WE REMEMBER JEWISH GLOWACZOW!


The Memorial to the Community of Glowaczow in Hulon Cemetery, Israel. Annual remembrance assemblies are held annually around the feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot).

Alex Zylberman:

The Community of Glowaczow (Hebrew)

קהילת גלובאצ'וב - פולין 1600-1945

על-פי נתונים של מרשם התושבים שבוצעה ב- 30.10.1921 בעירה גלובצ'וב גרו 1411 יהודים מתוך 2271 תושבים, 62.6% מהתושבים היו יהודים. בשנת 1936 יהודים היוו 57% מהתושבים בגלובצ'וב (1395 יהודים מתוך 2440 איש).

לפני מלה"ע 2 חיו בעירה כ 600- משפחות יהודיות ( כ 2300- איש ) שהיוו מעל ל- 50% מסה"כ אוכלוסית העיירה. עיסוקם העיקרי של היהודים היה מיסחר ומלאכה.

במאה ה- 17 היגרו מליטא מהעיר מריאמפול - MARIAMPOL קבוצה ראשונה של יהודים על מנת להקים עירת נופש בשם גלובאצ'וב.

" אוניה לטבסקה" איחוד פולין עם ליטא ע"י נישואיו של ייגלו מלך ליטא, עם לודוויגה המלכה הפולנית. גלובאץ' אחד מבני האצולה הקים אחוזת נופש בשם לז'ניצה, לאחר מכן הכיר בפוטנציאל המקום והביא 50 משפחות של יהודים שיתיישבו במקום על מנת לפתח מסחר ומלאכה.

מיקום כ 10 ק"מ מנהר ויסלה על דרך ראשית בין קראקוב לורשה בין הנהרות רדומקה ( עבר קצת בתוך גלובאצ'וב ) לפליצה כ18- ק"מ צפונית לגלובאצ'וב.

שמות המשפחות:- שאיין , ווסרמן , זילברמן , רוטכליחס, נוימן, זלצמן, זינגר, פרנקל, רוטבאום, דורפמן...

Family Names: Szein, Wasserman, Zilberman, Rotchliches, Noyman, Zalcman, Zinger, Frenkel, Rotbaum, Dorfman...

יהודים התחלקו בין חסידים לבין מתנגדים (מסנגדים).רוב יהודי קהילת גלובאצ'וב היתה שייכת לזרם ה-מתנגדים.

מבנה הקהילה

ראש הקהל -צוקרמן לאיביש (לאחר-מכן היה ראש היודנראט) על ידו ראש הקהילה רב מאיר בן רבי יצחק זלוטניק מגוסטינין ליד ורשה (הוא היה ציוני). ו12- עוזרים מפקחים - DOZER וועד הקהילה.

חיי הקהילה היו מפותחים מאוד, לרשותם עמדו:

-"קופת גמילות חסידים".

-"חברת קדישא".

-"בית-מידרש".

-"תלמוד תורה", שם לימדו את מיעוטי היכולת. שלא יכלו לשלם לרבי.

-" בית-כּנסת" או בין 5 ל6- מקומות תפילה - SZTIBLAH שבהם ספר תורה.

-"מיקווה" - " שחיטה כּשרה" - "שמש".

איצ'ה (יצחק ) הולסקנר היה יושב ראש אגודת ישראל בגלובאצ'וב.

הנוער בגלובאצ'וב:

-"הליגה לתרבות"- למחצית מהנוער היו נטיות סוציאליסטיות והם הקימו את "הליגה לתרבות" שהיתה בעצם ליגה קומוניסטית, הם החזיקו ספריה ענפה וקבוצת תאטרון שהציגה באיזור, המנהיג והמורה שלהם, צימרמן יהודי לא מגלובאצ'וב , הם הקימו גם את "האיגוד המקצועי".

- "ההסתרות הציונית" שכללה את:-

הרויזיוניסטים.
ציונים כללים.
החלוץ המרכזי.

ב1920- קמה התאחדות בעלי המלאכה אף הם הקימו חוג דרמטי שהצליח באיזור. הקהילה תמכה בעניים ודאגה שרעבים לא יהיו על ידי "מתן בסתר", היה ידוע לתושבי האיזור מיעוטי יכולת שבשבתות וחגים אפשר להגיע לעיירה ולקבל שם אוכל ולינה.

ילדים מגיל 3 היו הולכים ללמוד "בחדר" אצל מלמד מוטלה אח"כ עברו למלמד שמליחם ואח"כ לקורק . כך עד גיל 7 ואז הלכו לבית-ספר יסודי יחד עם הפולנים. היו בו 7 כיתות 1 עד 4 = יסודי, 5 עד 7 = חטיבת ביניים, מי שרצה להמשיך ללמוד היה צריך לנסוע לעיר, היו מעטים כאלו.

משפחת וסרמן היו מנגנים בכליזמרים.

שרותי הבריאות:

היה "פלצ'ר" מקומי (כמעט רופא) ושיינדלה יהודיה מיילדת לייב בעלה והיה בית-מרקחת גדול.

מסחר:

היתה צרכניה פולניה אגודת צרכנית תחת השפעה של הכנסיה אבל יהודים היו קונים במכולות קטנות שהיו זולות יותר. בימי שלישי כּל שבוע היה שוק, פּרט לחגים פולניים ויהודיים.

לשוק היו באים סוחרים מערים ועיירות: ראדום, זבולנייה וקוז'יניץ.Radomia ,Zwolenia i Kozienic . .יתרון במיקומה של גלובאצ'וב הוא זה שאפשר את המיסחר.

