[Page 52]

Mosze Mitelman the “Feldscher” that fought the typhus plague and dysentery during WW1, without seeking reward

The shops in which most of the Jews made their living, were not built according to regulations, and it was difficult to maintain the required level of cleanliness. More than once, flammable material like kerosene was found in the grocery stores. The shopkeepers needed instruction in the rules of elementary hygiene, and Mosze Mitelman was their instructor. His appearance in the shopping center induced a feeling of security amongst the shopkeepers, knowing that he was a defender of their rights.

As a “feldscher” in the times of typhus plague and dysentery, he would trudge to the Jewish homes in order to serve food and render assistance, he didn't take money for his visits and there were instances that he even handed out additional medicine. In cases where the medicine that he had prescribed had not been purchased because of a lack of funds, he would take out money to give the patient's family so that they could purchase it themselves. He was an exceptional personality that the Jews of Dąbrowa could be proud of. His son, Dr. Szmul Mitelman passed away in Israel.

Generation upon generation saw the bringing of a bride to the “chupa” as a fundamental “mitzvah”. Our ancestors became very anxious when A daughter reached maturity and was still unmarried, fearing that she would miss the opportunity and, Heaven forbid, not obtain a husband, and forever remain single. Many legends amassed on this subject in Jewish folklore, on a single tear of a Jewish bride under the “chupa” which opened Heaven's gates and atoned for the iniquities of the society.

In Polish towns it was customary to give a dowry to the husband so that he would have the initial foundation for creating a source of income, and it was deemed inconsequential that the bride was endowed with special talents – there had to be a dowry ! More than one father broke his heart on seeing his daughters reach maturity without their having a dowry, and in several places in the town there were committees for this purpose and secret funds to save brides from disgrace. One of these funds was organized by Wawa Fajner, Jekutiel Kajzer, Akiba Wajnsztajn, Mordechai Fuks, Mendel Balicki and Emanuel Zilbersztajn. The fund that they ran was to secretly provide for the outlay of a wedding, to purchase bridal wear, and, sometimes, helped with sums of money for the dowry.

It is related that, more than once, the committee sent a messenger to town councils, to meetings and to houses of learning in order to find an orphaned groom to match him up with a poor bride from his town. The joy at this type of wedding was great, and those that took part in its attainment were particularly joyous.

The craftsmen were a special type of Jew. Their hands were coarse, they spoke loudly and flamboyantly, they were broad shouldered and their hearts warm and were mindful to every Jewish problem. In the town there were shoemakers, tailors, blacksmiths, carpenters, milliners, locksmiths and a number of builders. There were petty craftsmen that only dealt in repairs, whilst on the other hand, there were craftsmen that worked for wholesalers in Bedzin and Sosnowiec: these were shoemakers, tailors and milliners. There were a couple of blacksmiths who worked for industry, and manufactured all sorts of accessories for the factory.


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The craftsmen were connected to the Bedzin “Zach” organization (a type of professional association), and each craftsmen that sought to be independent and employ workers had to undergo an examination in the “Zach” association. The diploma he received would grant him the title of a certified craftsman. The craftsmen belonged to a union called “Handwerker Fareyn” (craftsmen union) and their presence in the town was pronounced. They had a strong feeling of communal responsibility: they had a benevolent fund which gave small loans for the purchase of materials, a disciplinary court for internal matters, in the case of trespassing or unfair competition in receiving tenders. They appeared in the municipal elections as a separate party and achieved their own delegate. The committee members were: Beryl Fuks, Szlomo Wiener, Jekutiel Kajzer, Akiba Rubinsztajn (chairman), Emanuel Zilbersztajn, Eliezer Rubinsztajn, Mosze Zilbersztajn and Abraham Lajtner. Representing the tailors were: Kanarek, Wajszalc, Pomocnik and Josef Szymon. On behalf of the shoemakers: Jakob Fuks.

They had their own synagogue on “The third of May” Street and they would pray there on Shabbat and holy days only. Rabbi Jekutiel Kajzer would stand at the reading desk.

The rabbi of the craftsmen was Rabbi Shapira, who was the brother of Rabbi Shapira from Bedzin. He was a tall Jew, with a small blond beard. They called him “Der Plompel Rabbi”, since his home was next to the public water pump. Abe Kalish lived in his house. The craftsmen liked their rabbi and any quarrel was brought before him and his judgment was humbly received.

