Pinkus Nowy-Dwor represents a heroic act of resistance. Survivors of the Holocaust who had escaped annihilation in Novy-Dvor bitterly mourned their loss of home, of family, and of history. They knew that “After World War II, only a single Jew remained in the town of Novy-Dvor, a faint image of a Jewry which once was great and bright, which for countless generations had lived in this place and which is no more…” They conjured the communal spirit of their great loss by tracing the outline of the town and its Jewish community in a written record which marshaled personal memory and historical research. They called this Pinkus book “a literary monument of the destroyed Novy-Dvor community and the thousands of its martyrs….” and they ” hope[d] that some day this entire book will be translated and published in English.”

That hope has now been completely realized. Sparked by the work of JewishGen and its facilitation of an online translation project, Joel Alpert has now shepherded a print publication of that translation to completion. The text provides a comprehensive historical review of the town's growth as a center of Jewish culture, including its 18 ^th Century role as a center for the printing of Hebrew books. Personal anecdotes punctuate the historical narrative detailing the evolution of personal freedom in the town including the stories of political parties, social associations, religious movements, and labor organizations which flourished in the town. The section entitled “Death and Resistance” chronicles the tragic events that the town suffered between 1939 until 1942 when the last Nowy-Dworer Jew was deported to Auschwitz. The work demonstrates the careful writing of scholarly historiography and the compelling power of personal memoir.

Located at 52°26' N Latitude, 20°43' E Longitude

Alternate names: Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki [Pol], Novi Dvor [Yid], Sde Chadash [Heb], Novy Dvor, Nowy Dwór, Nowydwór, Mazoviecki

Region: Warszawa

Zakroczym 4 miles W
Jabłonna 10 miles ESE
Nasielsk 11 miles NNE
Leszno 13 miles SSW
Nowe Miasto 15 miles NNW
Serock 16 miles ENE
Błonie 17 miles SSW
Warszawa 17 miles SE
Czerwińsk nad Wisłą 18 miles W