Sompolno: The Names are Remembered!

The JEWS OF SOMPOLNO are Remembered!

Lee Berendt, Holocaust survivor from the small community of Sompolno Poland, sent me in October 2002, an updated list of the identified names of the Holocaust victims shown in this picture before deportation. He added new names and many Genealogical details about nearly each one of the Jewish persons in the photograph.

Lee Berendt may be contacted by his son, Charles Berendt
Mr. Berendt address:
31 Blauvelt Street
Nanuet, New York 10954-3304
USA

Lee Berendt writes:

1) My Last Days in Sompolno

... All those in the group photo and the second transport had a chance to say "good bye" to their loved ones. That privilege was denied from me by the Jewish Committee. Not every able bodied was sent away. The children and close relatives of the Jewish Committee were exempt. The local Germans needed some people to do them free service. I was exempted by the manager of the local "Arbeits Amt". I was taken while at work in the German Gymnazium Gym, working there with the carpenters Motel Appel and Faiwusz Grosman.

The Jewish deputized policeman "The Sztimer Mchol (Michel Wilczinski), took me straight from there to the S.S. Station, in my working clothes, saying that my family was already notified and i shall meet them there. I kissed my mother, two sisters and brother through the gate.

I was one of the lucky and privileged, able to come back and look at the place where I was denied the last meal from my mother's hand.

2) Transport of Jewish Men from Sompolno

... This picture was taken on a glass plate in July 1941 by Mrs. Kronberg - Margulies, who was a portrait photographer. Her entire studio was sold by the Germans to Ignacy Knasiak. I found him in a store on the south side of the Rynek (Town Square). He had stacks of pictures of Jewish victims. I received a copy from the glass plate and copied it onto a negative in America in about 1950.

Not all of the people who are in the picture were sent away. Some were there to see a son or a sibling off. Others were subsequently sent back to Sompolno from Kolo where a German Commission in military uniforms had looked over each subject for fitness. Some were also sent back because they were too old or too young.

In addition, the names below are spelt out phonetically in order to accomodate the American typewriter (non-Polish spelling).

The following will be the abbreviations for the relationship between the people in the picture:

A - alive at liberation
B - brother
C - cousin
F - father
M - Mother's name;
NN - Non native;
S - son.

The following persons were sent back from Kolo - numbers: 8, 10, 21, 30, 39, 40, 41, 44, 50, 51, 54, 55, 59, 63, 69, 83, 93, 94, 95, 99, 102, 103, 109, 120. Out of the Piotrkowski brothers from Kaliska Street, some were also sent back.

The numbers for the following persons are those of survivors: 6, 11, 12, 13, 14, 56, 58, 66, 67, 76, 80, 81, 82, 89, 91, 97, 108.

From the second transport which left two days later, I am the only survivor. To the best of my knowledge, there was no picture taken of that group.

Out of a total of about 350 men, 18 survived, myself included.

My photo of the liberation of Dachau decorates the Museum of American Jewish Military History in Washington.

Lee Berendt: Liberation of Dachau 4/29/1945

WE REMEMBER JEWISH SOMPOLNO!

The Transport of Sompolno July 1941,
Names and Notes by Holocaust Survivor Lee Berendt, 31^stOctober 02.
A - alive at liberation
B - brother
C - cousin
F - father
M - Mother's name;
NN - Non native;
S - son.

