The Prospect of a Krzepice Yizkor Book (1963)

- a Matzevah for the Town of Krzepice and the Vicinity

The town of Krzepice lies in the Kłobuck County of the Śłąsk Province of Poland – around 17.5 kilometres from Częstochowa. At the outbreak of World War II, the town’s population was approximately 5,000 – 45% of whom were Jews. 

In 1941 and at the start of 1942, skilled Jewish labourers were selected in the Krzepice ghetto and deported to the ghetto in Częstochowa. On 22nd June 1942, the majority of the Jews in Krzepice were deported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp. The remainder were deported to the Sosnowiec ghetto from where, later, they too were sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Krzepice’s last remaining Jewish resident passed away in 1993.

In 1963, the Organisation of Krzepice and Vicinity Jews in Israel formed a Yizkor Book Committee and compiled this booklet, the main purpose of which was to appeal to Krzepice landsleit, around the world, to submit material for a proposed Krzepice Yizkor Book.

Included in the booklet is a chronological timeline of the history of the town of Krzepice, a brief history of the Kuźniczka Shule and an outline of the chapters to be included in the proposed Krzepice Yizkor Book.

However, there is no sign of any Krzepice Yizkor Book – either online or in any online library catalogues where it would be expected to have been included. We suspect that the proposed Yizkor Book may have never actually been written but, if anyone knows of its existence or can shed any light on why the project never actually went ahead – please contact our Webmaster. (Click on the envelope icon at the top of this page.)

[Webmaster: Much of this booklet is written in Yiddish and duplicated in Hebrew.]

This Yizkor booklet has now been PROFESSIONALLY translated into English in its entirety
– for the FIRST TIME!

The professional English translation of this Krzepice Yizkor booklet has been made possible by the financial support of the

Wolf Rajcher z”l and Dora Rajcher z”l were both Holocaust survivors from Częstochowa.

They were prisoners in both the “Big Ghetto” and the “Small Ghetto” and, until liberation, were slave labourers in HASAG-Pelcery. Following the War, they emigrated to Melbourne Australia.

Upon the passing of both his parents, their son, Andrew Rajcher, established this charitable fund in their memory.

Chapters are listed in the order in which they appear in the Yizkor Booklet.
(The numbers in brackets, after each article, correspond to the appropriate page numbers in the booklet.)

Introduction (1-2)

From the Yizkor Book Committee (3-5)

A repetition, in Hebrew, of what was written, in Yiddish, on pages 3-5 (6-7)

A Historical Chronology of the Town of Krzepice (8-9)

The Shule in Kuźniczka (9-11)

Yizkor – May G-d Remember (11-11)

Yizkor – Memorial Monument (12-17)

In Memory of Our Town Krzepice (17-20)

Chassidim in Krzepice (20-21)

A repetition, in Yiddish, of what was written, in Hebrew, on pages 8-9 (21-23)

Regarding the History of the Jews in Krzepice (24-24)

ENGLISH TRANSLATION:

Dave Horowitz-Larochette

IMPORTANT NOTICE

While this English translation is available for download, it may not, either in part or as a whole, be distributed or published without the prior written permission of Andrew Rajcher, this English-language version copyright-holder.