Turek, 1930s, reproduction by Tomasz Wisniewski (contributed by Susan Pentlin PhD)

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This page is in memory of the Bajrach and Kibel families of Turek and Dobra who perished at Kowale Pańskie and Chelmno. This page is also in memory of the Szubinski Family from Turek who perished at Chelmno, Posen and Treblinka and is dedicated to all the Jews of Turek brutally killed by the Germans during the Holocaust.

This web site is the result of  the blessed  initiative of Dr. Susan Pentlin from the U.S.A.
(email: pentlin "at" ucmo.edu   replace "at" by @ to avoid spam) in honor of  Bronia Kibel with the support of  Moshe Shubinsky from England (email: mocki.shubinsky "at" btinternet.com) and Ada Holtzman (ada "at" zchor.org) from Israel.

This is work in process and will never be finished, like the memory of the holy community of Turek will never fade away! I shall be pleased and proud to post any other documents, photos, testimonies or lists which belong to the life and history of the Jews of Turek.

This was the first email I received from Dr. Susan Pentlin, and then more than hundred other emails followed it until the web site was ready.

email: pentlin "at" ucmo.edu (replace "at" by @ to avoid spam) pentlin@ucmo.edu

Dear Ada,

I wanted you to know how useful and moving I find your web site zchor. I hope to be able to add to your page in the future. I am working with a Holocaust survivor from Turek, Poland. I have studied the Holocaust many years as a professor and have known Brucha Kibel for at least twenty years, but did not really understand what happened to Jews in the Konin-Poznan-Kalisz area until I started to help her write her memoirs nor did I know how little is known to scholars about what happened in this area. You probably know that only a handful of Turek Jews survived the Holocaust. Brucha and her family, parents Hersz Lajzer and Bluma Bajrach Kibel and siblings Chana, Jehoshua and Ruhal were first in the Turek ghetto and then sent to a "Judenkolonia" or agricultural ghetto at Kowale Pańskie. From there she was part of a selection that was sent to Inowroclaw Straflager, then to work on a farm at Gnojno and in 1943 she was sent to Auschwitz. She was liberated at Salzwedel Camp in Germany. I was wondering if you know anyone who was in Kowale Pańskie (also known as Heidemühle or Czachulec as the name of the village nearby). One source I have found in Poland indicates that Brucha (today Bronia) may be only one of two people to survive and the other man was killed by the A.K. Armja Krajowa in 1946. Do you have any information on what occurred in Kowale Pańskie? We have the Yizkor book and have had parts of it translated as well, but even there you find little about Kowale Pańskie. Some sources indicate that from Kowale Pańskie there were transports to Chelmno, but others that the Jews there were killed in the woods and buried in the forests near Czachulec in July 1942.

Sincerely, Susan Pentlin, PhD
email: pentlin "at" ucmo.edu (replace "at" by @ to avoid spam)
Professor at the University of Central Missouri. 

TUREK

172.2 kilometers West of Warsza

18° 30' 52° 02'

פנקס הקהילות

אנציקלופדיה של היישובים היהודיים למן היווסדם ועד לאחר שואת מלחמת העולם השנייה

פולין

כרך ראשון: לודז' והגליל

יד ושם – רשות הזיכרון לשואה ולגבורה

ירושלים תשל"ו (1976)

מאמרים בעברית:

טורק Turek

קובאלה פאנסקיה Kowale Pańskie

ריחוואל Rychwal

טולישקוב  Tuliszków

Pinkas Hakehilot

Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities

Poland

Vol I

The Communities of Lodz and Its Region
 

Published by Yad Vashem, Jerusalem 1976

Turek
(Turek Province)

Pages 130 - 131

Coordinates: 52°02' / 18°30'

 Written by Aharon Weiss
 

Translated by M. Shubinsky

Edited by Ada Holtzman

The Population Structure

Turek as a city was church property until the partition of Poland. City charter was granted in 1357. The first Jews appeared in Turek at the beginning of the 19^th century partially from nearby Dobra and for a few years the Jews in Turek were attached to the institutions of this community. They used to bury their dead in the cemetery of Dobra. A Cholera epidemic in 1830/1 killed many Jews and the community dwindled in numbers. But, by the middle of the 19^th century, Jewish population grew again at a fast rate and contributed to the growth of the textile industry in the town. They were also active in commerce, oil, matches and soap manufacture. Jews also owned textile dye plants.

On Yom Kippur 5618 (27/10/1857) the synagogue was set on fire following a hate campaign by a Polish priest but a new one was built by 1861 in “Breiter Gasse”, the structure was renovated and expanded in 1910. A fire consumed 40 Jewish houses in 1878.

The Polish revolt of 1863 saw the participation of Jews such as Mordechai Manes, a medic from Turek. Another Jew was the deputy mayor during the revolt. In February 1889 local farmers attacked Jewish merchants and many were injured and their property was robbed.

