We Remember the Jews of Gombin!

Scenes in Gombin Filmed by Sam Rafel 1937

Who Are the Jewish Townspeople of Gombin in the Photographs?

By Ada Holtzman

I wish to thank the descendants of Sam Rafel z"l who gave the film made by their father in 1937, to the Gombin Society. My work is dedicated to Sam Rafel's blessed memory.

Two years ago I've worked in a friend's pc shop for many hours and "CAPTURED" photographs from the video made after the film of Sam Rafel in 1937. The photographs captured were all in BMP format, more than one MB each one, impossible to post in the Internet. Many of the images were very dark and with poor quality. I was motivated mainly by the fact that I knew that all these people filmed in the rare film were murdered 5 years later in Chelmno, so this film became their last vivid remnant... Last lost smiles... last lost hopes... last lost lives... Last glimpse to a lost world...

Recently I converted the images to JPG format and added a number to each of the images, which are displayed in the following web pages. Out of 420 images captured by me in the past, remained 258, which could be processed and posted.  I've sent one CD to Noam Lupo from the Gombin Society to show these images in the Gombin Society Web Site and make an album to be sent to Ben Guyer, Rose Greenbaum-Dinerman and other Gombiner survivors. I hope with all my heart that some of the people filmed in this film will be identified and their names be recorded forever.

ונתתי להם בביתי ובחומותי יד ושם טוב מבנים ומבנות שם עולם אתן לו אשר לא יכרת  - ישעיהו נ"ו ה'

And I shall give them in My house and within My walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off. - Isaiah 50:5

Every Person Has a Name! A Whole Universe is Behind Each Name!

Part 1: Photographs Numbers: 10, 100-171

Part 3: Photographs Numbers: 3, 25-27, 243-312

Part 4: Photographs Numbers: 34-38, 312-399

Part 5: Photographs Numbers: 7-9, 40-98, 400-418

Sam Rafel Film 1937

Melvin Wruble (MW) identified many names in the photographs and added information about them when he remembered. My deepest gratitude to him for this blessed work, June 15^th, 2004

In September 2010, Madeleine Isenberg madeleine.isenberg@gmail.com contacted me and sent more detailed inscriptions deciphered from my captured photographs and some additional ones that I did not previously have. She, as an expert in this field, was requested to decipher the inscriptions on the tombstones by Leslie Swift from the USHMM, whom we also thank very much. The Shoah Museum has a very detailed and restored copy on display at the Steven Spielberg Film and Video Archive at:

http://resources.ushmm.org/film/display/main.php?search=simple&dquery=gombin&cache_file=uia_TbkKwb&total_recs=2&page_len=25&page=1&rec=2&file_num=4645

I thank Madeleine Isenberg very much, for her efforts in deciphering names and inscriptions hidden in  images of a 73 years old film, which depicted a small and ancient shtetl in Poland, Gombin.

These tombstones were destroyed later in the Shoah and most of the Gombin Jews were murdered. By the support of Madeleine Isenberg the memory of the dead is recovered and is alive again for eternity!

