Yad Vashem: Pinkas Hakehilot
VOL VII: Districts Lublin & Kielce, Editor Abraham Wein, Jerusalem 1999, pp. 466

(Wloszczowa region, district of Kielce)

50 ° 53' 19 ° 53'
170.3 kilometers SSW of Warsaw

Kurzelow is mentioned first in the 12th century, in shepherds' dispatch of the Pope of that time, who fixed in it a new ecclesiastical district. In 1285 the privileges of a town were granted and permission to hold a weekly market day. In the year 1540, there were 85 houses and in the beginning of the 17th century there was a flourmill, smithy and a factory of iron products. Around that time, gilds of tailors, blacksmiths and furriers. In the middle of the 17th century, the Swede invaders conquered Kurzelow and shed destruction and ruin. Since then, Kurzelow declined and its position deteriorated for two hundreds of years. Only in the 19th century there was economical and demographic growth again.

Kurzelow was conquered by the German in the beginning of September 1939.

Jews, habitants of Kurzelow are first mentioned in the beginning of the 19^th century. They were very few in numbers. And even during the First World War, when the Jewish settlement reached its climax, it numbered no more than 50 families.

In the period between the two World wars, there was a study house ("Beth Midrash") which was wide enough to accept all the praying Jews from the surrounding villages. The mother community of Kurzelow was Wloszczowa. We don't have information about the public life of the Jews of Kurzelow. It is possible that due to the small number and lack of sources of living, the number of Jewish citizens had decreased. Another reason for the Jews to leave were symptoms of anti-Semitism, which had increased in the 30s of the 20^th century.

Kurzelow was conquered by the Germans already in the beginning of September 1939' but since it was a small and remote place, they didn't settle in it and left the local rule to the Poles. Due to that reason the life in this community continued calmly. The local Jews were under the Judenrat of Wloszczowa. In February 1940, the Judenrat of Wloszczowa transferred to Kurzelow 275 Jewish refugees deported from Wloclawek. The refugees arrived to the place exhausted, sick and hungry and the welfare committee in Kurzelow helped them as much as they could. On 10 March 1940, a public kitchen was opened and served about 300 daily hot meals to the hungry refugees. Another aid was served, like beds, clothes and medicines.

On July 1940, a Ghetto was erected in Wloszczowa, and ever since then, the ability of the Judenrat to aid the Jews of Kurzelow decreased. The refugees remained in Kurzelow until mid September 1942, while an Aktion ("Akcja") took place in Kurzelow. In the beginning, 13 Jews were murdered on the spot. The rest of the Ghetto, local and refugees were deported to Wloszczowa. Two days before Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) 1942, everyone was deported to death camp Treblinka. In the year 1942, probably after almost all the Jews were already expelled, three Gestapo men arrived to Kurzelow and murdered 7 Jews - 5 men and 2 women (probably they were Jews who were hiding and handed over to the Germans).

Bibliography:
Yad Vashem Archive JM/3521; R-I/926