It appears that Turek’s community became independent by the middle of the 19^th century. From 1850 to the middle of the 1870’s the rabbi of Turek was R' David Haim Braun. He was followed by R' Hirsz Leib Waksman. 1906 saw the establishment of a yeshiva (Talmudic college). In 1899 a charity “Gemilut Hasadim” (making righteous deeds) was started. Many other organizations started at that time- Linat Tzedek (shelter of the poor and homeless), Hachnasat Kala (dowry collected for the poor bride) and the Ahiezer Society for mutual support. A primary government school for Jewish children was set up in 1886.

Zionism came to town in 1912 and at the end of 1916 the "Ttzeirei Zion" (Youth of Zion) association was set up with 100 members. It run Hebrew classes for 40 pupils and a library. By 1917 many more associations started to operate – the youth culture association ("Kultur Jugend Farjen") and sport association "Turek Farjen". By 1918 the Tehia  club (the revival club) with a chorus was started, the Zamir ( the nightingale ).

In the interwar years Turek Jews carried on as artisans and small merchants. By the 1920’s there were 138 Jewish workshops, 51 of which employed workers and the rest just the owners. Amongst those were 68 confectioners, 46 cloth manufacturers, 3 metal workshops, 6 food production, 4 leather workers and one stonemason. The number employed in artisanship was 260. An artisan association was established and it initiated the establishment of a cooperative bank. In 1924 the needle worker union was first organized

Turek had a large number of Zionists parties: the Mizrachi, Zionim Klaliim - General Zionists (Al Hamishmar  - on guard and Et Livnot – time to build), Poalei Zion  (the workers of Zion) and the Revisionist movement. In 1926 the Hashomer Haleumi youth movement, part of the General Zionists party was set up and turned into the "Hanoar Hazioni" - Zionist Youth Movement in 1931. Turek also had a Beitar association. In the Zionist camp the Mizrahi and the General Zionists were most influential. The Zionist congresses in 1930’s saw elections and the number of voters were- 450. In 1937 the votes cast were as follows- Al Hamishmar 77, Et Livnot 89, Hamizrachi 149, Haliga Haovedet (the Working Israel league) 69.

 After the First World War the Agudath Israel and Poalei Agudath Israel was organized.  The Bund was also active in Turek with their youth movement the “Tsukunft”.

The Rabbi, R' Pinhas Halevi Wajngrob officiated from 1924-1932. He was one of the founders of Agudath Israel in Poland. The last rabbi was R' Pinchas Weiss who accompanied the community on its last journey during the holocaust.

After the end of WWI, the Mizrahi opened a modern Heder and a Jewish kindergarten. Agudath Israel opened an elementary school: "The Torah". Important role in the cultural life of the community served amateur theatre. There were also operating sport associations: Shomria, Bar Kochva and Trumpeldor affiliated to the Zionist youth movement and the Bund youth movement "Morgenstern".

It is worthwhile pointing out that the Jewish sculptor and painter Hanoch Heinrich Glicenstein (1870 – 1942) was born in Turek in 1870 and left it in 1887. He received in his hometown traditional education and he kept ties with his townspeople until his last days.

The outbreak of war in 1939 saw the immediate confiscation of Jewish goods and slave labor kidnapping. These forced laborers were used to repair war damaged roads and bridges. In just a few days the Germans took hostages and 15 were murdered. In November 1939, 700 Jewish men were held in the synagogue and sent to Kolo and then to Bochnia near Krakow for slave labor.

For a time the community tried to keep in touch with the deportees in Bochnia by sending them food parcels. After a while some of the deportees were sent to Międzyrzec and the link between them in the Generalgouvernement area and Turek was severed.  By January 1940 the process of confiscating Jewish properties and shops was complete and the synagogue was set on fire and destroyed. In February 1940 some of the Jews were relocated to a special area in the "Breite Gasse". By July 1940 all the remaining Jews were moved into what now became the Turek Ghetto. At first people could leave the Ghetto and tried to survive by selling property to buy food. Many were starving and the Judenrat, headed by Herszel Zimnawoda, initiated actions for mutual aid, like: a soup kitchen. Mordechai Strikowski was the commander of the Jewish police. In the summer of 1940 60 Jews were kidnapped by the Germans for forced labor in Poznań and a few weeks later 30 more were taken. With the worsening situation, Jews were leaving and seeking shelter in Warsaw some even going to the Soviet zone in Eastern Poland. By 1940 there were only 1750 Jews remaining in Turek.

In October 1941 on Yom Kippur the liquidation of the ghetto started and the Jews were taken to rural ghetto in the region of Kowale Pańskie, south of Turek where many Jews of the area were concentrated.

__________

Sources:

·        Yad Vashem Archives, Jerusalem: M-1/E 887/759; 03/3507.

·        The Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, Jerusalem: HM8200, HM 8120, HM 7526.

·        Central Zionist Archive, Jerusalem: S.5-1801, S.5-1796, S.5-1707.

·        Material for the Yizkor book of Turek, by permission of the Organization of the Former residents of Turek in Israel: testimony of Eliezer Orbach and Icchak Orbach; testimony of Jonas Fersenszajn; article of Szraga Bar Sela.