First row, standing from right to left:
Chaim Lewi, Israel-Jicchak Fajner (Wawa's son), Zilbersztajn, Jicchak Moneta, Jekutiel Kajzer.
Second row, standing:
Unknown, Chaim Ziszl Szwimer, Guterman, Emanuel Rubinsztajn, Unknown Zilbersztajn,
Lajbl Grynbaum, Chaim Wekselman.
Sitting:
Josef and Szymon Pomocnik, Wawa Fajner, Ruwen Wekselman, Szymon Szwimer and Szlomo Wiener

We have presented a comprehensive review of the lengthy establishment of the Dąbrowa Górnicza Jewish community and efforts to create foundations there, the consistent and unrelenting battle against the eviction edict, the establishment of communal institutions, communal assistance, integrating into the town's life and its development. The material on which this document is based comes from encyclopedias, magazines, history books, and from Jewish newspapers that appeared in Zaglembia before the war. Above all, Rabbi Chanoch-Gerszon Szpilberg, of blessed memory, will be fondly recalled as taking an active role in the community and from him I heard a great deal of the material which is now before you. He was so afraid, that the community's annals would be lost forever, and I did as he requested and wrote down the words as he had related to them to me. The first Jews reached Dąbrowa when it was still a barren region, filled with swamps and forests of oak (“Domb”) trees. In 1931 there were 5,150 Jews making up14% of the total population. In 1940, before their deportation, there were 5,663 Jews (according to documents from the General Encyclopedia, New York).

We have skipped over the political parties that existed in the town, on the Jewish representation in the town council at the head of which were Bernard Rechnic and Lejbl Steschagowski. Over the Jewish trade and the war against anti-Semitic incitement, standing at the head of which were, Rechnic, Szpilberg, Walterfreynt, Neyfeld and Zindband. Over the Lodovian Bank whose operators were Nachman Gutman, Herzl Liberman, Kalman Gurfinkel, Lipka Futerko, Ruwen Grosfeld, Chanoch Zalatnik, Lejbl Manela, Herszel Rivsczteyn, Chanoch-Gerszon Szpilberg, Itche Majer Luksenburg, Jakob Frydman, Jakob Parasol, Chaim Dawid Wajnreb, Israel Welner and Szmul Malsztajn: (“Zagłębie Zeitung”, 1929). There was an institution that dressed those without clothing headed by Szlomo Zeywencz, Mendel Bielicki, Jicchak Kruz, Jicchak Hersz Rotsztajn, Cukrowski, Wawa Fajner and Szpilberg.

There was a women's society headed by Chawa Minc and active women like Lea Zygrajch and Saraleh Bajtner. There were also religious institutions with their organizations, youth movements and so on. We have not mentioned the tens and hundreds of anonymous characters who did not stand out in public activities, but their simple lifestyle glorified the landscape of this community.

On these pages we have given them an everlasting memorial.



[Page 74]

The town of Dąbrowa Górnicza can thank, in part, a very old community for its name. “Old-Dąbrowa” was founded hundreds of years ago, among desolate forests and swamps, on a hill that slopes down to the valley, “Czarna Przemsza.” This “old” Dąbrowa was the beginning of the contemporary town, which developed in quick tempo, thanks to the black diamonds underground. It is difficult to determine when the neighborhood was created since there was no aristocratic manor around which the community could tie its history. (The name probably derives from the Dąbrowa forests, where the community was found. By the way, another neighborhood in the town carries the name of “dąbniki” ). [Both names derive from “oak” in Polish – HBF].

The coalmines from the 18^th century in “Czarna Przemsza” did not develop they way they should have. In the years 1795-1806 the Prussians exploited the coalmines. Later, in the time of Warsaw's leadership, the managers, obedient to Napoleon's war, allowed the mines to become disorganized and neglected. After the Congress of Vienna in 1815, people once again became interested in the soil, when the Kingdom of Poland was created. Czarist Russia ruled the “Czarna Przemsza.” Afterwards, when Stanisław Staszic of the Kingdom of Poland took over office as Director General of the Division of Industry, Trade, and Culture, the Polish coalmines were revived. Thanks to Staszic's work and efforts, a coalmining community was established in Dąbrowa, and he laid the foundation for the future development of the entire community, “Przemsza.” In the second half of the 19^th century, on Staszic's initiative, two coalmines were built (and later fell down):
(a) “Reden” in Dąbrowa Górnicza, and
(b) “Hain” in Strzemieszyce.

After 1985 [1895? – translator's note], under Staszice's management, new layers of coal were discovered in Dąbrowa. The coalmine “Kasaweri” and others were established; also in Sielce, Pogoń, Strzemieszyce. In the years 1834/39 the foundry “Bankowa” was established with funds from the Polish Bank, which in 1831 had taken over the management of textiles in the Kingdom of Poland^[1]. Dąbrowa first received town rights in 1916 for industrial development . (Connected to the growth of the population in 1880, the number of residents approximated 6,000; in 1897 – 14,870, and in 1921 – 30,871.) The proletarian groups helped to fulfill Dąbrowa Górnicza as a center of revolutionary movement (it participated in the revolution of 1905-06)^[2].

In 1889 a school for colliers was opened, which operated until 1905. During the revolution the courses stopped, but they later resumed and continued until WWI broke out. In 1919 the school was changed to a trade school for colliers and foundry workers^[3], bearing Staszic's name.



The Jewish population

In 1931 there were 5,150 Jews in Dąbrowa Górnicza; in 1940 the number grew to 5,663. Most of them were businessmen, artisans and owners of small stores and workshops. The first deportation of the Jews to Auschwitz took place May 1942; the second in June.


