Częstochowa Celebrates Its 800th Anniversary
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Sources: Gazeta Wyborcza, the Częstochowa City Council
This year, the City of Częstochowa is celebrating the 800th anniversary of its written history. There will be academic conferences, film screenings, cultural events AND a new coat-of-arms.
The crow, which was placed there in the early 1990’s out of respect for Jasna Góra, has disappeared. According to Gazeta Wyborcza, in heraldry, it is a symbol of Satan.
At a press conference held on Thursday 6th February, Częstochowa Mayor Krzysztof Matyjaszczyk promised that “there will be many surprises for locals” as part of the anniversary celebrations.
What is of particular interest to the World Society is that, included in this, will be an upgrade to the Stary Rynek (Old Market Square) which is due to be completed mid-2020. Prior to World War II, the Stary Rynek was a centre of Jewish communal and commercial activity.
Treblinka Through the Eyes of Samuel Willenberg z"l
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Words and pictures: Alon Goldman and the Institute of National Remembrance
In a ceremony held in Warsaw, on 29th January 2020, Ada Willenberg, the widow of our landsmann Samuel Willenberg z'”l, officially opened an exhibition of her husband’s bronze sculptures depicting his images of Treblinka. Samuel, who sadly passed away in February 2016, was the last living survivor of Treblinka and saw it as his mission to educate others about what happened there.
The Official Opening took place in the presence of a large audience and was attended by the Polish Deputy Minister of Culture and National Heritage, Jarosław Selin, and was one of the events marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp.
The fifteen sculptures, which arrived in Warsaw from Tel Aviv, depict one of the most tragic episodes of the Holocaust through the most dramatic scenes of routine life in the extermination camp – the death factory which the Nazis established in Treblinka – as burned into Willenberg’s memory.
The exhibition will be on show for a year in Poland and, after its time in Warsaw, will travel to Białystok, Gdańsk, Kielce, Kraków, Lublin, Szczecin and to Willenberg’s home town Częstochowa.
In Warsaw, the exhibition will be open to the public at the “History Point” Education Centre at ul. Marszałkowsa 21/25 from January 29 until the end of March 2020. Viewing times are:
Mondays to Fridays: 8:00am – 8:00pm.
Saturdays: 9:00am – 2:00pm.
Closed on Sunday.
Visitors to the exhibition can also view the documentary film “The Last Witness of Treblinka” (100 mins.) by American television station WLRN, which tells the story of Samuel Willenberg .
Admission is free.
Groups are asked to coordinate arrival by telephoning: +48-22-576-3009
In Czestochowa, Samuel Willenberg’s hometown, the exibition will go on display in early October 2020, coinciding with the city’s Huberman Violin Festival.
Vale Bogdan Jastrzębski (1925-2019)
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Sources: Alon Goldman, Yad Vashem & POLIN Museum
It is with great sorrow that we announce the passing of Bogdan Jastrzębski, a Częstochowa Righteous Among the Nations. He died in Częstochowa at the age of 94.
His funeral will take place at 12 noon on Thursday 2nd January 2020 at Częstochowa’s Kule Cemetery. Members of the Częstochowa Branch of the TSKŻ will accompany him on his final journey.
Our condolences to his daughters Anna and Barbara, his five grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren. In our Jewish tradition, we wish them and all his family long life and that they know no more sorrow.
Those of you who, during our past Reunions, attended the opening and subsequent ceremonies at the Częstochowa Umschlagplatz monument will have had the honour of meeting Bogdan where he was present as an honoured guest.
Both Bogdan and his mother, Maria, were honoured with the title of Righteous Among the Nations on 6th June 1993.
To learn more of their story, go to their listing on this website’s Częstochowa Righteous page or go to their listing on the Yad Vashem website.
Częstochowa TSKŻ Celebrates Chanukah
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Words and pictures: Alon Goldman
On 15th December 2019, members of the Częstochowa branch of the Social-Cultural Association of Jews in Poland (TSKŻ) came together with family and friends to celebrate the beginning of Chanukah 5780.