·        Sz. Gilboa, Di Din Torah, in "Fon Letzten Hurban" 1947, Heft 6.

·        "Arbeter Zeitung" (Lodz) 31/10/1949; "Der Weker" 3.5.1933; "Hatzfira" 1878, 1884, 1887, 1893, 1897, 1912, 1914, 1917, 1918, 1920; "Kaliszer Woch" 6.5.1932; "Kaliszer Leben" 7.3.1930, 3.3.1931;  "Izraelita" 15.6.1877, 20.7.1877, 28.9.1899, 12.6.1908.

______________

Translator’s comment

The Turek synagogue was damaged by fire but not destroyed. It was used as a storehouse after the war and is now the Turek Cinema. The front of the building had been removed recently when the cinema was built.

The town acknowledges the synagogue value to the Jewish people but refuses to renovate it.

KOWALE PAŃSKIE

(The District of Turek)

Page 221

Coordinates: 51°56' /  18° 33'

Translated by Ada Holtzman

Pinkas Hakehilot

Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities

Poland

Vol I

The Communities of Lodz and Its Region
 

Published by Yad Vashem, Jerusalem 1976

In the rural district of Kowale Pańskie only a few Jewish families lived before September 1939. During the Nazi occupation, on 20/10/1941, about 4,000 Jews from the district of Turek were deported to 16 villages around Kowale Pańskie. This Ghetto was also known as ghetto Czachulec, named after one of the villages around the area. The deportees were of the following communities in the neighborhood: Turek, Dobra, Uniejów, Władysławów, Pęczniew, Tuliszków and Brudzew. The Jews who were transported there, were scattered among the farmers, part of them lived in barns and other shattered buildings. Many of them remained a long period without any shelter in the field. They were employed in agricultural works and pavements of roads in the region.

A Judenrat for all the communities was founded, headed by Herszel Zimnawoda. The Judenrat took care of problems which arose from the relations with the local peasants. On November 4^th, 1941, the Judenrat was ordered by the Germans to prepare a list of Jews who were incapable for work, and include also children under 12 and elders over 65 years old in the list of the "disabled for work". The chairman of the Judenrat did not want to take responsibility on such a list and asked the opinion of Rabbis who were among the deportees in the region of Kowale Pańskie. In the consultations that followed the following Rabbis participated: R' Dow Ber Issachar from Dobra; R' Pinchas Weiss from Turek; Rabbi Lewental from Uniejów and the Rabbi of Władysławów. After stressful discussions that lasted 2 days, the rabbis determined that the Judenrat chairman would submit the ordered list to the Germans. In order to save as much people as possible, the children age was increased and the age of the elders decreased. Part of the Jews who appeared on the list managed to escape to places in the Kalisz region where there were still Jews.

On November 8^th, 1941, all the Jews from ghetto Kowale Pańskie were gathered in the village of Bielawki and there a selection was conducted. The Germans did not rely on the lists prepared by the Judenrat and they decided by themselves who will stay and will be deported. It was said that the commander of the Jewish police, Mordechai Strikowski helped to save children during the selection.

About 1,100 people who were declared as "incapable for work" were transported to the small town of Dobra and held for a few days in the local church overcrowded, under terrible conditions, without food or water. Many died in the church itself. Few tens of Jews managed to escape from the church in Dobra. The others were deported on 13-14.11.1941 to the death camp of Chełmno¹⁾.

Among the Jews who remained in Kowale Pańskie, a group of men was transported to forced labor near Poznań on Shavuoth (Pentecost) 1942. On June 20^th, 1942, also some women were deported there. On June 23^rd, 1942, 10 Jewish policemen were hung in a public execution. On July 20^th, 1942, the liquidation of who ever remained in the ghetto of Kowale Pańskie started. The sick were murdered near one of the hill, some distance from the gathering place. The bandager Z. Stein did not wish to leave his sick patients so was shot with them. During the last aktzia (Action) other 12 Jewish policemen were murdered. All the rest were deported to the extermination camp Chełmno.

___________

Sources:

Yad Vashem Archive, documents: M-1/E 887/758, M-1/E 887/759, M-1/E 2171/1946

Sh. Gilboa –  Di Din Torah, in "fon letzten hurban" 1947, heft 6

Y. Waldman, di Chelmner tragedie, in "fon letzten hurban" 1946, heft 1.

1) The Polish researcher Krzysztof Gorczyca from the Konin Regional Museum comments: that the mass murder was 13-14.12.1941. He states that Chelmno began his activity since 8.12.1941. He adds:

Partial List of the Holocaust  Martyrs of Turek (Hebrew) (English)

Partial List of the Martyrs of  Rychwal (Hebrew) (English)

Partial List of the Martyrs of Tuliszkow (Hebrew) (English)

The Kibel Family

Bronia (Brucha) Kibel of Turek, Poland
Holocaust Survivor

Bronia was born in 1926 in Turek, Poland. Meyer Shlomo Bajrach,  grandfather, owned a row of houses on Ogrodowa where several families lived before the Holocaust. The family of Hersz Leiser Kibel  lived at Ogrodowa 10, Turek.