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The mass-deportation to Auschwitz occurred in August of the same year. From the first to the seventh of August 1943, the Hitlerists deported about 3,000 Jews from Sosnowiec, Będzin, and Dąbrowa Górnicza to Auschwitz. Approximately 400 Jews were shot “while attempting to escape or resist”^[4]

(from the Silesian Library in Katowice, translated from Polish).

Sources

I first came to Dabrowa as a youth in 1900 when I paid to be a journeyman to Josel Wilkes. He lived then in Reden in the home of Lajbl Frochtcwajg. He had a nickname “Tsigush” [pipe] because of the long one which he always kept in his mouth, never taking it out, whether he smoked or not. He was an angry Jew with a bass voice, and strict. In the corridors of the courtyard stood large crates with papers which his son-in-law Jekele Rozen, who lived with him, had from his business – they were full of tobacco and cigarettes. No child outside of the family was permitted in these corridors to play with the little papers, which used to flutter around.

Out of protest, children would take revenge against “Tsigush” for not allowing them into the courtyard. They used to enter it fearfully, grab a few papers, and run away. Nobody envied the child he would catch committing this sin.

In general, the colony of Reden did not make a homey impression. The main street, from the so-called barracks until Reden, had deep ditches on both sides. When it rained, the water reached to the barracks, where it disappeared. Small, wooden bridges were scattered every few meters so we could go from one sidewalk to another.

In the small streets there were no bridges, and the mud was terrible. In the lower places the mud was a half-meter high. When a wagon with goods got its wheels stuck in the deep mud, several people had to go and help pull it out. On the sides the mud was thin. We had to maneuver and search well where to step. A person could put his foot in the mud and pull it out, minus his boot. That's how it was in the low places where there was no drain for the water. The water remained in the same place, until it dried out.

You could find a prayer minyan at old Rechnic's home on Chochlewka-Zagórcze (street). Whoever wanted to pray in Reden, cut through the coalmine “Reden,” and pushed his way through to Chochlewka-Zagórcze.

The elderly Rechnic, slightly hunchbacked, was a rich Jew; he kept horses in the colliery “Mortimer” in Zagórcze. He sat like an innkeeper in his courtyard with his whole family, and all were employed on his “ranch.”

The large factories with the tall chimneys, the Huta Bankowa, the zinc works “Huta Cynkowa,” and the coalmine “Reden,” were not encompassed by walls in those days. From the large ovens, tongues of fire of all colors issued forth. In the dark nights you could see a beautiful photographic mirage.

The entire administration of Dabrowa consisted, in those days, of a village ruler and a scribe. They were in “Reden,” located a story above the pharmacist. On the ground floor of the community building was the prison (“Koze,” as it was called). During the time of the Russian occupation, the “koze” consisted of two rooms, one for the arrestees and another for the guard.


[Page 77]


The ruler of the village, Lis – that was his name – a short man with a hunchback, a big anti-Semite, endorsed all the anti-Jewish legislation of the Tsarist government, and looked to catch anybody breaking a rule. If a young man from another town had no passport, nobody would envy him. Lis quickly denounced him, and the stranger was imprisoned until he was sent away in a procession of convicts.

Our town Dąbrowa is one of the youngest towns in Poland. It grew out of the hidden, thick forest areas, where thieves loitered on the paths, waiting to rob their victims.

It was not built in the characteristically antiquated style of other old towns and villages in Poland; it did not have a market area around it, no old castles, no remains of the old Polish battles (which had invited Jews to come to develop trade), no old cemetery, and so on. This is why the town lore is woven with legends of great humanitarian personalities, of large deeds and accomplishments in all areas of society.

Sometime in the 17^th and 18^th centuries, when the first sprouts of industry became visible, engineers came from Germany and France (engaged through the big capitalistic concerns at the time). They met in the western corner of Poland, in the large forests surrounding the town of Będzin. The goal was to extract, from rich layers of earth of outstanding quality, great treasures of coal and iron. Intensive work was begun to dig out of the depths the precious material used to heat and to drive the machinery of industry.

The classless farmers of the surrounding villages began to stream to various points where new possibilities for work were forming. A new place to live began to be established. The neighboring Jews of Będzin were the first to step over the threshold. They actually named the new place with the name from the “brama” [gate] of the wall that used to surround Będzin, the remains of which were still visible as of late.

People did not know the names of the Jews who came to Dąbrowa. They were known by the city from which they came. For example: Proszowicer, Jędrzejówer, Szydłowiecer, etc.

The town of Dąbrowa was divided into various neighborhoods which were called “colonies.” Workers concentrated around every coalmine or factory. They built houses and, with time, constructed larger and smaller streets. In addition, social networks built apartments for their workers and employees, who received apartments in which to live at no cost. In every colony, two or three Jews, artisans or a small businessmen searching for a place to live and to earn a living, would push themselves in.

The largest concentration of Jews lived in the part of town called the “Huta Bankowa.” Esteemed artisans and employers, Chasidim and progressives, workers and toilers, lived there.

When Hitler, may his name be blotted out, and his hooligans befell Poland – our town suffered the same fate as all the other towns in Poland – it was ruined and everything was eradicated down to the foundation.

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