היחסים בין פולנים ליהודים:

לפני המלחמה החלוקה במועצת העיר היתה שווה,6 פולנים ו6- יהודים (-2סוחרים -1מטעם הרב ) כשפולנים N.D -פולנים לאומנים נציונל דמוקרטים הטילו את החרם הגדול "בויקוט" על חנויות של יהודים בגלובאצ'וב לא קוימו אותו.

1939

חלק מהעיירה נשרף, צד זה שימש את הגרמנים כמחנה אמונים. בקרבות שהתנהלו בין רוסים לגרמנים נשרף שאר העיירה. מצפון לראדום הקימו הגרמנים איזור לאימון הצבא, איזור זה כלל גם את גלובאצ'וב.

1940

החל מהאביב החלו הגרמנים בפינוי איזור גלובאצ'וב. לתושבים הפולנים ניתנה יד-חופשית בבחירת מקום מגורם החדש אך היהודים הועברו לגיטו מריאמפול הנמצא ליד כפר ישניץ'Jasieniec על אדמותיו הלא פוריות ובקירבת מקום לכפר מריאמפול - Mariampol.

באוקטובר 1941 היהודים הועברו לגטו מריאמופול - MARIANKI הגרמנים ריכזו בו יהודים מגלובאצ'וב וממקומות אחרים בסביבה, ניתן היה להעביר רכוש במשך חודשיים מגלבאצ'וב לגטו, אף פירקו חלקי בתים והרכיבו בגיטו, את הבתים נאלצו לאלתר מארגזים, קופסאות, וחלקי צריפים ה"בתים" הללו איכלסו משפחות ברוכות ילדים ולא אפשרו אף תנאים מינימליים הדרושים למגורים. באמצע הגטו היה באר מים, מאפיה, מכולת, גרברניה -מפעל לעורות,

אך מצרכים לא היו מובאים לגיטו ע"פ פקודה, אלא מוברחים ומי שנתפס בהברחתם דמו בראשו. התנאים הסניטרים היו ירודים וחוסר מצרכים בסיסים הביאו להתפשטות מחלות. ילדים היו מבריחים מצרכים לתוך הגטו.

ליד הגיטו היהודי גרו פולנים הם הקימו שם תחנת משטרה, כנסיה, בית-מרקחת וצרכניה. בין החלק הפולני ליהודי הפרידה תעלה ואסור היה לחצותה, לא ליהודים ולא לפולנים. ובכלל הגיטו היה סגור וכניסה ויציאה ממנו ללא אישור מיוחד היו אסורים. יהודי שניתפס מחוץ לגיטו היה מוחזר לתוכו, לא לפני שהוכה נמרצות ע"י ז'נדרמריה ובשלבים מאוחרים יותר הוצא להורג.

עם הגיעם הוקם ה"יודנראט" שייצג אותם לפני השילטונות הגרמנים. בראש היודנראט עמד לייב צוקרמן. על מנת לשמור על הסדר הוקמה משטרה יהודית ובראשה עמד מאיר רוזן. מדי פעם היו מגיעים מהגסטפו והז'נדרמריה ודורשים מצוקרמן כופר של זהב, כסף ותכשיטים. באחד הפעמים הופיע צוקרמן כשהוא לא מגולח הגרמנים היכו אותו במקלות והורו לו לחזור מגולח תוך 5 דקות. ה"ביקורים" הללו נמשכו עד לחיסול הגיטו ב- 1942 .

בסביבה פעלו שתי יחידות ז'נדרמריה: גרבוב GRABOW , וקוזיניץ KOZENICE מהגטו הוצא רוב הנוער מגיל 16 עד 50 גם נשים, הם הועברו למחנה עבודה בקרושיני שם הועבדו בבנית מגורי משתפי הפעולה האוקראינים צבא וולאסוו Wlasow ולאחר שסיימו להכינם הוצאו להורג חצי מהם וחצי הועבר לשידלוביץ' אחת מארבעת "ערי המיקלט" שהגרמנים הכריזו שהם פותחים ב1943- ע"מ לרכז את היהודים לפני העברתם למחנות השמדה.

לפני חיסול גיטו מריאמפול חוסלו הגטאות בישובים קטנים יותר: מגנושביה ומינשביהMagnuszewie I Mniszewie . מהגטאות הללו ברחו מספר משפחות עם ילדים לגטו מריאמפול, לגרמנים נודע על-כך והם באו לגיטו מריאמפול קראו לצוקרמן ולרוזן והורו להם להסגיר את המשפחות. הנ"ל באיום של שריפת הגיטו על יושביו. את הילדים הצליחו להסתיר אצל משפחות יהודיות בגיטו ו- 18 מבוגרים נאלצו להסגיר, הגרמנים לקחו אותם למקום בשם קוּקבקה Kukawka שם ירו בהם, פולנים שעברו במקום הוכרחו לקבור אותם.

ב 10 באוגוסט 1942 הגרמנים חיסלו את גטו מריאמופול היהודים מהגטו הובלו לקוזיאניצה, הם הועברו בעגלות, יהודים שניסו לברוח בדרך נורו, בחור אחד בשם ליזר סטרוביצ'ק הצליח לברוח מספר ימים לפני חיסול הגיטו, באותה צורה ברח מאיר רוזן מספר ימים לפני חיסול גיטו קוזאניצה, מקוזאניצה ב-ג' בסוכות תשי"ג הובלו היהודים למחנה ההשמדה טרבלינקה.

זוועות נוספות נודעו...