When the Nazis came to Turek in 1940, she was relocated to a ghetto.  From there she was sent to three concentration camps, Inowroclaw in 1940, Gnojno from 1941-1943 and Auschwitz from 1943-1944.  She then was sent to a labor camp, Reichenbach, on a death march to Zalcweidel, and then to Nederzachsen from which she was liberated in April, 1945.  After the war, she studied English and worked as a nurse at displaced persons camps in Germany.  She came to the United States in June, 1947.

Girl Friends

This is a picture of Bronia Kibel and her girl friends in Turek, Poland, probably in 1938 or 1939. Bronia is on the left (she is the shortest of the three girls). Bronia was born Brucha Kibel in Turek in 1926. Her parents were Bluma Bajrach and Hersz Leiser Kibel. Someone gave her the photo in Israel a few years ago. The two friends are Edka Landau (in the middle) and Henia Zomer (Somer). Both girls were school friends of Bronia’s in Turek. Her older sister was their leader in the basu from their Bais Yakov School. She says, the two girls were her best friends. In Birkenau they were all three on block 13b, camp A. In Turek, the Zomers lived on Kałagass (Kaliska). Her father made pots and pans. Etka Landau’s father was a bookkeeper. She lived on Kaliska Street. Bronia remembers that Henia Zomer was on the truck taking them to the gas chamber. Bronia jumped down, but Henia was afraid and did not want to jump. They both perished in the Holocaust.
 

Zeew Kibel

Holocaust Survivor

Zeew Kibel wrote a book about his experiences in the German  Concentration and death camps:

The End: ChełmnoDeath Camp for Total Extermination

מחנה ההשמדה בחלמנו על נהר הנר (דו"ח חקירה 1946)

ולאדיסלאב בנדרז'  ( (Władyslaw Bednarz(שופט חוקר מחוזי): דו"ח הועדה הראשית לבדיקת פשעי הגרמנים בפולין. הדו"ח שנכתב זמן קצר אחרי תום המלחמה, הובא לארץ על ידי מר. זאב קיבל, תורגם במלואו על ידי רפאל יכין מארגון יוצאי טורק בישראל והוצא לאור על ידי הארגון, ת"א 1988.

חקירת העד מיכאל פודכלבניק (Michał Podchlebnik) מיום 9.6.1945   בקולו (Kolo), פולין

Association of Yotzei Turek  in Israel
Raphael Yechin,
Kalischer Street 5, Kfar Saba  44380

Israel
Telephones: home 972-9-765-9001
Yehuda Widawski,
Dizengoff 35, Tel Aviv  64282