Ada Holtzman, Tel Aviv 15.10.2010

198	173	174	177
18	180	181	183 A poor house in Gombin
172 אברהם מנחם בן חיים יהודה שאכער Abraham Menachem son of Chaim Yehuda SZACHER Image (MI) The left side tombstone: בן אברהם Son of Abraham	187 ר' צבי נתן בן זאב זולנה ז"ל ציון לנפש משרידי דור העבר בעל נפש טוב ונאמן לכל דבר ירא ד' וחרד מאד למצותיו נתן ונשא באמונה מהולל במידותיו בן הוריך בדרך התורה והאמונה זכה לחתני רבנן מוקיר הבעה אב טוב וחביב בשנת שבעים וחמשה אבדנוך זכרך אבינו לעד נשאר אחרך נשמתו עלתה השמימה בשבת קודש ד אדר ב' ש תרצ"ב לפ"ק Reb Cwi Natan son of Wolf ZOLNA Died 75 years old… On the Holy Sabbath, 4th Adar II 5692 (13 March 1932) The elegy inscriptions constitute an acrostic. Image (MI) The person in the picture was identified by Wruble: Icchak BAUMAN, Mojsze BAUMAN's brother, he was the Shamash (beadle) in the synagogue, MW. He was my uncle, husband of Golda Ita née HOLCMAN. He died in the Ghetto from hunger. AH	190 ...אשה זקנה מרת מלכה רבקה אשת צבי יוסף סלאמא מלכה רבקה בת ר' מנשה הכהן פאס דא רוהט אונזערע ליבע מוטער מלכה רבקה געשט. אין עלטער פון 60 יאהר נפטרה ט' שבט תרס"ה ...Old woman An Old woman Mrs. Malka Rywka Wife of Cwi Yosef SLAMA daughter of Menashe PAS the cohen. d.  January 15^th, 1905 In Yiddish: Here lies our beloved mother Malka Rivka, who died 60 years old. Image (MI) This tombstone was found in town and returned to the cemetery in 1997	191 איד תם וישר ירא ד' יחיאל מיכאל ב'ר' מאיר פיארא נפ' יא' שבט תרצ"ה תנצב"ה ... a pious man Jechiel Michael, son of Meir PIORO, d. January 15^th, 1935 Image (MI)
192 195f האשה מינקא אשת חנני' וואודיסלאווסקי נ"י הננו מבכים אל מרת אימנו היקרה והישרה מינקא בת אהרן לייב זיכלינסקי שהשאירה בנים בחייה ...בדמי ימיה א' ראש ח' חשון תרצ"ג תנצב"ה The woman, Minka, wife of Chananiah WOJDISLAWSKI Here we are crying for our dear, upright mother Minka daughter of Aaron Leib ZYCHLIŃSKI. She left sons. Died 1^st Cheshvan 5693 31 October 1932 Image (MI)	193 אוי נפלה עטרת ראשנו אמנו היקרה והחשובה שנפטרה שנת פח לחייה בגן עדן תהא מנוחתה ת נ צ ב ה נפטרה ביום ד' אייר תרצ"ה רייזל בת זאב ז"ל פיטעל אשת שלמה יעקב קעסעלמאן געבורין 1847 געשט. 1935 The crown of our head is fallen… ...Our dear and esteemed mother, died 88 years old, in Heaven she will find her eternal rest Rajzel wife of Szlomo Jakob KESELMAN daughter of Zeew PITEL   d. May 7^th, 1935 In Yiddish: Born in 1847, died 1935 Image (MI) Image (MI)	194 מרת דבורה בת ר' אהרן הלוי ...א אשה נכבדה צנועה זקנה שובעת ימים לשנת פ"ד השיבה נש... השאירה בנים ובנות דבורה אשת ר' אברהם יהודה [הודיס] ז"ל Mrs. Dvorah daughter of Aaron the Levite … A respected and modest woman. An old woman…84 years old. Left sons and daughters. Dvorah, wife of Avraham Yehuda (HODIS) Image (MI) In the photograph: The brothers Jankele (left) and Szymon HODIS (MW).	195
195a ר' אברהם יהודה בן ר' יצחק הלוי ז"ל הודיס נפטר יום ג' פרשת עקב לחדש כ'א שנת תר... Reb Avraham Yehuda Son of Yitzchak the Levite HODIS Died Tuesday of Parsha Ekev, 21^st Av 56?? Image (MI)	195b ר' שמעון חיים קאלינסקי מעולם לא נשכח מלבנו את השבר אשר קראנו בהלקח מאתנו אבינו נלקח פאר ראשנו שמעון חיים ב"ר יהודה ז"ל נפ יז אדר ב' תרעב תנצב"ה Shimon Chaim KALINSKI … from our hearts The calamity that happened when our father was taken from us. The glory of our heads was taken Shimon Chaim son of Yehuda Died 17 Adar II 5679 (19 March 1919) Image1 (MI) Image 2 (MI) Image 3(MI)	195c ר' שמואל עזריאל בן זיסקינד ז"ל נפטר ו' טבת תרפ"ד ת'נ'צ'ב'ה' דא רוט מיין ליבער מאן אינזער ליבער פאטער שמואל וויראבעק געשטורבען 6 טאג אין טבת 1924 אין עלטער פ'ן 60 יאר ערע זיין אנדענקען Reb Shmuel WYROBEK Son of Ziskind Z”L Died 6^th Tevet 5684 (14 December 1923) In Yiddish: Here lies my dear husband, our dear father, Shmuel WYROBEK, Died 60 years old. In memoriam. (on the tombstone: 6 Tevet 1924) Image1 (MI) Image 2 (MI) Image 3(MI)	195d מצבת קבורת אשה זקנה חשובה וישרה מרת רייזל ב"כ צבי יהודה ז"ל ב'ר'ב' י"ט אדר שנת תרס לפ"ק תנצב"ה Image (MI)
185	199	20	200
201	203	204	205 Zolna - Josef Mayer & George Zolna's father
206	207 Rabbi Natan Neta Nutkewicz & Abraham Zamość (see also 412 MW).	209 Rabbi Natan Neta Nutkewicz & Abraham Zamość (see also 412 MW).	210
211	213	214	215
217 Manele Risman (MW).	22	220	221
222	223	225	228
229	230	232	233
234	235 The grand Catholic Church, also destroyed by the Germans	236	237
238 Beniek Frenkel – 3^rd from left: Hershele Zolna	239 Hershele Zolna visiting Gombin befroe WWII	24 Icek Wojdeslawski, a Gombiner boy, same as #217 (MW).	242

ונתתי להם בביתי ובחומותי יד ושם טוב מבנים ומבנות שם עולם אתן לו אשר לא יכרת  - ישעיהו נ"ו ה'

And I shall give them in My house and within My walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off. - Isaiah 50:5

Every Person Has a Name! A Whole Universe is Behind Each Name!

Part 1: Photographs Numbers: 10, 100-171

Part 3: Photographs Numbers: 3, 25-27, 243-312

Part 4: Photographs Numbers: 34-38, 312-399

Part 5: Photographs Numbers: 7-9, 40-98, 400-418

Sam Rafel Film 1937

Last updated October 28^th, 2010 (first posted in November 2003)

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