In the presence of Częstochowa Deputy Mayor, Dr. Ryszard Stefaniak, guests were entertained with Chanuakh songs by Dariusz Wójcik vel Dawidek, accompanied by pianist Szaweł Lipski.
The venue for the event was the Częstochowa TSKŻ branch’s new home, on the first floor of the Jewish Museum of Częstochowa at ul. Katedralna 8 which, before World War II, was a very Jewish district.
Welcome Our Newest Landsleit - Chaya Ita Wasilewicz!
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The newes
t member of our World Society joined us, just after midnight, on Wednesday 25th September (25th Ellul) – a beautiful, healthy daughter born to proud parents Yaakov and Elisheva Wasilewicz.
The following day, in shule, by the Torah, she was named Chaya Ita Wasilewicz, after her grandmother, our dear Chaya Ita (Halina) Wasilewicz z”l (pic right), who must be looking down from heaven with immense pride.
A sincere and hearty MAZAL TOV to Yaakov and Elisheva!
Your daughter carries the name of a wonderful lady. May she have a happy, healthy and successful life and bring you great naches.
Plaque Unveiled on HASAG-Warta Site
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Words: Alan Silberstein Photos: Asia Fanaberia Sidorowicz
On 12th September 2019, about 20 participants in a Shabbaton, held in Piotrków Trybunalski the previous week, visited Czestochowa, where many also had roots. In particular, many Jews from Piotrków Trybunalski who survived the Holocaust, survived because, in November 1944, they were taken to work as slave labourers in Częstochowa, after the labour camps, where they had previously worked, were liquidated. Those, who were not taken to work in Częstochowa, were sent to Buchenwald. Many worked in the HASAG-Warta armaments factory, one of four HASAG slave labour camps in Częstochowa.
The Shabbaton participants were invited, by the Częstochowa TSKŻ and the World Society of Częstochowa Jews & Their Descendants, to visit important sites in Częstochowa including the Holocaust Memorial designed by Samuel Willenberg, the Jewish Museum, a branch of the Częstochowa Regionalal Museum and the site of the HASAG-Warta slave labour camp.
When it was realised that no sign existed which marked the location of the HASAG-Warta camp, where some 4,000 Jewish prisoners had worked from June 1943 to January 1945, we determined to correct that oversight before last week’s visit. The Director of the Częstochowa Regional Museum Tadeusz Piersiak approached Wojciech Kaczmarski, President of the real estate company Polaris, which had redeveloped the site. Mr. Kaczmarski readily agreed to mount a plaque memorialising the victims of Nazi persecution who had suffered and died at this location. Piotr Stasiak and Hana Eliana Gawronska, both of Warsaw, designed the plaque and Ryszard Welgryn, a leader of the Częstochowa Jewish community and the proprietor of ARTMEDAL, executed the design. All was done in record time so that the plaque could be dedicated last week!
The ceremony was MC’ed by Director Piersiak. Speakers included Częstochowa Deputy Mayor Andrzej Szewiński, Piotrków Trybunalski survivor Robert Dessau, former inmate of HASAG-Warta who was liberated in Częstochowa, Chief Rabbi of Poland, Michael Schudrich, Deputy Mayor Naor Yerushalmi of Ness Ziona, Israel (the sister city of Piotrkow Tribunalski) and World Society of Częstochowa Jews representative Alan Silberstein. The official unveiling was performed by Messrs. Szewinski, Dessau, Silberstein and Yerushalmi. Memorial candles and wreaths were placed by representatives of the City of Częstochowa and students from the Jacek Malczewski School of Fine Arts. Also in attendance were many local citizens and volunteers from Piotrków Trybunalski. Only two of the attendees were survivors themselves, Robert Dessau of the United States and Sir Ben Helfgott of the United Kingdom.
