Plotzk; a History of an
Ancient Jewish Community in Poland
(Poland)

52°33' / 19°42'

Translation of
Plotzk; toldot kehila atikat yomin be-Polin

Edited by E. Eisenberg

Published in Tel Aviv, 1967

Acknowledgments

Project Coordinator

Emerita Project Coordinator, Ada Holtzman z”l

Our sincere appreciation to Yochevet Brown, president, and the Plock landsmanschaft in Israel,
for permission to put this material on the JewishGen web site.

This is a translation from: Plotzk; toldot kehila atikat yomin be-Polin
(Plotzk; a history of an ancient Jewish community in Poland),
Editors: E. Eisenberg, Tel Aviv, World Committee for the Plotzk Memorial Book, 1967 (H, Y, E, 780 pages).

Note: The original book can be seen online at the NY Public Library site: https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/yizkor-book-collection#/?tab= 2527

This material is made available by JewishGen, Inc. and the Yizkor Book Project for the purpose of
fulfilling our mission of disseminating information about the Holocaust and destroyed Jewish communities.
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JewishGen, Inc. makes no representations regarding the accuracy of the translation. The reader may wish to refer to the original material for verification.
JewishGen is not responsible for inaccuracies or omissions in the original work and cannot rewrite or edit the text to correct inaccuracies and/or omissions.
Our mission is to produce a translation of the original work and we cannot verify the accuracy of statements or alter facts cited.

World Committee Irgun Yotzey Plotzk

for the Be-Israel

Ploth Memorial Book (Plotzker Association in Israel)

PLOTZK

(PLOCK)

A History of an Ancient Jewish Community in POLAND

Editor:
Eliyahu Eisenberg

Vice-Chairman, Plotzker Association in Israel

“HAMENORA”
Publishing House
Tel-Aviv, 1967

Honorary President of the World Committee
for the Plotzk Memorial Book

Mr. Itzhak Grinbaum
Editorial Board
Chairman: Moshe Rubin
Members:

Itzhak Ben-Shai (Fuchs)		Shlomo Greenspan
Benyamin Galewski		Itzhak Tynski

Irgun Yotzey Plotzk (Polin) Be-Israel
(Plotzker Association in Israel)
Plotzker Young Mens' Independent Association
in New York
Sociedad de Residentes de Plock
en la Argentina
Organisation de les Amis de Plock et Environs
en France

