẓaddik destroyed. The few Jews from Gostynin who survived the Holocaust subsequently emigrated.

GREAT SYNAGOGUE OF BUDAPEST

GREAT SYNAGOGUE OF BUDAPEST, the second half of the 19th century was a period of prosperity for the Jewish community of Hungary. As a result, the Jews founded many institutions during this period, including the Great Synagogue in Budapest. The building was designed by Ludwig Förster, a German architect who believed that there was no distinctively Jewish architecture. As a result, he chose “architectural forms that have been used by the Israelite people.” The construction ended in 1859. During World War II, the Germans used the synagogue as a radio communication center. As many other structures in Budapest, the synagogue suffered a lot of damage during the bombings of 1944. The building remained in a state of total disrepair until the 1990s, when a full-scale restoration began.

INTERIOR OF A WOODEN SYNAGOGUE IN PRZEDBORZ POLAND

INTERIOR OF A WOODEN SYNAGOGUE IN PRZEDBORZ, POLAND, the first mention of the existence of the synagogue dates back to 1638. It was renovated in 1789. The layout of the building was typical with an elongated prayer hall in the eastern part, preceded from the west by a vestibule with a kahal chamber and a women's gallery on the first floor. It was built of larch wood and had two entrances, the main entrance from the north. Much later, a second women's gallery was added from the south, accessed by stairs in the corner annex. The synagogue was considered one of the most beautiful temples of that period, mainly due to the beautiful woodcarving. The walls of the prayer room were polychromed. The bimah, built on an octagonal plan, dates back to the mid-18th century. It was burned on September 3, 1939.

IWJE

IWJE, the ghetto population there rose to about 4,000 and epidemics of typhus and skin diseases took their toll. On May 12, 1942, the Germans selected 200-300 Jews who had legitimate working certificates and took them to the ghetto of Lida. Later they selected 1,200-1,300 more Jews who appeared healthy and able-bodied. The elderly and sick, as well as large families with small children, were taken to their deaths in the same Stonewicze Forest, where 2,300 Jews were killed on this day. After this operation, some young Jews succeeded in fleeing and to join the Soviet partisans. The Germans began to send groups of workers from Iwje to labor camps in Lida, Mołodeczno, Borisov, and other places. On January 20, 1943, all those still in the Iwje ghetto were sent to Borisov, where they died (most probably they were shot) in the peat bogs of Biała Bołota in March 1943. Iwje was liberated by the Red Army on July 8, 1944.

JEWISH COMMUNITY OF KISHINEV

JEWISH COMMUNITY OF KISHINEV, the German and Romanian armies occupied Kishinev on July 18, 1941, and the Ghetto was established on July 22-23. It lasted about two months. According to the report, it had a population of 11,525 Jews, 64% of which were women and children and 28% old people. The deportations from the Ghetto to Transnistria started on October 12, 1941, on what proved to be a death march. Transnistria was the southernmost part of the Ukraine, between the rivers Nistru and Bug. It was renamed as such to indicate the conquered area "given" by the Germans to their Romanian allies. Exactly how many Jews perished during 1941 to 1944 in the areas of Bucovina, Bessarabia and Transnistria will never be known. Estimates run between 200,000 to almost double this number. Every one of them, men, women and children, was an innocent victim of the Holocaust and the murder of most of them was the responsibility of the Romanian regime of Marshal Ion Antonescu.