The beautiful brass plaque shows three matzevat- or tombstones- with the inscription in three languages, Polish, Hebrew and English:
In memory of the Jews who suffered and died in the German forced labor camp in the Hasag-Warta ammunition factory which was here from 1943 to 1945.
At the bottom, in Yiddish, is the traditional memorial:
Koved zeier ondenk, (May Their Memory Be Honoured).
Behind the matzevot, is a representation of the Western Wall in Jerusalem and above, is a seven-candle menorah, the oldest symbol of the Jewish people. A similar plaque was dedicated at HASAG-Pelcery by the World Society some years ago.
Historical Background
HASAG, an acronym of Hugo Schneider AG, was a German metals goods manufacturer which received contracts to manufacture ammunition for the German war effort, using Jewish slave labour as well as Polish labour. HASAG converted four factories in Czestochowa for this purpose, which were named Pelcery (or Apparatexbau), Czestochwianka, Raków and Warta. The factory at Warta was built as a spinning mill by its Jewish founders in 1896. HASAG operated there from June 1943 through January 1945, employing some 4,000 Jewish prisoners over the period (about 2,000 at any one time). In November 1944, after the liquidation of the slave labour camps in Piotrków, several railcars taking Piotrków Jews to Buchenwald were separated in Częstochowa and about 1,000 Jews from Piotrków were sent to work in three of the HASAG camps, including HASAG-Warta. Days before the liberation of Częstochowa in January 1945, most survivors were taken east to camps like Buchenwald.
After the War, the Warta factory once again produced linen. Since the 1990’s, the site has since been redeveloped into commercial buildings located at ul. Krakowska 45.
Register Your Family's Treblinka Victims
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The Memory of Treblinka Foundation endeavours to be one of the many institutions which restore the memories of those murdered in the Holocaust. It focuses particularly on those who died in Treblinka or on their way there.
The Foundation has already begun compiling a “Book of Names” of the victims – searching through Yad Vashem’s databases, the reports collected at the Jewish Historical Institute, memoirs, pre-War and post-War sources; interviewing the last living witnesses of the Holocaust and the families of the victims.
In cooperation with Jewish Historical Institute, the Foundation is collecting all available information concerning the victims of the extermination camp in Treblinka. These victims cannot remain anonymous – as the Nazis would have wished. Every name is important.
If you would like to share any information about your family or friends, you can complete the Foundation’s on-line questionnaire. Even just a partially completed questionnaire would be very valuable.
To learn more, click HERE.
2019 Annual Memorial Service in Israel
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All are invited to attend the 2019 Annual Memorial Service of the Association of Częstochowa Jews in Israel which will be held at 5:00pm on Sunday 22nd September 2019 at Wohlin House in Givatayim.
This date marks the 77th anniversary of the beginning of the liquidation of the Częstochowa ghetto.
The program will include the Memorial Service, followed by the Association’s Chairman, Alon Goldman, who will speak about the Association’s activities during the past year and plans for 2020.
Holocaust survivor, Gabi Horowitz, will then recall his memories of Yom Kippur, 21st September 1942, the final day of the “Big Ghetto”.
Project Manager of Yad Vashem’s Commemorative Department, Naama Galil, will then speak on “Resistance and Struggle in Częstochowa During the Holocaust”.
The memorial event will be followed by the Association’s Annual General Meeting, which will include elections to the Association’s Committee for the next year. Anyone interested in standing is encouraged to contact Alon Goldman.
This Year's Częstochowa Jewish Cemetery Clean-Up is Done!
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Words: Alon Goldman Photos: Asia Sidorowicz
On an almost annual basis, Alon Goldman, Vice-President of the World Society of Częstochowa Jews & Their Descendants and Chairman of the Association of Częstochowa Jews is Israel, has organised and led a clean-up of the Częstochowa Jewish cemetery. Over time, Alon has been joined by volunteers from various organisations, both adults and young people in this holy work.