Israel
Telephones: home 03-528-5947; work 03-537-3525

The first public bus in Turek, route: Konin - Turek - Łódż

טורק

ספר זיכרון לקהילת טורק וקדושיה

הוצא לאור ע"י ארגון יוצאי טורק בישראל, תל אביב 1982

עורך: אליעזר אסתרין

TUREK

A Memorial to the Jewish Community of Turek, Poland

Published by the Turek Organization in Israel, Tel Aviv 1982

Hebrew, Yiddish, English, 468 pages

Edited by Eliezer Esterin

The Turek Yizkor Book On-line at the New York Public Library

Translated by Ada Holtzman
Some of the photographs scanned by Susan Pentlin, PhD

		Article		Author	Page
		The Shtetl Turek (a Geographic and historic survey) Hebrew			14
		From the history of the Polish Jewry			11
		Turek during World War I		(Yiddish)	31
		The Jewish settlement from its beginning until the outbreak of World War II		According to Icchak Seife, Sz. Glube and A. Sz. Benkel	34
		The occupations of Turek Jews		Sz. Glube	40
		The Committee of Zion Association in Turek (page37) From right to left: Y. Aberstein, Sz. Bot, Icchak Seife, M. Warszawski, M. Szubinski, L. Wajnrajch, A. Starkman
		The beginning of the Weaving Industry in Turek		Abraham Szlomo Benkel (based on the stories of grandfather Eliezer Waks)	48
		The Weaving Industry		Israel Dawid Beth Halevi	50
		The  Turek Jews' way of life The Melamdim in Turek (teachers) The Yeshiva in Turek (Talmudical college) The  various activities of the Jewish community Religious personnel (Hazanim - cantors, Shohatim - ritual slaughterers, shamashim - beadles) Welfare and relief institutions Parnasim & Dozores - supporters and Trustees of the community Weddings and Kleizmerim (popular Jewish musicians)		Icchak Seife and Akiwa Shmueli	52
		The Jewish cemetery before the destruction
		Entertainment and theater in Turek			66
		Moshe Seife in the play "Shaul & David" (page67)		Program of Purim celebration in 1918, signed: Czeresznia, Y. Seife, Sz. Glube, M. Warszawski (page70)
		The modern heder		Yochanan Kriza	72
		The Rabbis of Turek R' Baruch Bendet Gliksman R' Dawid-Haim Braun R' Hersz Lajb Waksman R' Pinchas Wengrow		Zeew Kibel and Icchak Seife	75
		The world of Torah and good deeds which is gone R' Mendel Szmul R' Jakob Mas (Mordowicz) R' Herszel Shochet (Zajler) R' Alter Wajnrajch father of R' Eliezer Wajnrajch R' Welwel Mozes R' Israel Mosze Ziskind R' Yehoshua Alter Glycenstein R' Abraham Szubinski		R' Icchak Yedidya Frenkel "Mizrachi" movement in Turek: a scroll of memory in honor of Abraham Szubinski who was leaving for Eretz Israel (page 83)	79
		The Hassidim of Turek		Icchak Seife	85
			The Cantor Przysucher with the choir conducted by Dawid Chaim Gold page 57 (click to enlarge)		85
		The enlightenment movement in Turek		Icchak Seife	87
		The Zionist Movement		Icchak Seife	90
		The "Turnverein" (Sport association)			98
		The "Mizrachi" Movement in Turek      Farewell certificate for Abraham Bikowski by the "Mizrachi" association in Turek (page 57)		Yehuda Aharon Widawski	100
		From the "Hatsfira" newspaper			107
	The Zaks & Szczecinski families (few of many who lived of the textile industry) (Page 53)
		The boy scout pioneer movement ("Hashomer Haleumi") The football team : "Shomriya" From the right: Gdalya Rozenfeld, Yehuda Trzaskala, Abraham Rozenfeld, Chaim Biarka, Efraim Trzaskala, at the bottom: Majne Wolman, Mendel Menche		Szlomo Szubinski "Hanoar Hazioni"  (the Zionist Youth) in Turek 1932; sited in the middle from the right: Yehuda Tondowski, Reznik - activist of the main management of the movement, Gerszon Leszczinski	115
		"Hanoar Hazioni" (the Zionist youth) Hachshara at the Szubinski House -  preparation to immigration to Eretz Israel (memoirs)		Nitza Katzir (Mekalisz)	124
		"Agudath Israel"		Rabbi Haim David Ojerbach	127
		"Linath Zedek"		Meir Jankelewicz	131
		The Artisan Association and the Popular Bank		Zeew Kibel	133
		The Union of the Jewish Tailors		Zeew Kibel	135
		The "Bund"		Y. Shachor	137
		The Communist Movement in Turek		Z. K.	141
		In the Shtetl Turek (Hebrew)		Kalman Hajszrek (from his book "in Fire and Blood")   The writer, Kalman Hajszrek, native of Turek, with Hilel Zeitlin (page 143)	143
		-"- (Yiddish)		-"-	148
		The alyia from Turek and its contribution to the erection of Eretz Israel		Y. Shachor	153
		The Pat Family		Icchak Seife	159
		The family Kriza		Yochanan Kriza	162
		Eliahu Stempa ("Elia")			165
		The unforgettable Jewish Turek R' Aba Szajnyak Righteous women Father's home, the lithography My friend Zalman from Siedlce The effect of the Enlightenment Period and Zionism		Rafael Litmanowicz	167
		I am a native of Turek		Mosze Rozetti	176
		The Shtetl		Michael Kopel	179