בכפר צצילנסקה-גלובאצ'ובסקה - Glowaczowska Cecylowka- ניתקל יום אחד מפקד תחנת המשטרה של מריאמפול, סטניסלב ליפצקי, ביהודי בשם מוטל ללא כל סיבה הוא שיסע במוטל את כלבו עד שהיהודי איבד את ההכרה ואז ירה בו מפקד תחנת המישטרה בראשו והרגו.

בכפר אמילוב - בחורף 1943-1944 לאחר חיסול גיטו מריאמפול הסתתרו מספר סנדלרים וחייטים יהודים הם עברו מבית לבית וביצעו עבודות שונות בתמורתם קיבלו אוכל, תושבי הכפר לא הסגירו אותם. באביב 1944 הם עברו ליער ליד כפר מיכאוּב -ובנו שם מיקלט במשך היום הם הסתתרו בערב הם יצאו להשיג אוכל, בקיץ 1944 גילו אותם יחידות ז'נדרמריה הם רצחו אותם והמיקלט היה לקברם.

מתוך קהילת יהודי גלובאצ'וב נשארו אחרי המילחמה כּ- 80 איש. מגלובוצ'וב היגרו לפני המלחמה כמה משפחות לארץ ישראל ממשפחות: זלצמן, הירש, זינגר קופל , זינגר מוטאל... כ10- בני גלובאצוב חיים היום בארה"ב וקנדה. כ17- מבני גלובצ'וב גרים כיום בישראל.

משפחת זילברמן

היתה בין המשפחות הגדולות בני שבט זילברמן, זילברמן ולולה זאב היה אחד מ12- העזרים של ראש הקהילה.

ראש המשפחה זילברמן ולולה אשתו ____________________להם 5 ילדים:
חיים אברהם

הרשלה
ניסן בת רחל-לאה בעלה מקוזיניץ חזר מטרבלינקה
מאלה בת ריזלה היפה נפטרה ממחלה עוד לפני המלחמה.
-
עבדה אצל פיוונסקי פולני מכר סגריות, משקאות, בולים.
מאיר אשתו הניה.

למאיר זילברמן היה מפעל לעורות בשותפות עם אדם בשם מאיר ארליכמן (מפעל היה בקצה העיירה על שטח ששייך לאדם בשם לוכסמבורג).

למאיר זילברמן היה כינוי מאיר בורדה-מאיר עם הזקן -משום שהיה לו זקן ג'ינג'י ארוך ומטופח.

למאיר זילברמן היו 4 ילדים:
רוחלה - התחתנה עם פרשט היו לכם 4 ילדים.
חווה - התחתנה עם דוד בירנבאום.
יעקב (ינקלה) - אשתופולה פרשט ילדה הניה.
(היה סנדלר).
נחמן - התחתן עם פלה גולד מורשה ולהם 5 ילדים.

The File in Word (Hebrew)

 


The Judenrat: (from right to left) Lajbusz Cukerman (the Chairman), Mosze Kozlowski (a member), Chaim Zilberman (a guest from Warsaw, sitted), Nachman Chancinski (a member), Lajzer Strowjeszczik (a member), Awisz Zilberman (a member), Chakale (an activist).

Joseph Ribo-Rotbaum

Son of Rikle and Israel (Srul) Rotbaum of Glowaczow

GLOWACZOW

To the best of my knowledge, I am the youngest Holocaust survivor from Glowaczow and probably one of the last ones to be in Glowaczow during the war years.

I was 7 1/2 years old when the 2nd World War broke out, therelore7 I do not remember much. I could not know much about the Jewish Community of Glowaczow, however there are still some very vivid pictures of the town and some Jewish characters that I remember quite well. These reminiscences I want to share with the few Glowaczowers who are still alive and their descendants.

Two of the strongest memories that come recurring very often are the Fridays, Saturdays and Tuesdays - the day of the market!

Friday was bustling with preparations for Sabbath. Women rushing to do last minute shopping. Fathers with their young sons walking towards the Mikve for the weekly cleansing before Sabbath. In the early afternoon, the rush of youngsters carrying large pots of tchulant to the local bakery.

The local "water carrier", with a pair of buckets hanging on the yoke fitted over his stooping shoulders, pacing in a hurry to manage one additional round of water supply before the incoming Sabbath. Only the well to do could allow themselves to have water brought to their homes by the "water carrier". As far as I know, there weren't so many of them in Glowaczow!

Friday was also the day when we the children polished our shoes and dressed in our best clothes ready to receive the Sabbath. Finally, the procession of whole families towards the main Synagogue for Friday night prayers!

We lived on the Ul. Dluga, the first house next to the Synagogue and we had a good view of the procession of people going for the Friday night and Sabbath prayers. First came a trickle of early goers, usually in single file. Then came whole families with the grandfather, father and the children. Some with the Talith already around their shoulders. In most cases the youngsters carried the Talith bags for their elders. There was an air of elation, of sanctity in the Shtetl of Glowaczow!

Tuesday, the market day, however, was a completely different sort of experience! The influx of villagers with cartloads of agricultural products for sale in the market brought activity and commotion into Glowaczow.

From the very early morning hours the town already bustled with activity. People "stormed" the town from every direction, mainly villagers. Some on foot carrying packs over their shoulders, others riding on horse - pulled carts. The carts were loaded with agricultural produce for sale in the market. The commotion in the market place was tremendous. The villagers exhibited their produce, usually on the ground, while the locals, mainly Jews, sold all kinds of haberdashery imaginable.