At work’s end, Alon Goldman said:
Thank you very much my dear friend from the Matzevah Foundation, the Chairman, Pastor Steven D. Reece and Poland Operations Manager Przemek Panasiuk, without whom we could not have executed and managed the project. Thank you also to your volunteers Rachael Romero from Miami and Yolanda Czyżewski-Bragues from Hamilton, Ontario, I’m sure that you, too, will keep these moments in the Częstochowa Jewish Cemetery in your hearts.
I would also like to thank a few more dear people – the Director of the Fundacja Chrześcijańska Adullam of Czestochowa, Elżbieta Ferenc for her logistical support and assistance, Krzysztof Straus, who is always ready to assist in any mission, Ryszard Welgryn and his children who, behind the scenes, quietly take care of us from the moment we arrive in Częstochowa, Izabela Sobańska-Klekowska, Chair of the Częstochowa TSKŻ and City Councillor Jolanta Urbańska, for her work and for the work of the volunteers she organised. Finally, thank you to the Częstochowa City Council for its assistance, especially to department managers Aleksander Wierny and Andrzej Szczerba.
We leave with a feeling of great satisfaction at the great improvements that have been achieved. However, the work is still not finished and we will return next year.
For 2019, the work is done – Kol Ha’Kavod to you all!
DAY 1: 11th June 2019
In unusually warm weather, the working of cleaning up the Częstochowa Jewish Cemetery began. The previous week, skilled aborists had entered the cemetery grounds and commenced cutting up trees which, over the years, had fallen due to the ravages of weather and time. These trees had blocked pathways the cut-up logs will be used by people to warm their homes in the coming winter.
On this we were joined by volunteers from the American Matzevah Foundation, led by Rev. Steven D. Reece, from Democracy RP, led by Częstochowa City Councillor Mrs Jolants Urbańska, a volunteer team from the ADULLAM Foundation of Czestochowa, students from the Romuald Traugutt High School led by teacher Eva Harbenko, students from No.22 Elementary school of Częstochowa led by teacher Monika Rozpondek and other good people who came to help.
DAY 2: 12th June 2019
The sun is pitiless – it is 30oC inthe shade, but there is a constant supply of cold water and so our Polish volunteers and everyone else sticks to the task.
The morning starts with briefing for the students. Today, volunteers from the Matzevah Foundation and from the ADULLAM Foundation of Częstochowa are joined students from Częstochowa’s General Anders High School, led by teacher Katarzyna Rys and, for the second year, from the Kamieńskie Młyny Elementary School led by teacher Monika Rospondek. The students impressed everyone with the dedication with which they applied themselves to the task.
DAY 3: 13th June 2019
The weather does not ease up and the heat continues. Today, unfortunately, the number of volunteers was lower than expected and the shredding machine operator said he could not come today. A solution was need to uproot the tree trunks, so that firewood could be donated to poor people for the coming winter. So, there was no choice – improvisation was need! Firstly, Alon found an alternative wood-crusher and Steven Reece and Przemek Panasiuk, from the Matzevha Foundtion, organised a few volunteers. At noon, Elzbieta Ferenc , Adulam Foundation Director, announced that had found a way to remove the trees – today, hopefully!
In the meantime, TV people arrive at the cemetery for an interview and, to improve the mood, SMS messages are received stating that a storm is approaching. In spite of everything, more open areas can be seen and the remains of the wall, which had been hidden for years, are revealed.
DAY 4: 14th June 2019
It is Friday – the fourth and final work day of this year’s project. Today, the focus was on removing tree trunks to the path so that they could be removed from the cemetery and so that branches could be collected and prepared for shredding. Work continued at full pace. To help, as every day, volunteers came from the Fundacja Chrześcijańska Adullam, led by Robert Kamela, a man with a huge heart who deserves great thanks for everything he has done and for his willingness to continue. Over the following days, Robert and his men will continue the work until the last tree trunk is cleared, the last branch is shredded and the last pile of wood chips is scattered. Volunteers today included students from Gastronomy High School students led by teacher Cezary Zwolski.
