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Piotrkow Trybunalski
One can characterize the history of the Jewish settlement in Piotrków Trybunalski as turbulent. It is difficult to pinpoint just when Jews began to arrive in the city.
Tough beginnings
Piotrków obtained the privilege de non tolerandis Judaeis, the first mention of which dates from the 15th century. This ban forbade Jews from living and trading in the city. A succession of kings confirmed this privilege (Sigismund Augustus in 1569 and Michael Korybut Wiśniowiecki in 1673), though they allowed Jews to trade at regular fairs and weekly markets. Piotrków was so attractive to Jews that they got around the ban by getting the consent of landlords to settle close to the city, thus allowing them to travel to Piotrków on days when there were markets. They settled in Wielka Wieś and Podzamcze.
Photo: from the archives of Tomasz Wiśniewski
By the end of the 15th century, anti-Jewish sentiments grew to the point that Jews were accused of the ritual murder of Christian children, and subsequently expelled from their neighboring residences. They quickly returned to Wielka Wieś, just outside of Piotrków, and settled down. The Jewish population at that time remained a part of the Jewish community in Rozprza, where they both attended synagogue and buried their dead. Despite this, they nonetheless built a modest synagogue in Piotrków's Jewish district. On many occasions, Jewish delegations appealed to Polish kings (e.g. Sigismund Augustus) for the right to settle in the city and to rescind their restrictions on trade. Despite these appeals, the sejms (national parliaments) passed laws that were detrimental to the Jewish population
The Swedish invasion in the 17th century had tragic consequences for the Jews of Piotrków. In 1658, they were accused of supporting the Swedes; their possessions were confiscated and they were once again expelled from Wielka Wieś. Their buildings were destroyed, including their small wooden synagogue. The historical record indicates that fifty Jewish families were killed during the pogrom carried out by the army of hetman Stefan "Bełabatym" Czarniecki. During the Swedish Deluge Piotrków Trybunalski was seriously damaged. As trade was the primary source of income for the city at that time, in 1679 King Jan III Sobieski extended the privilege of Jarosławia. In so doing he permitted Jews to return to their previous settlements in the districts outside of Piotrków-Wielka Wieś and Podzamcze. He also granted them the right to trade in Piotrków, to establish a kosher butcher and to build a synagogue, ritual bath and a cemetery. This is how the Jewish City of Piotrków was created. This area was finally incorporated into the city in 1840. Until that time the Jewish districts were separated from Piotrków proper by a wall.
The Jewish Community of Piotrków was also officially established in 1679, while a wooden synagogue and cemetery were built ten years later. In the beginning the new community did not however hire a rabbi. For some time, the eminent Rabbi Meir Gec traveled to Piotrków. The first rabbi to live there permanently was Gec's replacement—Jankiel from Żarki.
From the beginning
the Jewish settlement in Piotrków was the scene of anti-Jewish incidents. The merchant and handicraft guilds rebelled against the privilege granting Jews the right to trade in the city and perform kosher slaughter of animals. The dispute with the city's butcher guild was carried on in the courts for a hundred year, and was never settled. This is also why there were various attacks carried out against the Jewish minority. Particularly serious incidents took place in 1679, 1740, and 1774. In 1740, during an attack on the Jewish district, students of the Jesuit and Piarist schools destroyed, among other things, the synagogue in which Jews were seeking refuge.
For some time after these events, a tribute ("Judaica") was extracted by force from the local Jews for the Piarist schools. Piotrków's burghers engaged in a ceaseless effort to limit Jews' rights to trade and settle in the area. Despite these attempts the privilege granted by Jan III Sobieski was confirmed by King Augustus II in 1716 and by King Augustus III in 1748. King Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski acted similarly, though he did erect certain barriers vis-à-vis Jewish trade.
The Jewish settlement, which at that time was quite numerous (in 1765, 1107 Jews lived in the city), was limited exclusively to the Jewish City of Piotrków. It did however fluctuate in size, a result the various disasters, fires, wars and epidemics that swept through the city.
During the Piotrków Fire of 1786, the wooden buildings on Żydowska Street burned down.