		Once Upon a Time...		Szlomo  Szubinski	182
		Turek town of the spring of my life  The family of Aharon Jakobowicz   (page193)		Michael Lewi  (Mendel) Ben Mordechai	188
		Persons and images (memoirs) Jakob Kiwala "Jakob Yah" The Rosz family Hagar and her husband Hersz-Michael Szlomo Treger (Goldstein) Dawid-Lajbusz who had 6 fingers The "Boidemete" beggar Towards the Sabbath in Turek		Yona Mendelblat z"l	195
		The shtetl Turek - "Hamatmid" school in Ramat Gan, Israel,  has adopted and commemorated the shtetl Turek			200
		Class of elementary school in Turek, the teachers are in the first row
		The blind Gabriel  - one of the typical person of the shtetl - written by a pupil in the 8th grade of "Hamatmid" Ramat Gan, Israel		Hadasa Szubinski	201
		The children's manner of life		Hadasa Szubinski and Moti Rozenberg	202
		Mosze Fajnkind (public activist, writer and historian)		Icchak Seife	203
		R' Yehoszua Alter (Glicenstein)		Abraham Szlomo Benkel	207
		Chanoch (Henrik, Enrico) Glicenstein (1870-1942), the  great  artist, biography; Translated poems			208
		Chanoch Glicenstein R' Joel son of Josef Poyre, pained by Chanoch Glicenstein, native of Turek (page218)		Emanuel Romano (the artist's son)	217
		The artist in his home birth  (speech in the remembrance ceremony to Henrik Gilcenstein in Tel Aviv 1942)		Yehuda Frenkel	217
		Kalman Hajszrek		Icchak Seife               The family of Michael Seife                                        (page 61)	221
		Cwi Bikowski		Icchak Seife	224
		Cwi Bikowski (one of the foundation men)		Cwi Livna	226
		To the memory of Cwi Bikowski		Yona Mendelblat z"l	227
		We learned from him		Rachel and Jakob Kohensztam	229
		R' Abraham Piotrekowski and his family immigrate to Eretz Israel		A. Kriza	230
		Mosze Warszawski		Icchak Seife	232
		Icchak Warszawski		Icchak Warszawski received a medal from Aba Even for his Zionist activities (Page 236)	237
		A truthful man - about the personality of Knesset (Israel Parliament) member: R' Szlomo Zalman Jankelewicz son of Jakob		Meir Jankelewicz	241
		The convincing speaker  (following the death of R' Zalman Ben Jakob)		A. Rivlin	244
		Icchak Wartski, a great scholar		Icchak Seife	247
		Icchak Izidor Wartski		George Weber	251
		In memory of Icchak
		Eliezer Wajnrajch		Yochanan Kriza	255
		R' Jakob Rubinstein The Rubinstein family (Page 256)		A. Spinka	256
		R' Henoch Berfman		Y. Kriza                 Aba Barfman near the tombstone of his father in the Turek Jewish cemetery before the Holocaust: R' Hanoch Henech Barfman, son of Yechiel died  3.12.1926 (Page 259)	258
		R' Simcha Bunim Merber		R' Szmuel (Semek) Rozenboim Vardi (grandson)	260
		The members of the Zionist Committee in Turek		Sz. Sz.	262
r'		R' Zeew Wolf Mozes (Mozisz) (from the book "The History of Kalisz Jews", 1961, pages 206-208)		Israel Dawid Beit-Halewi	263
		Israel Kohen (Kohan)			265
		Israel Kiwala			267
		Aharon Sztarkman			268
		A distinguished person: Yehuda Tondowski		Szraga Bar Sela (Stempa)	269
		Icchak Bernstein (from the book "Plock", page 407)			271
	The Gymnasium in Turek where Jewish students studied as well page 271
		Eliahu Rozenboim (from a memorial booklet published by Kibbutz Usha 1945)		Szlomo Szubinski	273
		"הצבי ישראל על במותיך חלל איך נפלו גיבורים!" (שמואל ב' א' 19) "Thy glory O Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen!" (II Samuel I;19) Sons of  Turek  who befell in battle during WWII, the Jewish Brigade and Israel wars for independence Gad son of Mordechai and Lea  Ben-Shalom (née Tauba) Chaim son of Abraham Goldys (of the Bykowski family) Jakob son of Mosze and Bluma Noifeld Yair son of Mosze and Towa Zys née Szubinski Yosef son of Dawid and Regina Kopel Jakob son of Mosze and Janina Szilah née Lewinski Michal son of Jakob Izbicki Miriam daughter of Meir and Melcia Binstok Rafael son of Eliezer and Rachel Wajnrajch Szlomo son of Yochanan and Cyla Kopel Szlomo son of Abraham Deser Blessed be their memory!
	The Holocaust 1939-1945
		The history of the Holocaust		A.A.	281
		To remember or not to remember At least 600 years Poland is being conquered Source of evil (a poem)		Jakob Beser son of Zalman	286
		How it started		Ajzik Rasz	291
		The destruction of Turek Jewish community (according to testimonies of Ajzik Rasz, Miriam Zajdenberg and the author) How it started - nomination of the Judenrat The first persecutions A ghetto erected The synagogue set on fire The abuse of the melamed (teacher) From what did the Jews live of in the ghetto? The big deceit ("Kolonie") Poznań force labour camp (Bar Sela) In the "Kolonie" The liquidation		Szraga Bar Sela (Stempa) The Turek Ghetto: Szeroka Street ("Breite Gasse") (Page 301)	299