Help Needed for Memorial Project in Częstochowa
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Words and photographs: Alon Goldman
Mariusz Etryk inherited the building at Aleja Tadeusza Kościuszki 14 from his aunt Czesława Sędzielewska, who told him many stories regarding the Jewish tenants who lived in that building when the Nazis entered Częstochowa on 3rd September 1939, and who never returned. Mariusz has decided to initiate a unique project – to commemorate those Jewish occupants of that building.
Through Małgorzata Kaim, principal of the Słowcki High School in Częstochowa, he contacted Allon Goldman and, last month, they met in Tel Aviv.
At that meeting, he presented Alon with a list of names of the tenants at the outbreak of the War, 3rd September 1939 (see below). The list only contained surnames. From looking at other lists that were in his possession, they worked out which apartment each of the residents lived in and also some of their professions.
From inquiries, they conducted and with the help of some good people, they have found the first names of some of those residents and additional information about them and their ultimate fate. Some survived the Holocaust. Some perished in Częstochowa and in Treblinka. However, there are also those about whom they have not been able to find any information.
From information received, the list of tenants, as at the outbreak of World War II, includes:
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- Henryk (Chaim Mojzesz) & Fajga (Franka) Feiner (He was an engineer.)
- Dr. Adam ( Hersz Abraham ) and Dr Gitla (nee Ajdelman) Konarski
- Ludwik Tencer (an engineer)
- Dr. Marek Mordka (?) & Natalia (nee Rotlevi) Librowicz
- Dr. Maksymilian Berlin
- Dr. Adam (?) Borkowski
- Jerzy (Abram Izrael ) and Mala (nee Brandlowicz) Orenstein
- Tadeusz (?) Koss
- Dora Rotmil
- Prof. Zyskind (?) Brandlewicz
- Solomon Markowicz (an engineer)
- Jakub (?) & Ita Ruchla Lewit
- Dr. Moshe (Henryk) Halleman & Dr. Miriam (nee Feiner) Halleman
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If anyone has ANY information about ANY of these former residents of Aleja Tadeusza Kościuszki 14, please contact Alon Goldman by clicking HERE.
The date of the future commemoration ceremony will be announced on this website.
Below, we supply some further information, which may help locate relatives of these people:
Henryk (Chaim Mojzesz) & Fajga (Franka) Feiner
Henryk, his wife Fajga (Franka) and their son Richard Feiner did not survive the Holocaust.
According to a 1956 Yad Vashem Testimony, written by a his friend Moshe Praport, engineer Henrik (Moshe Chaim) Feiner, son of Israel and Chana, was born in Częstochowa in 1904. He died in Częstochowa in 1943 He was married to Feiga (nee Rosenzweig) and had a seven-year-old boy named Ryszard who died in Treblinka.
Henryk Feiner was murdered on Purim, 20th March 1943, during an Aktion in which 127 members of the Jewish intelligentsia and their families were murdered at the Częstochowa Jewish Cemetery and were buried in a mass grave there.
According to Geni site his parents’ names are Shmuel and Leonora Leah. In another source, it is written that the name of Moshe Haim’s wife was Mirlla and they had a daughter named Fradla who was born on October 20, 1909.
Dr. Adam (Hersh Abraham) & Dr Gitla (nee Ajdelman) Konarski
Second Lieutenant Adam Hersz Abraham Konarski was born in 1892. He was an internist. Prior to WWII, he lived in Częstochowa. During the war he was in Starobelsk, Ukraine (USSR).
He was killed in military service. This information is based on a list of the names of Jewish officers and soldiers in the Polish army who were arrested at the POW camp Kozielsk in Starobelsk and executed by the NKVD in the Katyn Forest from April 3rd to May 12th 1940.