The animal market was in the outskirts of the town. One day I was a witness to how my father purchased a horse. After checking the horse's teeth, inspecting the hooves and circling around the horse half a dozen times he decided to test the horse's strength, too. Father had the horse harnessed to a 4 wheel cart, took 4 hefty Polish farmers and all of us drove out of the town to a place where the ground was muddy! There, each of the 4 farmers held on to a wheel to stop the horse from pulling the cart out of the mud. I do not know whether the horse was really strong or the 4 farmers did not exert themselves too much, but the horse had the upper hand and father bought it! The farmers were compensated with 2 bottles of vodka and went their way, muddy but happy!

Winter is another childhood memory of mine! I loved to play in the snow, and there was plenty of that, to throw snowballs and, especially, to build snowman! There was also skating on the frozen fishponds on the other side of the stream running between the Mikve and the fishponds. Very few could allow themselves real skates! Most of the kids skated on the back of their shoe heels. Those who had iron brackets on their shoe heels were considered lucky!

Another vivid memory is one about my Melamed in the Chedder. His name was Haim Yosel or Yosele. He was also the Shamash of the Synagogue and lived, with his family, in a dilapidated shack, in the backyard of the Synagogue. The Chedder was in their living room. One day in early 1940, while my father was still a prisoner of war and the economic situation at home was very bad, I was strolling aimlessly, with a friend, along the streets of Glowaczow. As we were passing near the Headquarters of the German Army, a soldier ordered us, together with about 6-8 other youngsters, into the courtyard of the H. Q. There we were ordered to unload 2 trucks full of bread loaves and other food products. When we finished we were all given a bowl of soup and a slice of bread. Some of the boys didn't touch the soup as it was not kosher. The others, including myself, gulped down the soup and could have done with more... Someone must have informed the Melamed what I did, because, when I came into the Chedder the next morning, Yosalle was nervously playing with his baitch. I immediately smelled the trouble, however, before I managed to reach my usual place around the table, I felt the leather strips of the Baitch all over my body! I managed to run out crying loudly. That was the last time I visited a Chedder.

I remember very clearly the devastation and the systematic dismantling of the Jewish homes in Glowaczow. Not long after the occupation by the German forces, the Jews were evicted from their homes in one part of the town and concentrated in other parts or in other towns in the vicinity. In the second stage they were forced to move into a ghetto near the town of Mariampol. Within days after the eviction of the Jews from their homes, their Polish neighbours started dismantling the houses. First the shutters disappeared, then the windows, the doors, then the wooden floor planks! By 1942 only the skeletons of the houses were left. The same was true of the Synagogue and the other Jewish property.

I visited Glowaczow a few times after the liquidation of the Ghetto in Kozenice. It so happened that on the liquidation day I was not in the Ghetto and missed the deportation to Treblinka by a few hours! Till mid-summer of 1943 I stayed in the villages of Ursynow and Cecylowka and from time to time I ventured into Glowaczow. I always passed in the vicinity of our house, taking precautions not to be recognized by the Polish neighbors. By that time our house, the Synagogue and most of the other Jewish houses were already in ruins

During most of my trips to Glowaczow I stayed overnight with a Polish family named Ogonowski who lived in our neighbourhood I was always received warmly by this family, given some food, a place and a blanket to sleep overnight.

I met his daughter, Janina Tarczynski during my visit to Glowaczow in 1989. She remembered me! Actually I was referred to her by Hanka Bienstock who met her in Glowaczow a few years earlier. She had inquired if Hanka knew what happened with the little boy who came to their home a few times during the war!

One day I was told by someone that Jews hiding in the vicinity of Glowaczow came at night to buy bread at the bakery of the Scisto family near Mariampol. Without any hesitation, I set out in the general direction of the bakery. I arrived at dusk and noticed people sneaking into the bakery- single or in pairs. I followed one of the men into the bakery. Inside there were already 6 young men. Some of them I knew from Glowaczow. One of them told me that an uncle of miand a cousin are in the Kruszin camp andof them usually comes, on week ends to buy bread.

I stayed overnight at the bakery together with about 15 other Jews who arrived during the night. I returned to the bakery next Saturday and true enough, I met my cousin Moshe, the son of my mother's brother, Berl Dorfman. Both of us were excited and happy to see each other alive. We discussed my situation and came to the conclusion that I should join him and my uncle the husband of my mother's sister Sara, in Kruszin camp. Moshe said that he would prepare the ground at Kruszin together with my uncle and that hor my uncle will come the next weekend to pick me up.

A week later I returned, full of expectations for what the future holds in stock for me! I brought with me a small bundle with my few belongings and some food products, which I collected, in Ursynow. I waited during the night of Friday, the whole day of Saturday, alas, neither Moshe nor my uncle, or anyone else from Kruszin camp showed up. That was very unusual and every one present speculated what the reason might be!

A few days later I found out that many of the Jews in Kruszin were shot by the Germans, most of them from Glowaczow. I have not heard any more from Moshe or my uncle. Disappointed and frightened, I went back to Ursynow, passing Glowaczow on the way for the last time during the war.


Joseph Ribo (Rotbaum) prays KADDISH (with wife and daughter) in Treblinka Extermination Camp where the holy community of Glowaczow was murdered.

PINKAS HAKEHILOT, VOL VII: Districts Lublin Kielce, (editor Abraham Wein), Jerusalem 1999, 635 pages, Hebrew, ISBN 965-308-070-9

 GLOWACZOW
Kosienice District, Kielce Province, Poland
pages 120-121
Translated by Ada Holtzman

Year

Population

Jews

1827

955

388

1857

921

353

1897

-

1109

1921

-

1411

Glowaczow was established in 1445 by the privilege granted by the Boloslaw, the Prince of Mazovia. It hosted market gatherings and 3 annual fairs. In the 18th century the textile craftsmanship developed and coats and clothing workshops were erected. In the year of 1869 G. lost its urban status and became a rural settlement.