		The suffering of the Turek girls		Miriam Zajdenberg (née Graundes "di Wajse" ("the White") written by Szraga Bar Sela	309
		A Turek Jew pray on the Synagogue stairway (photographed by the Nazis) (page 304)
		In those dreadful days - testimonies of Eliezer and Icchak Orbach		Akiwa Shmueli	315
	The Ten Martyrs executed in the "Kolonie" Kowale Pańskie,  in public hanging: Zajman Mosze from Turek Lewkowicz Chajmal from Turek Noiman, son-in-law of Goldblum from Turek Liek Icek Yudel from Uniejów Jakobowicz Marian from Uniejów Podchlebnik Machel from Dobra Czoskola Szymon from Dobra Gelbart from Tuliszków Klein from Koło Polkowski from Pęczniew The two girls who were shot to death: Raur Bela and Krakocka Ester
		The Jews of Turek during the Nazi occupation 1st November 1939 The transfer to the "Kolonie" Heidemühle (Kowale Pańskie) The liquidation of the "Kolonie" Public hanging (told by Rafael Yachin (Yachimowicz) Building the bunker The last "Aktion" (akcja) before the final liquidation Summer of 1943 in ghetto Łódż The spring of 1944 The liquidation of ghetto Łódż		Szmuel Glube	320
		-"- (Yiddish)		-"-	341
		Memoirs by Yochewet Rozencwajg (Podchlebnik)		Michael Lewi	376
		My sufferings during WWII		Yona Fresajzen	380
		The synagogue, how it looks today (page 314)		The grand synagogue of Turek - after the war the Poles converted it to a warehouse (Page 317)
		My sufferings during WWII (Yiddish)		Yona Fresajzen	391
		In the ghetto and in the forests - Cypora Zomer (Tobiak) - interview by two pupils Eti Zomer and Mirit Radiwal Introduction The "Juden Kolonie" Forced Labour camp in Poznań The escape from Poznań With the Polish family Blaszkowski and Aleksander and Juzefa Miliewo The problems which occurred while I stayed at the Blaszkowski house The end of the war Searching my relatives		Michael Lewi	405
		Władysławów (Russocice)			412
		The deportation from Russocice; the Tobiak family is transferred to "Kolonie" Heidemühle (Kowale Pańskie) (page 412)
		A document from Chełmno(Yiddish & Hebrew)			414
		Chełmno - Death Camp		Jakob Waldman (survived the Nazi Holocaust but killed by Polish underground A.K. on 1.9.1945	416
		Names of elderly men, sick and children who were shot on spot during the deportation to Chełmno  from the "Kolonie" on 27.7.1942: Zamulek Stein, Lenczicki Szlomo from Uniejów who dug his own grave and shot there with his dumb deaf boy; grandfather Lajb Czelnik with grandmother; Warcki Luzer and his wife from Turek; Lisak from Turek; Szczeszynski Menachem from Turek; Berkowicz Gitel from Turek; Lubinski Chanoch from Turek;  Lewinowa from Turek; Katar Mordechai from Turek; Fajwisz Mendel from Turek; Czoskola from Turek; Berger Abraham from Uniejów; Eliasz Szlomo from Turek; Jakobowicz from Turek; Deser Jakob from Turek; Zalberg Issaschar from Turek; Friedland Yeszaya from Brudzew; Bild Josef from Turek; Muchnicki from Turek; Czoskola Szmuel from Turek; Tauba Abraham from Tuliszków
		Rychwal (Konin District)		The Zionist Youth Movement in Rychwal (click to enlarge) (page 423)	422
		Tuliszków (Konin District)			424
		The speech of Rabbi Icchak Yedidia Frenkel (chief rabbi of Tel Aviv)  in the annual Remembrance Assembly of Turek Jews year 5726 (1966)			425
		Remembrance Assembly of Turek Jews in Tel Aviv (page426)
		Turek after the Holocaust		Icchak Frenkel	428
		Various speeches from the Remembrance Assemblies held in Tel Aviv for Turek Jews 14 Av, 5628 (8.8.1968) 13 Av, 5629 (28.7.1969) 14 Av, 5630 (16.8.1970) 13 Av, 5632 (24.7.1972) 14 Av 5634 (1.8.1974)		Benjamin Seife	429
		A symbolic funeral of human remains brought to Eretz Israel from Chelmno death camp by Yehuda Szmul Kawecki. Prayer for exaltation of  the martyrs souls read by the cantor R' Abraham Bokowski, from Turek Yizkor book  (page 427)		Meir Rubinski, among Turek oldest immigrants to Eretz Israel ("Olym"), near the memorial for Turek Jews in Nachlat Yitzhak cemetery Givataiim, Israel (page 430)
		"You Will Tell It to Your Son..."		Szraga Bar Sela (Stempa)	435
		Remember! Do Not Forget! (Hebrew), (English)		M. L.	439
		Partial list of the Holocaust  Martyrs of Turek, Rychwal & Tuliszkow (Hebrew) The necrology list (translation to English)			439
		The Vow		Abraham Shlonski	451
		Bibliography			452
		Corrections pf typos and mistakes			453
		The English Part		I-XVIII
	Certificate from KK"L (The Jewish national Fund): 2500 trees were planted in the  the Jewish Polish Martyrs  forest, near Jerusalem, in memory of the martyrs of Turek, perished during the bloody rule of the Germans in WWII (page 434)