Plotzker Groups in Australia, England, Canada
and the U.S. West Coast

Drawings: Yaakov Guterman
Title-page design: H. Dayan

Printed by “Arazi” Press Ltd.,
4 Ayelet Hashahar Street,
Tel Aviv, Israel

		Page
Foreword		5
Introduction		9

History of the Jews in Plotzk Until the First World War (1237 – 1914)
History of the Jews of Plotzk from the Middle Ages until the 17th Century	Y. Trunk	10
The History of the Jews of Plotzk from the Middle of the 17th Century until World War I	Y. Trunk	16
Activities of the Plotzk Jewish Community	Dr. Y. Schipper	25
The Minute-Book of the Tailors' Union	Dr. E. Ringelblum	25
R' Moshe Ben Israel Wasserzug	E.E.	25
Avraham Yaacov Papierna; Teacher and Literary Critic	S. Greenspan	26
Aharon ben Moshe Kahanstam (Konstam)	E. Eisenberg	27
Lives of Famous Plotzk Rabbis	S. Greenspan	28
Jewish Life in Plotzk in the light of Hebrew Periodicals of the Second Half of the19th Century	S. Greenspan	33
Nahum Sokolov's Youth	F. Sokolov	36
Beginnings of Zionism in Plotzk	I. Grinbaum	36
Inauguration of the first Jewish Gymnasium	Y. M. Zlotnik	37
Memories of the Past	S. Rozen	37
Jewish Plotzk during the First World War	I. Tynski	38
The Jewish Kehila of Plotzk (“Vaad Hakehila” – secretary memoirs)	Y. Ben-Shai (Fuchs)	40
The Jewish Hospital on the name of Icchak Fogel	A. Shmueli (Plutzer)	41
Ezrat Holim		42
The Jewish Orphanage (“Ochronka”)	G. Puk	42
Cooperative Banks and Trade Unions	I. G. Chanachowicz (Kent)	43
The Small Traders organization	J. Malonek	44
The “Gildene” Street	B. Gincberg	44
“Ort” in Plock	I. Tynski	44
Anti-Semitism in Plotzk between the two World-Wars	E.E.	45
The Mariavits Convent and the Jews	I. G. Chanachowicz (Kent)	45
The Jewish Gymnasium		47
Jewish Primary Education	I. Ben Shai (Fuchs)	47
Shmuel Penson	B. Grey (Graubart)	48
My Father, R' Shmuel Penson	A. Penson	48
Jewish Education in Plotzk	Prof. D. Eisenberg	48
Memories of the melamed Yehiel Meir Kravietz	A. Sh.	49
The Popular Functions of the Jewish Library “Hazamir”	Prof. D. Eisenberg	49
Local Theater Groups	M. Magnes	49
Childhood Memories	M. Zylberberg	50
The Struggle for Restoring the Good Name of Rabbi H. Shapiro	A. Hartglas	50
Nahum Sokolov and Plotzk	Y. Warszawski	50
Nahum Sokolov's visit to Plotzk and Wyszogrod	M. Turkow	51
Shalom Ash and Plotzk	M. Zylberberg	51
My Uncle, Rabbi Y. L. Avida (“El Zet”, R' Yehuda Leib Zlotnik)	Ruhama Shnir (Zlotnik)	51
Rabbi Yehuda Leib Avida (Zlotnik)	Dr. Nechemia Aloni	52
Alfred Blei, The Last Chairman	Meir (Michael) Koenigsberg	52
Zysze Landau	Melech Rawicz	53
Memories of My Father's Home	E. Eisenberg	53
Four friends and their spiritual world	M. Rubin	55
“Agudat Zion”		55
Keren Kayemet Activities		55
“Zeirei Zion” in Plock	I. Tynski	56
The Agricultural Farm of Moshe Krakowski	E. E.	56
“Hachshara” Kibbutz by the name of “Borochow”	F. Fliderblum	57
Hehalutz, Hehalutz Hatzair and Hapoel	Y. Rosenblum	57
“Mizrahi” Movement		58
“Herzlia” Association	M. Rubin	59
“Poalei Zion (Left)”	B. Okolica	59
The “Freiheit” Movement	D. Shahari	59
“Agudat Israel” in Plock and the Region	L. Geliebter	60
The Activities of the “Bund”	I. M. Oliver (Ilover)	60
“Hashomer Hatzair”	E. E.	61
Revisionists and “Beitar”		62
“General-Zionist” Youth Movement and “Akiba”	B. Galewski	62
The Local Communist Party	Sh. P.	63
The history of “Maccabi” in Plock	M. Rubin	63
The Last Two Years of “Maccabi”	A. Najman (Nowicki)	64
Nathan Korzen	Y. Aronson	65
Fishl Zylberberg (Zber) (1909-1942)		65
Yechiel Meir (Maks) Eljowicz, Portrait-Painter	M. Rubin	66
David Tushinsky, Master of Miniatures	E. E.	67
Shmuel Har-Shalom (Fridenberg)	M. Rubin	68
The Jews of Plotzk under the Nazi Regime	Dr. J. Kermish	70
The Privileges of the Jews in Plock [H]	Michael Shperling	74
Jews of Plotzk under the Nazi Terror	D. Dabrowska	76
Jews of Plotzk in Exile		76
Testimonies		77
A Reminder (“Regards”)	H. Elboim-Dorembus	78
Between Warsaw and Plotzk	Michael Zylberberg	78
I left the Ghetto	H. Mairanc-Meiri	79
I was a “Submarine” in a Nazi-Camp	M. Koenigsberg	79
A Revolt in Hell, Testimony The horrors and heroism in the camp of Treblinka	Marian Platkiewicz	79
Jewish Plotzk cannot be rebuilt	I. G. Bursztyn	82
I returned Home	I. G. Chanachowicz (Kent)	83
Post- War Activities in Plotzk		83
Jews of Plotzk in Israel		85
In Memoriam		86
History of the Plotzker Young Mens' Association in New York	H. Lipner	88
Shlomo Greenspan, In Memoriam	Bezalel Okolica	89
Plotzk Jews in the Argentine		90
Plotzk Jews in France	H. Zimmerman	90

Rabbis, Essays by Plotzk Rabbis
Plotzk Jews in various countries		91
Illustrations		92
Plock Hassidim and Nahum Sokolov [H]	Kurt Blumenfeld	130
Fragments of Memories [H]	I. Grinbaum	131
Memories of a pupil of the Russian Gymnasium [H]	Jakob Brozda	141
The value “Plock” in various encyclopedias [H]		145
A Jewish settlement from the 11th century is discovered [H]		145

The Community of Plock between two World Wars (1918–1938)
Community institutions, welfare, economy and neighborly relations [H]	(from Kalendarz–informator Mazowsza Plockiego	207
Plock (Warsaw District) – in “Almanac Gmin Zydowskich in Posce” 1939 [H]		208
The Jewish Hospital named after Yitzchak Fugel [H]	Shmueli (Plutzer)	209
"Ezrat Cholim" [H]		211
The Jewish Orphanage ("Ochronka") [H]	G. Puk	211
"Charity will save from death" (the image of a popular welfare activist) [H]	Halina Woitkowski Szlechter, source: Dina Berland	212
The association of artisans in Plock [H]	Jehoszua Zwirek	220
The yard of Altman on Szeroka street 10 [H]	Natan Lerman	223
Grunim (published in “Plocker wart”, 1936) [H]	Chaim Flaks	224