Nr.	Name	Surname	Notes
1	David	Kolski	Older B of 2.
2	Israel	Kolski	Younger B of 1.
3	-	Kihn	from the town of Mostki.
4	Shmuel	Peker	Younger B of 77.
5	Chune	Kuczinski
6	Fiszel	Dobrzinski	Younger B of 14; A
7	Shlome Jacob	Weingart	F of 51; older B of 62.
8	-	Jakubowski	from Rynek.
9	-	Kive	Older B of 68; NN.
10	Nachme	Jachimowitz
11	Wolf Fiszel	Naiman	F of 53; A.
12	Jacob	Wilczynski	Arie's son - A' older B of 66; C of 48.
13	Michal	Engelman	A.
14	Israel	Dobrzinski	A; older B of 6.
15	Iser	Reichert
16	Pinchus	Leszczinski	Younger B of 31.
17	Szlamek	Abramowicz
18	Jide Hersz	Mortke	Younger B of 41; uncle of 120.
19	Simcha	Wisniewski
20	Laibusz	Bondzdruw	Younger B of 43; C of 39.
21	Szymon	Boruch	Older B of 91; C of 60.
22	Laibusz	Chabe
23	Abram	Lachman
24	Bernard	Wolf
25	Mordche	Moszkowicz	Nephew of 26.
26	Shiye	Moszkowicz	Uncle of 25.
27	Josef	Beatus
28	-	Piotrkowski	B of 33; C of 52 and 59; from Kaliska Street.
29	Jacob	Bigos	Older B of 96
30	Chaim	Poznanski
31	Jacob	Leszczinski	Older B of 16
32	Zalusz	Perec
33	-	Piotrkowski	B of 28; C of 52 and 59; from Kaliska Street.
34	Moniek	Fogel	Older nephew of 42 and 45.
35	Abram Jacob	Ferszt	Younger B of 97.
36	-	Szlamowicz	a tailor; C of 39.
37	Elia	Tatz	C of 83 and 84.
38			NN; Moishe Laimer's nephew; nephew of 63.
39	Josef Chaim	Kotowski	C of 20, 29, 36, 43, 49, 67 and 96.
40	Majer	Hamburger	F of 107.
41	Shloime	Mortke	Older B. of 18; uncle of 120.
42	Szoul	Wilczynski	Younger uncle of 34; twin B of 45; Syine's son.
43	Shmuel	Bondzdruw	Older B of 20; C of 39.
44	Wolf	Ajman	S of 110.
45	Laizer	Wilczynski	Younger uncle of 34; twin B of 42; Syine's son.
46	Josef	Ancer	Second son of the Ancer family; older B of 50; younger B of 57.
47	Chake	Witkowski
48	Jacob?	Wilczynski	from Kaliska Street; a butcher; C of 12 and 66.
49	Idek	Glowinski	C of 20, 29, 36, 39, 43, 67 and 96.
50	-	Ancer	third son of the Ancer family; younger B of 46 and 57.
51	Laizer Jona	Weingart	S of 7; nephew of 62
52	Laibusz	Piotrkowski	C of 28, 33 and 59; Towies son.
53	Szymon	Naiman	S of 11.
54	Hersz Jacob	Izbicki
55	-	Witkowski	Third son; younger B of 86 and 100; Jekew's son.
56	Leon Laib	Rybinski	A; older B of 104; C of 58.
57	Hersz	Ancer	oldest son; Older B of 46 and 50.
58	Faiwusz	Steinbach	A; C of 56 and 104.
59	Jacob	Piotrkowski	C of 28, 33 and 52.
60	Moshe	Pruszniewski	C of 21 and 91
61	-	Wailand
62	-	Weingart	Rabbi; younger B of 7; uncle of 51; Symche's son.
63	Moshe	Laimer	Uncle of 38.
64		Zlotnicki (Blacharz)
65	Josef	Lewi
66	Josef	Wilczynski	Arie's son; A; younger B of 12; C of 48.
67	Bolek	Bigos	A; C of 39,20,29,36,43,49 and 96.
68	Kive	-	Younger B of 9
69	Shiye	Herszenbaum	B of 102
70	Josef	Mendelowicz
71	Michal	Lubraniecki
72	-	Berger
73	-	Zelewski	Shochet's son; NN.
74	-	-	Three Piotrkowski brothers-in-law; 2 of these 3 were B of 28 and 33; The other one was a brother-in-law to these 4 Piotrkowski B (out of 6 total).
75	-	-	Kaliszer's son-in-law; NN.
76	Sucher	Bornstein	A
77	Roman	Peker	Older B of 4.
78	Ucze	Labuszynski	C of 108.
79	Mendel	Goldberg	Younger B of 89; older B of 101.
80	-	-	Nelkin's nephew; a glazier; NN; A; died young in Israel after arrival.
81	Moniek	Wilczynski	Younger B of 105; A; Nachme's son.
82	Abram	Bielawski	A. Lives in Ramat Gan Israel.
83	Abram Samson		Younger B of 84; C of 37.
84	-	-	Older B of 83; C of 37.
85	Shlome	Apelbaum
86	Jacob David	Witkowski	Older B of 55; younger B of 100; Jekew's son.
87	Majer	Szrajer
88	-	Zelewski	From Warsawska Street.
89	Jide	Goldberg	A; older B of 79 and 101.
90	Mendel? Josef ?	Walter	C of 79,89 and 101.
91	Moshe Abram	Boruch	A; younger B of 21; C of 60; lives in Jerusalem.
92	David	Kurtz
93	-	Moszkowicz	A Committee man; was there to see off the group.
94	Wolf	Madalinski	A Committee man; was there to see off the group.
95	Shmuel	Jakubowski	From Kaliska Street.
96	David	Bigos	Younger B of 29.
97	David	Ferszt	Older B of 35; A.
98	-	Spigel	On whose yard the picture was taken.
99	Shloime	Broun	He had a harelip; Berysz Lachman's grandson.
100	Moshe	Witkowski	Older B of 55 and 86. Jekew's son.
101	Abram	Goldberg	Younger B of 79 and 89.
102	-	Herszenbaum	Second son of Chiel Herszenbaum; B of 69.
103	Uszer (Nitke)	Landau	C of 69 and 102.
104	Yitzchak (Zike)	Rabinski	Younger B of 56; C of 58.
105	Abram (Amusz)	Wilczynski	Older B of 81; Nachme's son.
106	Aaron	Gr
107	Faiwusz	Hamburger	S of 40.
108	Reuben	Offenbach	A; C of 78
109	Josef	Skoko	Tailor.
110	Manes	Aiman	F of 44
111	-	-	NN - Ladies tailor expelled from France.
112-119		-	NN - I do not recognize
120	Aron Zalme	Mordke	Nephew of 18 and 41.
98<>115 (no number)			NN. He died of a heart attach in Hohe Camp in 1941.