The first Jews settled in G. in the middle of the 16th century. In 1578 few Jews lived there who got permission to acquire houses and deal in craftsmanship and commerce. During many years the small Jewish settlement remained in the place and kept its small size. Only by the end of the 19th century the number of the Jews grew and they became 3 times larger and was the majority in G.

Between the two world wars the Jews lived of small commerce and craftsmanship. There was Zionist activity. In the elections held to the 14th Zionist Congress (in 1925), the party "Et Livnot" ("Time to Build") received 59 votes out of total of 69; "Al Hamishmar" received 10 votes. In 1930, 100 "shekels" were sold in G. towards the Zionist Congress, and in April same year, a local gathering was held with participation of 30 Zionists. In the 30s the support in Zionism decreased as result of the pauperization of the community. In 1931, there remained only 20 persons eligible for voting to the 17th Zionist Congress.

In May 1936 a giant fire broke out and destroyed many of the houses of the town. 35 Jewish families remained roofless. The heads of the community appealed to the communities of Radom and Kozienice asking for help.

In September 1939, when G. was conquered by the Germans, the Jews were mobilized to forced work in the surrounding villages. By the beginning of 1940 some of them were joined to the work groups which the Germans made in Kozienice. No Ghetto was founded in G. and for some time the Germans let the Jews lead their lives. By the end of August or beginning of September 1942 the Jews of G. and the surrounding villages were deported to Kozienice and by the end of September 1942 they were deported from there to Treblinka.

Sources:

  1. Yad Vashem Archive 016/2296
  2. The Central Zionist Archive in Jerusalem Z4/215-29,3569IV
  3. "Heint" 4.5.1936' 24.4.1930

"The Boys", Sir Martin Gilbert, Phoenix, UK 1996
Material is published with special permission of the author, Sir Martin Gilbert. Book is available at Amazon.com

Moniek Goldberg

pages 30-32

...Moniek Goldberg was born in the small town of Glowaczow on 5 May 1928. His father manufactured shirts and underwear, travelling from town to town to sell their goods. 'My parents worked very hard', he recalled. 'They went to the markets in neighbouring towns. So, it was Monday in one town, Tuesday the market was in Glowaczow, then Wednesday and Thursday out of town. They left early when it was still dark and returned home late, past dark. It was especially hard for them in winter. I remember my sister and I used to get into their beds to warm them for their return home. To run our house my cousin Esther was there ever since I can remember, until just before the war when she got married.

I don't remember when I started cheder but I must have been very young as in Cheder I was always ahead of boys of my age. At age seven I started secular school and to this day I remember the names from the roster listed before my name. We must have been about forty children. From the Jewish children in my class I am the only one who survived. The routine was as follows: I got up, washed, recited prayers, ate breakfast and went to school from 8 a.m. until noon. From school I went directly to cheder where Esther was waiting for me to make certain that I ate lunch. I didn't get home until about five in the evening.

There was very little anti-Semitism. Actually, as a young boy, I experienced none. I played with boys both Jewish and Gentile whose fathers had played with my father. To the best of my recollection the teachers in the school were fair'.

When Moniek Goldberg was nine years old his parents moved to the nearby town of Kozienice, where 'for the first time I came face to face with anti-Semitism.There were fights in school. Every day I had to go home the long way round so as to walk with Jewish boys for safety's sake. The teachers were blatantly unfair. A Jew had to be excellent just to get a passing grade. After a fight, the Jewish boys would always end up getting punished. For a boy of nine years who had never experienced such treatment it was very hard to take. My parents also started talking about the dangers of going to the markets. There had been a pogrom in Przytyk (1936).

'"Don't buy from the Jews" became a national slogan being openly preached in the churches. The "picketniks" would stand in front of Jewish stalls and harange the Polesnot to patronise them. It was not unusual for Polish hooligans to break windows or turn over Jewish stalls in the markets, knowing that we had no legal redress. So, my parents, as indeed all Jews, lived with grave forebodings about the future. Life had to go on. There was really no way out for them. Looking at it now, as a man sixty-seven years of age, I see that they had very few options and had to make the best of it. And so life went on.'

Moniek Goldberg joined the Kozienice yeshiva. His older sister was considering going to Palestine, and was worried whether their parents would let her go. Every Friday evening, life was transformed by the coming of the Sabbath. 'After the candles were lit, everything seemed to slow down. When we walked to synagogue for services, the best way that I can describe my father is that he walked like an aristocrat, somehow taller and straighter. I can still see my mother's face when I made Kiddush for myself the first time. After we ate, we sang zemirot. There are from Kozienice who remind me now that they used to sit on our porch and listen to ussing.'

Reflecting on those pre-war days, Moniek Goldberg wrote: "That world is gone. Of my father's nine brothers and sisters, only one sister survived, in Russia, and lived to reach Israel, where she passed away in 1978. Of m mother's family - she had three brothers and five sisters - only one brother survived, as he emigrated to Canada in 1912. I had eightytwo cousins that I knew, and can recall by name. Only five of us survived - not counting four in Canada.'

pages 153-154

...Every boy recalls at least one episode when he came close to death. This happened to Moniek Goldberg on the day before Christmas 1943. An Ethnic German Volksdeutsche in the camp - 'he must have been drunk - for no reason whatsoever began beating me with a rubber hose. I had been beaten before but time I rea. First, I tried to avoid the blows - to no avail. So, I turned around and swung my pail at him, hit his head, and split it open. The supervisor called the guards and they took me to the main gate. I was made to do exercises for hours. The Ukranians had their amusement.

