Words and pictures: Alon Goldman

The Association of Częstochowa Jews in Israel held its Annual Memorial Service on Thursday 3rd December 2020, marking the 78th anniversary of the liquidation of the Częstochowa Ghetto.

Unlike in previous years, the Memorial Service was held unconventionally, via Zoom. The Association had endeavoured to postpone the event in the hope that the COVID pandemic situation would improve, thus allowing the Association to held the event as in previous year – but to no avail. This year, the Service had to be “virtual”.

The event was opened by Association Chairman Alon Goldman.

The event was honoured with the presence of the Polish Ambassador to Israel, His Excellency Mr. Marek Magierowski. In his remarks, he noted that the organization’s activity serves as an example of building a bridge between peoples.

In the second part of the Memorial Service, Alon Goldman delivered a lecture entitled “Preserving the Częstochowa Jewish Heritage in the Mirror of Generations”. In the lecture, he reviewed the various activities carried out over the years, from the date of the liberation of Częstochowa by the Russians to the present day, for the preservation of the city’s Jewish heritage. He described the challenges faced and talked about the people whose contribution was significant in these activities in the various areas (click on images to enlarge):

Source: Alon Goldman & Błażej Tatarek

It was with great sadness that the World Society learned of the passing of Ryszard Welgryn, Deputy Chairman of the Częstochowa branch of the TSKŻ –Towarzystwo Społeczno-Kulturalne Żydów w Polsce (Social-Cultural Association of Jews in Poland). Ryszard passed away on Saturday 7th November 2020, aged seventy-two.

“Ryszard was a true friend”, said World Society Vice-President Alon Goldman. “Since becoming Deputy Chairman of the Częstochowa branch of the TSKŻ a few years ago, Ryszard has quietly, modestly and effectively been of great assistance assisted in all activities relating to the preservation of the Częstochowa’s Jewish heritage”.

Ryszard owned a factory in which he minted commemorative medals. The relief of the New Synagogue, at the entrance to the Częstochowa Philharmonic hall, was created by him, as were medallions, created for our World Society Reunions, which were given to all Reunion participants (see below).

Ryszard Welgryn was born and raised in Częstochowa as a Christian. It was only twenty years ago that he discovered that his father was a Jew who had been liberated from Buchenwald and who had hidden his Jewish identity since then.

Ryszard’s daughter, Paulina, wrote the following about her father:

For some of you, he was a person known within the Jewish community. Dad felt the need to belong to it since, around 2000, our family discovered a deeply, hidden secret. We learned that my grandfather, Feliks Welgryn, was born “Efroim Boruch Welgryn”. Like most Jews, he was hard hit by the cruelty of War and the loss of his entire, immediate family. After being liberated from the forced-labor camp in Buchenwald, he returned to Częstochowa after the War, where he started a family under his changed name and hid his Jewish identity.

Dad was a teacher and his youth was linked with scouting and the PTTK (Polish Tourist and Sightseeing Society). Later years, together with his wife Marzena, he devoted himself to building a family medal-making company.

Częstochowa was an important city for him, a community which he supported through, for example, local charitable foundations, for which he always had an open heart. He supported the Częstochowa branch of WOSP (Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity) and the Catholic Adullam Foundation.

Desiring to get to know the community focused on Jewish culture, he actively participated in its life, taking the position of Vice-Chairman of the Częstochowa branch of the TSKŻ. He was involved in commemorating places related to the life and martyrdom of the Jewish population in Częstochowa.

Paulina Welgryn with, her mother in sorrow, Marzena Swatek-Welgryn.

During the World Society’s 5th Reunion in 2016, Ryszard met Zvi Welgryn – their grandfathers were brothers. Together, they recited Kaddish at the graves in the Częstochowa Jewish Cemetery.

The World Society extends its deepest sympathies to Ryszard Welgryn’s family and, in accordance with Jewish tradition, we wish them long life.

Source: Alon Goldman

By unanimous vote, the Częstochowa City Council has decided to name the area around the Częstochowa Umschlagplatz, “Plac Samuela Willenberga” (“Samuel WIllenberg Square”), in honour of our late, great landsmann Samuel Willenberg z”l.

The initiative for this came from World Society Vice-President Alon Goldman and was submitted to the CIty Council by Chair of the Częstochowa TSKŻ Izabela Sobańska-Klekowska as, according to municipal regulations, only a local institution is able to make such a submission.