Part of the Photograph. Click to Enlarge it. It Was Sent to Me by Mr. Abram Bielawski of Ramat Gan, December 2000.

In addition...

On October 22^nd2002, I received the following email from Menno Krzywanowski:

"Dear Ada,

We are presently working on the roots of the WILCZYNSKI family. I am one of the descendants of this family through Efraim Kotowski married to Gitel Wilczynski, from Skulsk. A large part of the Wilczynski family lived in Sompolno. The picture shown in you site was taken when the Jewish young men were rounded up and taken for forced labour. Among others, we have identified Yaacov (Kuba) WILCZYNSKI and his brother Joseph (Yoshe) WILCZYNSKI. Both of them survived the war, lived in South America, immigrated to Israel with their families. They passed away during the last years. In the same picture there is Abraham BIELAWSKI and his brother (I don't know his name, but Abraham is alive and lives in Ramat-Gan). My mother, also alive, recognized other people from her own youth: BIGOS, AMUSH, etc."

Regards, Menno

On November 7^th2002, I received the following email from Menno Krzywanowski

Dear Ada,

Thanks for sending this site with the picture and the list of names. It was terrible to see the amount of our family members appearing there, with by effects, too. Anton PIOTROWSKI, married to Ida KOTOWSKI, my mother's sister, was named Arie PIOTRKOWSKI before the war. The members of the PIOTRKOWSKI family in the picture are his brothers and cousins.

He always mentioned that he was the only survivor ot his family. He passed away a few years ago in Tel Aviv.

His daughter, Salka Augusta PIOTROWSKI KOZAK lives in Bat-Yam.

I can add only a surname to your list: No. 44 is Wolf AJMAN, son of Manes AJMAN. Manes was married to Hava WILCZYNSKI.They had 3 children; 2 daughters, names unknown to me, and 1 son: Wolf. All of them were slaughtered by the Nazis

Regards,
Menno