Every workplace had a German director. When the director for the generating plant was informed, he came to the guardhouse and struck me across the face with a riding crop. He told me that I was to be hanged as a punishment. As it happened, when one of the cooks heard about my altercation she got in touch with the German lady who was in charge of the kitchen. She was an old lady who walked with a cane. Once the director had declared my sentence she approached him and protested. She said that I belonged to her. Hinthe kitchen so often she must have believed this to be the case. She went on to saythat I could be punished . She must have been well connected to the main director, Brandt, because she won the tussle. I was given twenty-five lashes and lived to tell the story. In retrospect, it was a foolish act taken by an impetuous young boy. I had forfeitand was saved by a most important fluke'.

To this day, Moniek Goldberg is indidnant about the attitude of the Polish civilians who were also being employed by the Germans at labour tasks. 'At Pionki,' he has written 'we did not get a lot to eat and I had no money. We worked together with the Poles. During the lunch break we would go up to the dining hall, where the Polish workers got soup and bread, to wait to collect their leavings. By far the vast majority would spit, put cigarette ashes, salt or anything else they could think of to make their leavings inedible. These were Polish workers.'

Recalling these ugly moments led Moniek Goldberg a wider reflection on the part played by Poles in the Jewish fate. This is subject on which the boys are often angered, and even in dispute with each other. Ben Helfgott is among those who have worked hard since the war for recognition of the Polish contribution in helping Jews. In 1994 he was awarded a Polish order of chivalry, the Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit, for his part in seeking to enhance Polish-Jewish relations. But Moniek Goldberg also remembers the other side of the coin. 'In the town where I was born, Glowaczow,' he wrote , 'there was a family called Rosen who had five sons and one daughter. One son married into a family names Starowieszczyk who decided to hide themselves into a bunker in the forest. They made a deal with a Pole whom they trusted to supply them with food, etc. He was to betray them.

The entire Rosen family did not manage to get to the village where the bunker was. Mrs. Rosen and her daughter and two sons were stranded in the Kozienice ghetto. Mother and daughter were sent to Skarzyski-Kamienna and the sons to Starachowice. In the summer of 1943 the bunker was surrounded and torched by the local Poles with the people inside burned alive, except for the Rosens' son who managed to run out. They chased him, caught him, and locked him up to await the arrival of the SS. He committed suicide. Mrs. Rosen, her daughter and two sons survived the war. Afterwards, Moishe Rosen, who was about three years older than me, went back to Poland to see what had become of his family. He was murdered on a train in Poland. These atrocities were committed by Poles and the number of incidents of this nature can by multiplied by the thousand.'

"The Boys", Sir Martin Gilbert, Phoenix, UK 1996
Material is published with special permission of the author, Sir Martin Gilbert. Book is available at Amazon.com

Joseph Ribo (Yosek Rotbaum)

pages 46-47

GERMAN FORCES ATTACKED Poland before dawn on Friday, 1 September 1939. They crossed the Polish border at many different points in the north, west and south, rapidly advancing deep into Polish territory. In the air, German fighters and bombers struck at Polish troop concentrations and military' installations across Poland. Thirty-five million Polish citizens, of whom three and a half million were Jews, watched with helpless trepidation as the strongest mechanized army in Europe breached the border and overran the Polish defenses.

Each boy has his own recollections of the day when, as a youngster, he saw the whole focus and pattern of life overturned, as German forces swept through Poland on land and in the sky. 'It was a beautiful morning that day.' Joseph Ribo recalled of the tiny village of Cecylowka, 'with clear blue skies dotted with occasional white clouds. There was water in the ditch on the roadside after a night's rain, and I, together with a few other six- to seven-year-old Polish boys and girls, was wading in it. Suddenly a high-pitched whistle cut the quiet air of the village. The villagers, those who were not in the field tending their crops, came running to the road to inquire what the commotion is all about.

'The whistle was becoming louder as it came nearer to us, and sounded urgent. After every two to three whistles, there was some announcement. Soon we recognized a policeman walking alongside his bicycle. The policeman was going from one village to another announcing that the war had broken out and that every able-bodied man must report immediately to the Brzoza police station, about six kilometers away, and register for military service.

"The policeman was a stocky and a heavily built man with a big moustache, flushed red cheeks and sweat running down his forehead. He acted very excitedly and looked disarrayed with his three-cornered stuck on the back of his head. He looked a pitiful figure.'

pages 110-111

The Days of Deportation.

Yosek Rotbaum had been expelled with his family from the village Glowaczow to the town and ghetto of Kozienice. There, in conditions of considerable overcrowding and hunger, his father Israel had managed on a number of occasions to leave the ghetto at night and barter food from the villagers around, fruit farmers with whom he had been on good terms before the war. On several such dangerous journeys young son Yosek accompanied him. One night, while they were away collecting food, the ghetto was surrounded. Not knowing this, Israel Rotbaum returned to the ghetto, leaving Yosek overnight with a friendly villager, in whose barn, after a welcome meal, the young man fell asleep. Fifty years later Yosek (now Joseph Ribo) recalled the events of the following morning. 'After walking a couple of hours,' he wrote, 'I noticed people - mainly villagers - walking away from Kozienice, talking excitedly. That looked to me unusual, because at these early hours, people were going into town and not out of it. This immediately put on the alert. I hid the rucksack I was carrying underneath some shrubs.

