Radomsko Poland Summer

184 images Created 5 Sep 2017

In 1827, there were 369 Jews in the town of Radomsko, in 1834, an independent Kehilla was officially established. Rabbi Salomon Ha-Kohen Rabinowicz founded his own Hassidic court in Radomsko in 1843. Radomsko became an important centre for the Hassidic movement. The Hassidic court in Radomsko was one of the three largest its kind in Polish territory In 1897, the town had 11,767 Jews, which accounted for 43% of the total population. A new synagogue was built in 1902. The Kehilla in Radomsko was perceived as wealthy. Local Jews owned factories, hotels and restaurants. In 1939, the Jewish community in Radomsko number around 10,000. Radomsko was occupied by the Germans on 3rd September 1939. Within a few days, the Jewish community became subjected to bloody repressions. During the so called “black Tuesday” (12th September 1939), German officers gathered approximately 1,000 men and harassed them, beating them severely and, in some cases, even to death. The Jewish district was closed on 20th December 1939 and one of the first ghettos in Poland was then established. The Germans build a gate and a placed a notice in front of it, stating that “Aryan” residents were prohibited from entering. About 18,000 Jews from the entire vicinity were gathered into the ghetto. Despite the threat of death, many left the ghetto in search of food. Sanitary and living conditions within the closed district were horrific. In January 1940, the Judenrat opened kitchens for the poor, which provided extra meals for the ghetto inhabitants. However, it did not eliminate poverty within the ghetto. Two typhus epidemics, in March 1940 and in January 1941, decimated the ghetto population. In the autumn of 1942, the majority of Jews were taken to the Nazi German extermination camp in Treblinka. On 6th January 1943, a transport of 4,500 Jews was taken to the Nazi German extermination camp in Treblinka[2.7].

Only about 200-300 members of the pre-War Jewish community in Radomsko survived. In 1947, the city had only three Jewish families, survivors of the Holocaust. See http://www.sztetl.org.pl/en/article/radomsko/5,history/?action=view&page=1
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