Source: Alon Goldman & Andrew Rajcher

Over many years, some Holocaust survivors have documented their memories in different languages and in different methods – through printed, limited-edition memoirs,  in video documentaries, in written/photographic testimonies at Yad Vashem, the USC Shoah Foundations, in local Holocaust museums and more.

For us and for future generations, these memories and testimonies are of great historical importance as they represent survivors and witnesses telling us their own stories of what occurred in Częstochowa before, during and after the Holocaust. As these survivors and witnesses sadly leave us, by preserving their stories, we will enable them to continue to speak to us “from beyond the grave”.

Together with Andrew Rajcher, the webmaster of our Częstochowa Jews website, we are launching a project – “Collecting the Memories“, in which, under the “one roof” of our website, we will endeavour to centralise all those personal stories published, through whatever media and in whatever language.

Should you have any questions or would like to subbmit material for this project, please can contact:
Alon Goldman (in the first instance) – czestochowajewsinisrael@gmail.com
Andrew Rajcher – aragorn@axiomcs.com.au

Sources: Alon Goldman, Jolanta Urbańska and Gazeta Wyborcza

Organised by Izabela Sobańska-Klekowska, Chair of the Częstochowa branch of the TSKŻ (Social-Cultural Association of Jews in Poland), a ceremony was held at the memorial to Częstochowa Jewish Holocaust victims commemorating the 78th anniversary of the liquidation of the Czestochowa ghetto.

The liquidation of the ghetto lasted two weeks, between 22nd September and 7th October 1942, during which six train transports of cattle cars departed from the train station on ul. Strażacka headed for Treblinka.

Source: Alon Goldman

An exhibition of bronze Treblinka sculptures, by our late landsmann Samuel Willenberg z”l, opened in Częstochowa on Thurday 17th September 2020. The Official Opening of the exhibition, entitled “The Image of Treblinka in the Eyes of Samuel Willenberg”, took place at the Częstochowa Municipal Museum, in the presence of the Mayor of Częstochowa, Krzysztof Matyjaszczyk.

In collaboration with the Institute of National Remembrance, which brought the exhibition from Israel to Poland, and at the request of Alon Goldman, the exhibition was intended to be part of the World Society’s Sixth Reunion, which was scheduled to be held in early October, in conjunction with the Huberman Festival in the Częstochowa Philharmonic. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, plans for our next Reunion have been deferred until 2021.

The date of the exhibition going on display in Czestochowa is not random, as between 22nd September and 7th October 1942, about 40,000 Czestochowa Jews were deported to their deaths in the German death camp in Treblinka – in six transports of cattle trains.

Samuel Willenberg was lucky. When he arrived in Treblinka from the Opatów ghetto where he was staying, as he got off the train in Treblinka, he met his teacher from Czestochowa who told him, “If they ask, say you are a builder”. And so it was – of all the 6,000 Jews who had arrived on this transport, he was the only one to remain alive and was sent to a work group.

The exhibition presents figures and events that were etched into Samuel Willenberg’s memory during the ten months which he spent in the death camp until his escape on 2nd August 1943, during the rebellion which took place in the camp.

Żarki is a town lying about 35 kms from Częstochowa. The history of the town goes back to the 12th century, with Jews first settling there in the 16th century. At the outbreak of the Second World War, the town’s population reached around 5,000, of whom 60% were Jews. When the War ended, the Jewish community of Żarki was no more.

In 1959, in Israel, Holocaust Survivors from Żarki published a Yizkor Book entitled “The Community of Żarki – a Town in its Life and its Destruction”.

As far as we are aware, this is the only Yizkor Book ever published about the Jews of Żarki. Written predominantly in Hebrew, apart from its “Table of Contents” and its “Necrology” section, it has never been translated into English – UNTIL NOW!

It has therefore been decided that this will be the next Yizkor Book to be professionally and entirely translated into English, as part of our YIZKOR BOOK PROJECT. Translations will begin to appear on our website soon!

Source: Andrew Rajcher

It is with immense pleasure we announce that, last week, Magdalena successfully defended her doctoral thesis and is now Dr Mizgalska-Osowiecka! Our pride in Magda’s achievement comes second only to the pride that her parents, Jerzy and Krystyna Mizgalski, must be feeling. The Mizgalski family are long-time friends of our World Society and, in gaining her doctorate, Magda is now following in the footsteps of her historian father, Professor Dr hab Jerzy Mizgalski, whose area of specialisation is the history of Częstochowa Jewry. Jerzy is also the creator and curator of our exhibition in the Częstochowa Jewish Museum.