'One of the people walking away from the town was a farmer from the village of Ursynow, whom I knew. When he noticed me. He came over, pulled me down behind some shrubs and told me not to go into town. He said the ghetto was surrounded by the SS and Ukrainian guards andthat all the Jews were being evacuated. I heard what the man said, but I didn't grasp the meanof itfsome time. I knew that what he said was very bad. I sat behind the shrubs for quite long time, not knowing what to do. At some stage I wanted to cry, but the tears wouldn't come. After some time I decided that I must go into town and see what was happening in the ghetto.

'I tried to compose myself, to arrange my clothes and straighten my hair. I left my hat behind in order to expose my blond hair, which, together with my blue eyes, made me look like a gentile. At this stage there was an influx of Poles into the town from all directions. They wanted to see the spectacle of expelling the Jews from the ghetto for themselves. That suited me fine, because it enabled me to intermingle with the crowd and be as inconspicuous as possible.

'The crowds moved athe ghetto walltrying to glimpse into the ghetto streets through cracks and crevices in the wooden planks, which closed the ghetto streets. The crowds were driven away by the Ukrainian guards, but would return moments later. I, of course, was very anxious to look into the ghetto. I knew the places where the cracks between the wooden planks were bigger, and ran to peep in through them, whenever possible. I saw carts driven by horses laden with bundles and suitcases, saw some small groups of Jews being ordered by SS soldiers to hurry up, to move faster, to load the carts. After the deportation, the Germans had left behind a group of inmates, together with the Jewish policemen, to search the houses and collect anything that looked of any value. These "goods" were hauled on to carts adriveaway as ordered by the Germans.

I noticed the crowd was moving in the direction of the train station and I followed suit. When I reached the station, there was a large crows already there, being kept away at a distance by great number of German and Ukrainian guards. I managed to squeeze myself into the crowd. At a distance of about fifty meters from the train, I could see Jews still being pushed into the last two or three wagons. The noise at the station was terrifying. There were screams and shouts from inside the wagons, orders and curses from the SS men, and frighten barking by the dogs. I remember the screeching of the wagon doors and the metallic crack as the doors locked. These noises accompanied me for many years to come.

'Suddenly I got very frightened. Not of the Germans, but from the sudden realization that I wouldn't see my parents and brethren any more and that I was all alone. Where would I stay? Who would look after me? At that I wanted to run to the train and try to find out and join my family. But the doors of the wagons were already closed and there were hundreds of Germans and Ukrainians and those fierce-looking dogs.

'As I was contemplating what to do, a Polish youngster, standing a few meters from me, pointed at me and shouted. "Jew. He is a Jew". Instinctively I ran up to him, gave him a push and shouted back: "You are a Jew, you should be on the train". People in the crowd hushed us up and separated us. I was glad to have been shoved away from that youngster, and started to walk back to Kozienice. On the way back to town it dawned on me that I might never see my family again and tears were running down my cheeks.'

 

Rabbi Meir Zlotnik - HaY"D

The Rabbi of Glowaczow. Meir Zlotnik, was born in Wyszogrod 1863, and became the rabbi in the estate of Blass, known as "The Jewish paritz" (landowner). He later practiced as a rabbi in the small town of Glowaczow near Radom. He married a woman by the name of Bela who was from the Khassidic family from Warka, a descendant of rabbi Yeszayahu Berlin-Pick (1725-1799). In the Holocaust he was deported to Ghetto Kozienice near Radom. In Succoth 1942, during the day of the liquidation of the ghetto, he covered himself with Talit and Tfilin and refused to be deported. He cried out: "Better death than this life!" and was shot to death by the damn Nazis. He is buried, together with other 40 martyrs, in a mass grave in Kozienice. His wife Bela, son Abraham who was than 52 years old, with a child Yonathan of 17 years old and another daughter 15 years old were murdered in Treblinka the very same day.

Rabbi Meir's son: Szaja Zlotnik, was born in 1893, and was a rabbi in Radom. He was a Zionist, very active in "Hamizrachi" in Radom. He wrote many books about Yiddish folklore, Talmudist issues and researches in Judaism and Jewish History. Szaja was always considered in the family as "Ha'ilui" - "the Genius" with a most brilliant future. Szaja was married to Alta Weinreb and perished in an akzia in Purim in Szydlowiecz Ghetto. He had 7 children, most of them perished. He survived by Sonnia Pasternak from America USA and Bracha Tinter of blessed memory from Israel.

Townspeople of Glowaczow and Their Spouses Who were Deceased after WWII

List submitted by Landsmanschaft Chairman Joseph Ribo (Rotbaum)

A Partial List!
A note: the number is the original number given in the list.

May Their Memory Be Blessed for Ever!

No.

SURNAME

Name

Maiden Name

Father

Mother

Notes

14

-

Chana

GOLDBERG

Israel Isser

-

-

12

AJZENBERG

Szmuel Mosze

-

Eliezer

-

-

5

BALTMAN

Abraham Mosze

-

Aharon Mordechai

-

Among the founders of the Glowaczow Society (Landsmanschaft)

5

BALTMAN

Israel Eliezer

-

Aharon Mordechai

-

Brother of Abraham Mosze

9

BORENSTEIN

Bajla

CYTRIN

Mendel

-

-

1

COHEN

Meir

-

Uriel

-

-

3

DORFMAN

Mosze

-

Israel

-

-

20

FLUKSMAN

Abraham

-

Jakob

-

Among the founders of the Glowaczow Society (Landsmanschaft)