JEWISH COMMUNITY OF MLAWA

JEWISH COMMUNITY OF MLAWA, in September 1939, many Jewish people left Mława and other Masovian towns and headed east and towards Warsaw. In October and November 1939, when the Germans entered Mława, many Jews fled to the USSR. On 8 October, the Nazis incorporated Mława (along with a part of north Masovia) into the Reich. Reich territories were supposed to be "Judenfrei" so the Germans immediately began deportations. In December, as Jews living in Mława were displaced, refugees from other towns soon replaced them. On Yom Kippur in 1939, the synagogue in Mława burned down. The Germans forced the Jews to watch the fire. In December 1939, 3,000 Jews were taken to the concentration camp in Działdowo. Over the course of the year, approximately 4,000 Jewish people were sent from Mława to Biała Podlaska, Kosowo Lackie, Winnica, and Michałów Lubelski. Mentally ill or disabled people were killed on the spot. In December 1940, the Germans established a ghetto in Mława. It occupied an area of about 30 hectares and was located in the area bounded by Warszawska, Długa, Płocka and Szewska Streets. Opened in May 1941, it was surrounded by a brick wall and barbed wire. Its inhabitants were mostly Jews resettled from other towns such as Szreńsk, Drobin, Radzanowo, Zieluń, Maków Mazowiecki, Przasnysz, Kuczbork, Bieżuń and also Lidzbark, Rypin and Lipno. In 1940-1941, there were about 5,000-6,000 people in the ghetto in total. In 1940, a slave labor camp was formed in the town as well. The Germans used the ritual bath on Narutowicza Street to intern about 300 forced laborers: Jews, Poles and, later, also Russians. The prisoners were forced to perform public service work and were sent to build a military camp in the nearby village of Nosarzewo. Some of the Jews of Mława were also sent to a prison-camp in Pomiechówek, where prisoners were treated with particular brutality. The first president of the Judenrat Eliezer Perlmuter was arrested by the Germans in January 1942 and killed during an interrogation. Paltiel Ceglo succeeded him as president until he too was imprisoned. The post was then taken over by Mendel Czarka. Herman Mordowicz was chairman of the Jewish Court and Menache Dawidson was Chief of the Jewish Police. Due to bribes paid by the Mława Judenrat, the Germans turned a blind eye to the smuggling that was going on in the ghetto. A library was run by Dawid Krystal. There was also an illegal radio receiver in the ghetto. Doctor Tiefenbrun was responsible for treating the inhabitants and saw to it that they were vaccinated against typhus. After his death, Józef Witwicki continued his work. The liquidation of the ghetto was preceded by murders of individual people. For instance, on 18 April 1942, four people were killed. In the 1942 German "List of Special Operations" the following note concerning summarized the crime and those that followed: "During the execution, the ghetto’s population was arrogant and defiant, so in order to restore order a second execution was performed on 17 June 1942 in which 50 Jews were killed." By the end of 1942, the ghetto in Mława ceased to exist. Approximately 6,000-7,000 people were deported to extermination camps. On 10 November 1942, the elderly and sick were deported to Treblinka and those who remained were moved to Auschwitz in three transports: on 13 and 17 November and 10 December.

JEWISH COMMUNITY OF NIESVIEZ

JEWISH COMMUNITY OF NIESVIEZ, with the German invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, a few Jews fled from Nieśwież to the Soviet Union with the retreating Soviet army. On the eve of the German occupation in June 1941, some 4,600 Jews lived in the city. On 27 June 1941 the Germans occupied Nieśwież, and within a few days, anti-Jewish measures were enacted. Early measures included the obligation to wear the yellow star, the prohibition on walking on sidewalks, the prohibition on relations with non-Jews, and forced recruitment to hard labor. The Germans instituted a Judenrat and appointed a Jewish lawyer from Warsaw who had taken refuge in Nieśwież as its head. In October, the Germans ordered the Jews of Nieśwież to pay a ransom in rubles and gold. In order to ensure the ransom’s payment, the Germans took local Jewish men as hostages. Abuse, robbery and murder of Jews became an everyday occurrence. The Jews’ silver and copper was confiscated, residents of the main streets were evicted from their homes, and every infraction of a German order was punishable by death. A number of Jews were charged with buying potatoes from peasants, and were subsequently murdered. On 29 October 1941, the Judenrat was ordered to gather all the Jews in the market square. The following day, after hours of waiting in the square, 685 professionals and their families were separated from the others. The remaining Jews, some 4000 men, women and children, were taken to pits that had been prepared in advanced in the Nieśwież palace garden, and to pits that had been dug about 3 km away from the city, on the way to Snow. The Jews were forced to undress, and were shot to death into the pits. The murderers were members of a Lithuanian murder squad, German gendarmes and members of Einsatzkommando 8.

JEWISH COMMUNITY OF OSTROG POLAND

JEWISH COMMUNITY OF OSTROG, POLAND, residents of Ostrog were involved in the war on its first day — September 1, 1939. People from our city kept their weapons until the last day of the war, September 2, 1945. Ostrogans fought on different fronts of the global conflict, often against each other. In our project, we tell the story of the city and its inhabitants in this war. The main goal is to tell about how the Second World War changed the city and how this war affects its present. By the word "Ostrozhany" we understand the inhabitants of the city at that time or those who came from it, regardless of nationality, language or religion. The territory described in this project is Ostrog, its surroundings and places of combat where prisoners were present.