Those of you who have attended all of our World Society Reunions will have got to know Magda and seen her develop, over the years, from a high school teenager into a respected history academic. Today, Magda heads the Historical Information Unit of the Digital Collections and Resource Centre at the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews. She has already authored and co-authored numerous articles and has regularly delivered papers at academic conferences.

Her first major academic achievement came when she was still in high school. In 2006, Magda won a Poland-wide competition on the “History and Culture of Polish Jews”. Her entry, about the history of the Jewish community in Częstochowa, won her a guaranteed place at the Warsaw University. That contest was sponsored by the Polish Ministry of National Education and Sport, Warsaw University’s Institute of History, the Institute of National Remembrance and the Israeli Ministry of Education.  

Magda’s academic achievements then continued. At Warsaw University’s Institute of History, Magda gained her Bachelor of Arts degree (in 2010) with a thesis on “The Participation of Jews in Local Government in Częstochowa (1927 – 1939)” and her Master of Arts degree (in 2012) with a thesis on “The Issue of Former Austrian Officials and Officers in Eastern Galicia During 1918-1923”. After gaining her Masters degree, she completed a year of post-graduate study, at the University of Southampton, specialising in Jewish history and culture.

In 2017, her Bachelor’s degree thesis was published in book form.

In 2013, Magda began studying for her doctorate at the Tadeusz Manteuffel Institute of History at the Polish Academy of Science in the Department of History of Totalitarian Systems and World War II. The topic of her doctoral thesis was “British Policy on Jewish Emigration During the Evian Conference in 1938”:

The dissertation presents the position of Great Britain during the international conference in Evian in July 1938. Former British dominions, including Australia and Canada, as well as other British dependent areas, including Palestine are also included. United Kingdom legislation, regulating the entry of foreigners, and international legislation, regulating the refugee problem before July 1938, are both discussed. The international situation before the conference and the course of the conference itself, as well as its participants, the work schedule and the final resolution, are characterised. The positions of selected charity organizations, participating in the meeting and their impact on the conference, are also presented. The work includes a critical evaluation of the state of research on the discussed topic. When assessing the Evian conference in retrospect, attention is drawn to its importance in the international discussion on refugees and the British contribution to this discussion.

Last week, Magda successfully defended her thesis, thereby earning her PhD.

Magda, from everyone at the World Society, we say “Congratulations! Gratulacje! Mazel Tov!”.

Sources: The Mayor of Częstochowa, Krzysztof Matyjaszczyk

While the first mention of Jews in Częstochowa dates back to 1620, the existence of the city itself goes back 400 years earlier – to 1220 – when, on 25th December 1220, in Krakow, Iwo Odrowąż, Bishop of Kraków and Chancellor to Prince Leszek the White, issued a document for the monastery of the Canons Regular in Mstów, listing surrounding settlements which were obliged to pay tithes to the monastery. One of the villages mentioned was Częstochowa.

To mark this anniversary, the City of Częstochowa has created a magnificent website, with a timeline, telling the history of the city from its first mention in 1220 to the present day in 2020.

The website’s presentation of the 800 years of the city’s history is amazing – both in graphics and text.

Unfortunately, the text is only in Polish, but it is certainly worthwhile to use a translator, such as Google Translate, to learn much about our families’ home city’s history.

At a press conference held on Thursday 6th February, Częstochowa Mayor Krzysztof Matyjaszczyk promised that “there will be many surprises” as part of the anniversary celebrations – this is certainly one of them.

To view the website, go to http://www.800.czestochowa.pl/.

Source: Alon Goldman

World Society Vice-President, Alon Goldman, has announced that, regretably, this year’s annual clean-up of the Częstochowa Jewish Cemetery, due to take place 1st-5th June 2020, has had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We were full of hope to be able to carry out the project in the allotted time but, as the target date approached, we saw that we simply could not go forward”, he said. “Airline flight schedules have not returned to normal and the need to quarantine everyone who enters Poland, together with the health and security concerns for our partners in Poland, have brought us to a tough decision”.

He added that “we are now checking out possibilities for re-scheduling the clean-up and, when we have done so, we will make another announcement.  As you no doubt know, if we do not carry this project out, no one else will do it! We are certainly not giving up and, as soon as the situation allows, we will definitely return to continue our work”.

In making the announcement, Alon thanked all  friends and partners for their commitment and assistance – the USA Matzevah Foundation, the Częstochowa Adullam Foundation, the participating high schools from Czestochowa and Israel and all of the wonderful volunteers.