The cholera epidemic of 1852-1853 similarly ravaged the town. The fire of 1865 inflicted heavy damage in the Jewish district. Work on rebuilding the city was quickly begun. Important members of the city's Jewish community belonged to the committee overseeing the rebuilding process, including Rabbi Gejzer Morgenstern, Mosulem Horowicz, Motel Horowicz, Jakub Rozenberg and Salomon Winer.
Development of the industry
During the existence of the Duchy of Warsaw, the Jewish residents of Piotrków Trybunalski accounted for some forty-six percent of the city's population. At that time serious efforts were made to develop Piotrków’s economy and industry. Hersz Wolf Hamburgier and Chaim Działoski opened the first Jewish factory in 1815, in which they produced vinegar. With time other factories were also established: Wilhelm Jeromin's soap factory, C. Goldach's cleaning and cosmetics plant, M. Brauner's distillery, H. Bełchatowski's printing house, Albert Cohen's foundry and machine factory, N. Frumkina and M. Szlozberg's cloth mill and Berel Fajnkind's chain factory. The town’s economic growth really took off from the second half of the 19th century until 1914. During this period the Jewish population played an important role in Piotrków's development. In 1888 732 craftsman workshops operated in the city. In 1889 Józef Hersz Szuldberg and Tuwim Abraham Weitzman opened the Anna Glassworks, which was later known as the Hortensja Glassworks.
Printing and publishing houses
Piotrków Trybunalski was also at that time and important Jewish printing and publishing center in Poland. In 1850 Fajwel Bełchatowski and Chaim Frenkel opened the Jewish printing house that was known as Firma Bełchatowskich. It was located on Maryjski Square, which now called Rynek Trybunalski. The company was involved in printing, lithography, stereotype printing, warehousing writing materials and paper as well as building materials. It printed the weekly Die Pietrkower Sztyme, which was edited by Mojżesz Feinkind.
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In 1901 M. Cederbaum founded a printing house that produced materials for Jewish publishing houses; it was located at 8 Zamurowana Street. Abram Markus opened a similar printing house in 1908, which was located at what is now 2 Czarniecki Street. Jakub Moszek Rozensztajn also opened a printing house in 1911 located at 4 Trybunalski Square. During the interwar period, many Jewish magazines and newspapers destined for other Polish cities were printed in Piotrków Trybunalski, including dailies and weeklies destined for Łódź and other cities. Piotrkowem Weker, Wochn Najes, Judasze Arbiter Cajtung, Bełchatowem Weker, Ostrowcer Cajtung, Tomaszowem Cajtung, Włocławker Cajtung and Włocławker Trybune were among the more well known titles printed in Piotrków.
Cultural life
Piotrków's Jewish intelligentsia did not develop an interest in the cultural sphere, including theater and music, until the beginning of the 20th century, a shift linked to broader social and political changes. Theater productions and charity concerts were organized in the Hertz Hall (currently located on Garncarska Street) and the Span Theater by well-known Piotrków families such as the Landsbergs, Cohens, Hertzes and Pańskis. An amateur theater and music groups were soon founded. Well known cultural forces in Piotrków included Abram Krzak, Mosiek Łęczycki, Abram Lewkowicz and Markus Majer, among others. The Hazomir Literary and Musical Society was founded in 1909 and initially had one hundred members. Interest, however, quickly declined, and so did its sponsors, to the point that by 1913 the society closed its doors.
The Craftsmen's and Merchants' Association of Mutual Assistance was founded in 1901, and was a rather powerful economic group that sponsored a variety of cultural initiatives. The association funded Józef Grysiński's amateur theatre group and Wiktor Niwiński’s choir. The associations' dances and artistic gatherings were particularly popular. In addition professional musicians (e.g. A. Brandt and T. Mazurkiewicz), painters and journalists lived and worked in Piotrków.