Lists of doctors in Częstochowa in 1939 include the names of Dr. Abraham Konarski and his wife (who was a dentist) Dr. Gitla Konarska as residents of the building in Kościuszki 14. According to what Czesława Sędzilewska told Mariusz, the Konarski family were well-known citizens of Czestochowa.
They had a son named Stanislaw. The year the war broke out, he could have been eight years old. The family lived in a most beautiful five-room apartment on the first floor. The family’s maid took Stanisław to the school every day. She always begged him to hurry up and he would answer with “Ty sobie idż … … You can go”. Stanislaw’s fate is unknown. Dr. Gitla Konarski probably survived the Holocaust.
Louis Tencer
According to what Czesława Sędzilewska told Mariusz, Ludwig Tencer was an engineer and the director of the Power Station in Częstochowa. He disappeared from his Częstochowa home as soon as the occupation began. In 1945, Louis Tencer appeared at the house at Aleja Tadeusza Kościuszki 14 and asked to see if anything remained of his apartment. As far as Mariusz knows, he took what books remained and disappeared again.
Dr. Marek Mordka (?) Librowicz
Only the last name “Librowicz” appears in the list. According to the historian Wiesław Paszkowski, this is apparently an eye doctor, Marek Mordechai Lebrowicz, who was born in 1897 and died in 1942.
His name was commemorated by his family in a symbolic grave that was erected in the Częstochowa Jewish Cemetery after the War by his wife Natalya (nee Rotlewi) and other family members.
Jerzy (Abram Izrael ) and Mala (nee Brandlowicz) Orenstein
Jerzy (Abraham Israel) Orenstein did not survive the Holocaust. In Yad Vashem, there were found two Pages of Testimony bearing his name. They were submitted by his brother Shimon Orski (Orenstein) and his sister Rina Paltau.
According to his sister’s witness page, submitted on 18th October 1977, her brother Israel, son of Wolf and Bina Ornstein, was born on 18th March 1902 in Częstochowa, where he lived permanently. He was married to Mala (nee Brendelowicz). He died in Częstochowa.
According to his brother’s witness page, sumitted on 19th May 1957. his brother Israel (Jurek) son of Wolf and Bina, who was born in Czestochowa in 1902 and was married to Mala nee Brendelowicz, died in Czestochowa in 1943. He was 41 years old.
The name of Israel is commemorated on the mass grave of the Ghetto and HASAG victims in the Częstochowa Jewish Cemetery. Mala Orenstein ran a fashion salon in this building.
Dora Rotmil
Dora Rotmil was about seventy years old and managed a delicatessen in Częstochowa at Aleja Najświętszej Maryi Panny 27.
From what was told to Mariusz, she was the mother of a famous Polish designer in the pre-War period named Jacek (Isaac) Rotmil, who perished in Warsaw in 1944.
Prof. Zyskind (?) Brandlewicz
Only the last name Brandlewicz appears in the list. According to the historian Wiesław Paszkowski, he is apparently Prof. Zyskind Brandlewicz of the Gymnasium of the Jewish High School Association in Częstochowa.
Jakub (?) & Ita Ruchla Lewit
Only Lewit name appears on the list. According to the historian Wiesław Paszkowski, it may have been Jakub Lewit who bought a Turkish visa and left Częstochowa, in 1940, for Palestine.
Another source shows that his wife’s name was Ita Ruchla.
Dr. Moshe (Henryk) & Dr. Miriam Halleman (nee Feiner)
Pages of Testimony at Yad Vashem were filled out on the basis of information collected from questionnaires filled by doctors in Poland.
Pages of Testimony Dr. Moshe Halleman: https://yvng.yadvashem.org/nameDetails.html?language=he&itemId=6999917&ind=3
Pages of Testimony Dr. Miriam Halleman nee Feiner: https://yvng.yadvashem.org/nameDetails.html?language=he&itemId=6999875&ind=2