The Family Szubinski

Moshe Shubinsky of U.K.  contributed this photograph and added the captions, in memory of the Szubinski Family of Turek

Mr. Icek Szubinski (my father) at the very back left hand side.
Awram  Szubinski and Chana Szubinska (my grandfather and grandmother) - front row seated on chairs on the right hand side.
Szlomo Szubinski (my uncle) in the centre of the fron row, with a smart light suit.
The two children in the middle of the front row, seated on the ground, I think are Heindrick Szubinski and Blumcha Szubinski, my cousins, who perished in the Holocaust, Heindrick in Posen and Blumcha in Chelmno.
In the picture appears also be their father Mosze Szubinski and their mother Genia, née Dzialoshinski, also perished in Chełmno.
My aunt, Rachel Rubinstein (née  Szubinski) and her husband and children  are also pictured. Rachel perished at Treblinka.
Unfortunately I do not know for sure who all the others are but I did have another uncle Szulem and his wife Edith, who may be in the picture and other relatives I do not know about.
I think the picture was taken in 1933 on the eve of my uncle Szlomo's emigration to Palestine.

Shlomo Shubinsky: "Once Upon a Time"

Bais Yaakov  בית יעקב Girls School in Turek

Photograph and captions contributed by Bronia (Brucha) Kibel with Susan Pentlin, PhD

Hebrew School for Orthodox Girls in Turek, Poland. The younger girls were basu, the older ones benos. Probably taken in 1938 or 1939. (1) Bronia Kibel is wearing a dark dress.2) the girl wearing a sailor suit on the left was Sura Precel, (3) This student was older and Bronia has forgotten her name. Then there is (4) Mania Neiman whose father made and sold pots and pans. She was Bronia's best friend (5) Henja Rakowna, then (6) Henja Lepkowitz (turned to the side), (7) Henja Włójczka (8)? Urbach is wearing a white collar. She was red-headed. (9) ? Działoszinska is seated next to her. She wore two braids. (10) Sura Zomer (Somer) was the group leader. She is also wearing a white collar. Zomer married a man named Rosenzweig and they went to Israel.There were three Zomer sisters. They lived in the Kałagass (Kaliska in Polish). To Zomer's left is a (11)? Pulwermacher. She also survived. Seated on the front row is:(12) the little girl in the sailor dress. Bronia does not remember her name. To her left is (13) Surcia Weinstein, then in the middle is (14) Czecia Speyer (she had an older sister named Mila) and (15) on her right is a new student named ? Karbonkel. She was from Cracow. Her father was a lawyer. (16) is a girl from the Kiwala family. (17) Hannah Ruchal Kibel, a cousin of Bronia's. Her parents were Mordechai and Cirla Kibel, Bronia's aunt and uncle. Cirla was also a Kibel by birth and she came from Zdunska Wola.

 The photograph was published in a book in Kansas City called From the Heart but only Bronia Kibel is identified in that book. Then Bronia Kibel identified the other girls.

The photograph appears in the book where the photo appears at the book: 
From the Heart : Life Before and After the Holocaust - A Mosaic of Memories (Hardcover)
by MCHE - Midwest Center for Holocaust Education, Published by The Kansas City Star, 2001. The book can be ordered from the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education 5801 West 115th Street, Suite 106 Overland Park, KS 66211-1800 Phone (913) 327-8190 Fax (913) 327-8193
It can be ordered at:  http://www.mchekc.org 

This is the same web site where a realplayer clip of Bronia is located. And there is also a video of Kansas City survivors produced by the Center which has Bronia on it: Through our Own Eyes which can be ordered on the site.  
I thank the MCHE Executive Director for the jpeg of the photo, Jean Zeldin; email: jeanz@mchekc.org. The photo itself belongs to Bronia. She gave MCHE permission to send Susan Peltin the jpeg for the the zchor web site.

Commemoration 2003 הנצחה

Turek Association of Israel ("Landsmanschaft") erected a memorial at the Jewish Cemetery in Turek. The mayor, local dignitaries, the rabbi of Lodz, and a delegation of Israeli Turek descendants attended the dedication on 25 Aug. 2003. No Matzevot (Tombstones) remain in the cemetery. A few original stones stand at the Chelmno Memorial, the site where the majority of Turek Jews perished.

 Susan Pentlin PhD

The commemoration of the Jewish cemtery  thanks to the Turek municipality, Machra Adamow and descendants of the families: Aberstein, Bikowski, Widawski, Seife,   Jachimowicz, Marber, Trzaskala, Kibel,  Rozencwajg (Podchalebnik),  Szmul, Szubinski,  Apt, Guttmacher, Plotka, Rasz, L. Seiffe

Turek Today

Konin Regional Museum

http://www.konin.pl/konin/miasto/muzeum.htm

Tel: +48 63 2427599  Fax: +48 63 2427431

Muzeum Okręgowe w Koninie

62-505 Konin ul. Muzealna 6

Poland

The memorial tombstone of Turek martyrs in Nachlat Yitzhak cemetery Givataiim, Israel
"Bones of the Holocaust martyrs of Turek, murdered in Chelmno extermination camp on Av 14, 5702

(July 28^th,  1942)

I thank Ellen Stepak and Rose Feldman of the IGS for this photograph - part of the IGS project in progress:

Memorial for the Vanished Communities

LINKS

Yad Vashem

Yad Vashem Hall of Names

J. R. I.

1929 Business Directory Turek (goto page 995)

JewishGen The Home of Jewish Genealogy

JGFF The JewishGen Family Finder

JewishGen Yizkor Books database

JewishGen Holocaust Database

Ada's Communities Page

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Last updated November 22^nd, 2007