Education, Religious Life, Cultural Organizations, Personalities
Jubilee to the Jewish library in Plock [H]	E.E.	249
The “small Beth Midrash” of Plock [Y]	Israel Zylberberg	258
The arrival of a new rabbi to Plock [H]		259
The Victim [H]	Y. Warszawski	260

Political Parties, Youth Movements, Zionist Funds
The first Zionist fulfillment [H]	Elisza Jecheskeli (Czrnobroda)	297
The festivities of “L'g Baomer for the national fund [H]	M. Rubin	303
Summary of 10 years of “Poalei Zion” [H]	R. Lichtman	320
“Akiba” in Plock (“Divrei Akiba” 14.12.1933) [H]		345
From our own ideas (the ideological struggle for Zionism and Judaism) [H]	Meir Pagorek	346
Nathan Korzen – the painter [H]		370
He will not be forgotten [H]	Harry Koren (Korzen)	376
The exhibition of the works of F. Zylberberg [H]		378
With Fiszl Zylberberg (Zber) before his tragic death [H]	Itzchak Furmansky	380

Personalities, Public Figures
Lexicon of Personalities and Pubic Workers [H]		389
Nachum Sokolov (1860-1936) [H]		391
Itzhak Grinbaum [H]		393
Rabbis, dayanim (religious judges) and heads of yeshivot (religious colleges) [H]		395
The Lexicon of Biographies [H]		400

Destruction of the Plotzk Community
Letters of Plocker Jews from the towns of deportation [H]		506
Pages in the diary [Y]	Itzhak Tynski	526

Testimonies of Holocaust Survivors
The tortures in the Forced Labor Camp Amsee (near Poznan) [H]	Leib Geliebter	539
Plock in the chronicle of Ludwik Landau (1909-1944) a Jewish famous economist from Tomaszow Mazowiecki [H]		542
A Revolt in Hell, Testimony The horrors and heroism in the camp of Treblinka	Marian Platkiewicz	544
I was a mouth of hundreds of thousands murdered victims – (Sobibor trial) [H]	Moshe Bahir (Szklarek)	553
The testimony of Moshe Bahir (Szklarek) in the Eichman trial [H]		555
Nothing Remain… (a poem) [H]	Katriel (Kurt) Hazan	558
To the Jews of Poland (a poem translated from Polish to Hebrew by Zvi Yashiv) [H]	Wladyslaw Broniewski	559
Warszawa year 5601 (1941) [H]	Itzhak Bernsztein	560
Our Plocker landsleit in Ghetto Warsaw [H]	Michael Zylberberg	570
Escaped from the claws of death (Josef-Jorzek Fiszman – Makowski) [H]	Prof. Artur Ber	573
Yizkor – the Martyrs Names (necrology)		575

Post War Efforts of Rebuilding
Survivors of the fire [H]	Alfred Blei (30.10.1945)	606

The activities of the Plocker Survivors Committee
In liberated Plock – the remembrance assembly of March 3rd, 1946 [H]		608
Exhumation (21.10.1946) [H]		610
Summary of the Plocker Survivors Committee activities (1948) [H]	M. Tirman	611
The dedication ceremony of the memorial monument to Plock martyrs (built by architect Benjamin Arie Leib Perlmuter) [H]		612
Jewish Plotzk cannot be rebuilt [H]	I. G. Bursztyn	614
I returned Home [H]	I. G. Chanachowicz (Kent)	629

Associations of Plotzk Jews All Over the World
Jews of Plotzk in Israel		643
The first immigrants (“ olim ”) from Plock in Eretz Israel [H]	Eng. Mordechai Shoshani	648
Yaacov Tzidkoni (Rechtman) – a Folklore researcher and a collector [H]		651

In Memory of the Missing
Several details about the Plockers in Argentina [Y]		676
Last Letter from Menachem Banach, 30.3.1942 [Y]		677
Pictures from Yizkor Book

Original Coordinator's Notes
The English part is not a complete translation of the Yizkor book of Plock but rather a synopsis, summary, and should be treated as such. there are 684 pages in Hebrew and Yiddish but only 96 pages in English.
I have translated and added the titles and page numbers of articles which do not appear in the English summary. I added the code “H” if article is in Hebrew, or “Y” if in Yiddish.
I have also added the names of people who appear in the photographs to the captions in English which did not include these names.
I wish to thank the Plock Landsmanschaft who encouraged me and gave me and JewishGen the permission to post the Plock Yizkor book in the Internet.
It is my hope that this book will serve as commemoration to the Jewish ancient grand and holy community of Plock, exterminated by the Germans during the Holocaust.

Ada Holtzman z”l

Drawing by Yaacov Guterman

Yizkor Book Project JewishGen Home Page

Yizkor Book Director, Lance Ackerfeld
Emerita Yizkor Book Project Manager, Joyce Field
This web page created by Moshe M. Shavit

World Committee		Irgun Yotzey Plotzk
for the		Be-Israel
Ploth Memorial Book		(Plotzker Association in Israel)