Education
The so-called Little Synagogue was the first building that the historical record confirms as being officially used as a religious school in Piotrków Trybunalski. After the new synagogue was built, it ceased to be used for religious services. Before the school was opened, a scale was placed in the building that was available to everyone. Profits from the use of the scale were earmarked for the school’s needs. The Bejt ha-Midrash building was a two-story building. Lecture halls were located on the ground floor, while the Jewish community’s council room and the rabbinical court were located on the second floor. In 1931 the school building was decorated with polychromes painted by Perec Wilenberg, a student of Wojciech Gerson, that depict the Ten Commandments. Efforts to restore them were initiated in 1986 and were carried out by Jan Dobrzyński. He left the bullet holes, which are evidence of the executions of Jews that took place there during the war. Currently the building is used as a children’s library. At the beginning of the 20th century, religious education was very well developed in Piotrków. There were 36 such schools, including cheders, Talmud-Torahs, a Jesode-Hatora for boys and a Bejs-Jakov for girls. The Bund also built a Medea school where classes were taught in both Yiddish and Polish. Chaim Dajesz (aka Goldstien), Icchak Mizes, Pinchas Medel Halperin and Nuta Dajesz (aka Goldblum) were organizers of lay religious schools for Jewish children. In 1858 Gustaw Lewy opened the first Jewish elementary school in Piotrków. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were three elementary schools in Piotrków Trybunalski: one for boys and two for girls. During the interwar period three more were opened.
From 1920-1921 dr. Abram Lejpuner and Mojżesz Szereszewski built the Craftsman School.
Widespread literacy among the Jewish population led to the creation of libraries, which were organized by political parties as well as social and religious organizations, e.g. The Society for Promoting Education Among Jews, the Hazomir Society, Aguda, etc.
The interwar period
During the two decades of the interwar period, Piotrków's Jews began to renovate its district, building modern roads and installing sewers. A second post office was also built on Jerozolimska Street. The Jewish community operated religious schools (cheders, yeshivas and Talmud-Torahs), a Jewish hospital and the Chewra Kadisza—the Burial Society that looked after the cemetery and the ill. Jewish charitable societies were also found in the city, including the Jewish Charitable Society of Piotrków, the Linas Itacedok Association, Bajs Lechem and the Perec and Grosser Orphanage. Along with the growth of their civil liberties Piotrków's Jews developed an interest in politics. During the interwar period, social and political organizations such as the Workers of Zion, the Bund and Aguda were active. The oldest Jewish political party in Piotrków, founded in 1907, was the Bund Polish Workers Union, which had a well-organized youth movement—Cukunft (Yiddish for "the Future"). Cejrej-Syjon (later known as the Right Workers of Zion) was also active, so, too, were Zionist Organization, Mizrachi and the Union of Orthodox Jews—Agudas Hacztokim.
Jewish sports clubs and the scouting organization Haszomer Hacair (Hebrew for Young Guard) were also active.
Second World War
Before war broke out in 1939 about 11,000 Jews lived in Piotrków. Shortly after the German army entered the city on October 8, H. Drechsel created the first ghetto on Polish soil in Piotrków’s Jewish district. Around 25,000 people from the city and the surrounding area were imprisoned there. The borders of the ghetto were officially closed on December 11 1941. A Jewish Council was created on November 28, 1939 with Zelman Tenenberg as its chairman. The ghetto was run by an array of departments: general, finance, supply, technical, economic, social welfare, health, work, registration, housing, funeral, legal administration, commerce, crafts, post office, telephone and telegraph. In 1941 the Order Police [Ordnungspolizei or Policja Porządkowa] was created in the city. From December 1939 to October 1940 an Emigration Committee existed, which attempted to arrange departures from the ghetto and organize help from relatives who lived abroad who, for a short time, were able to reach the ghetto. A medical clinic was opened in the ghetto. Attempts were also made to develop, illegally, elementary and middle school education. Those who lived in the ghetto were sent to work camps in, for example, nearby Luciąża and Wolbórka. Jews were also forced to build barracks and to work in local glass factories and camps located near factories.
The liquidation of the ghetto in Piotrków began on the night of October 13 1944. By October 21 of that year, around 22,000 people had been sent to the death camps at Treblinka and Majdanek. Around the beginning of 1943 about 3,500 Jews remained in the ghetto. The Germans decided to execute this remaining group. Executions were carried out in the Jewish cemetery, the synagogue and outside the small town of Raków. By the end of 1944, only about 1,000 Jews remained, imprisoned in work camps. In the end they were sent to their deaths—in Buchenwald and Ravensbruck, too. Only few survived.
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