20

FLUKSMAN

Ester

-

-

Sara

Wife of Abraham

33

FLUKSMAN

Mosze

-

-

-

-

17

FREJLICH

Szoszana

-

Israel

Dina

A young woman

17

FREJLICH

Dina

-

Josef

-

-

30

FRIDMAN

Mordechai Eliezer

-

Jakob Iccak

-

-

14

GOLDBERG

Israel Isser

-

Yehuda

-

-

13

GRINSZPAN

Nissan

-

Kalman

-

-

15

GUTMAN

Abraham Icchak

-

Lejbusz

-

A boy

27

HANTKNAT

Szula

-

-

Sara

-

27

HANTKNAT

Noach

-

Icchak

-

-

28

KIRSZBERG

Bila

ABRAHAM

Holckner

-

-

26

KLEMFNER

Meir

-

Pesach

-

Brother of Nachman

26

KLEMFNER

Lea

-

Mordechai

-

Wife of Nachman

26

KLEMFNER

Nachman

-

Pesach

-

-

29

KOLKOWICZ

Miriam Rywka (Mania)

PRZYSUSKI

Mosze

-

-

7

KOSOWER ZINGER

Jakob

-

Mordechai

-

Among the founders of the Glowaczow Society (Landsmanschaft)

31

KRIEGER

Chana

-

Eliezer

-

Wife of Israel

31

KRIEGER

Israel

-

Mosze

-

-

32

KRING

Szwinka (Yafa)

-

-

Rywka

-

16

LEDERMAN

Roza

ZILBERMAN

Chaim

-

-

21

ROZENBERG

Bracha

WEGSZEL

Szmuel

-

Wife of Jehoszua Gdaliahu

21

ROZENBERG

Eliezer

-

Jehoszua Gdaliahu

-

-

10

SAPIRO

Sara

ZINGER

Kopel

-

Among the founders of the Glowaczow Society (Landsmanschaft)

24

SUKAR

Lewi

-

Perec

-

"The holy man"

25

TINTER

Bracha

ZLOTNIK

Meir, Rabbi

-

Father murdered in the day of the liquidation of Kozienice ghetto

2

UBLIGENHERC

Chana

-

Noach (The "Shochet")

-

The father was a ritual slaughterer

6

UNTERSTEIN

Szamai

-

Aharon

-

Brother of Josef

6

UNTERSTEIN

Josef

-

Aharon

-

Brother of Szamai

11

UNTERSTEIN

Mosze Gerszon

-

Josef

-

-

34

UNTERSTEIN

Sonia

-

-

-

-

23

WASSERMAN

Meir

-

Wolf Zeew

-

-

18

WINERLAK

Chaja

KLENSTEIN

Owadia

-

Wife of Mosze

18

WINERLAK

Mosze

-

Arie

-

-

4

ZALCMAN

Mosze

-

Abraham

-

Founder & chairman of the Glowaczow Society (Landsmanschaft)

4

ZALCMAN

Rywka

FRENKEL

Josef

-

Wife of Mosze

19

ZILBER

Henia

FRENKEL

Josef

-

Wife of Mosze

19

ZILBER

Mosze

-

Abraham

-

-

16

ZILBERMAN

Chaim

-

Kalman

-

-

22

ZILBERMAN

Nachman

-

Meir

-

-

8

ZINGER

Szoszana Rajzel

HOLCKNER

Abraham

-

Wife of Mordechai

8

ZINGER

Mordechai

-

Icchak

-

-

The Glowaczow Jewish Residents Organization in Israel:
Ribo Joseph (Rotbaum)
23 Havradim St.
Ganei Yehuda 56905
ISRAEL

Telephone: 03-6353521

Email: Riboo "at" netvision.net.il (replace "at" by @ to avoid spam)

 

SOURCES:

Glowaczow Today

The Jewish Cemetery of Glowaczow

A Meessage from Warren Blatt in JewishGen Email Exchange Group

Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2000 08:00:08 -0500
From: Warren Blatt wblatt "at" jewishgen.org
Subject: Re: Glowaczow, Poland

Lois Greisman <eblo "at" interlog.com> wrote: "I am researching my great, great, grandfather's town. I believed for years that he came from Globovich, Radom Poland. I have since found out that Globovich was actually Glowaczow. Does that sound right?"

Probably right. Glowaczow was in the Kozienice district of Radom gubernia of the Kingdom of Poland before WWI.

"The name I am researching is Granatstein. Any tips or information would be helpful. How does one find the names of Mendel Granatstein's siblings?"

In the early 20th century Duma voter lists for the Kozienice district, one voter with the surname GRANADSZTAJN appears (see the "Kielce-Radom SIG Journal", Vol. I, No. 1, page 19).
The Glowaczow landsmanshaft in Israel was trying to publish a memorial book as of 1998 (see "K-R SIG Journal" II:2, page 27). For more information on the Kielce-Radom Special Interest Group, see <http://www.jewishgen.org>.

The Jewish vital records of Glowaczow for the years 1883-1897 are at the Polish State Archives in Radom. Glowaczow's Jewish vital records for 1898-1940 are still at the Urzad Stanu Cywilnego (Civil Records Office) in Glowaczow.

Warren Blatt
Boston, MA

A Meessage from Ada Holtzman in JewishGen Email Exchange Group

Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1998 00:32:30 PDT
Sender: ada01 "at" netvision.net.il
Subject: Glowaczow, Poland

Shalom,

I am posting this message on behalf of the Landsmanschaften of GLOWACZOW, Poland (near RADOM). The chairman of the organization in Israel offers scholarship to a student or any researcher who is willing to investigate the history of the community, interview the very few survivors and gather pictures and all the information available on the small shtetl GLOWACZOW in order to publish a memorial booklet, before it will be too late.

Anyone who is interested in the project is kindly requested to contact me in private.

Thank you

Ada Holtzman

 

A Message from Karen Drexler

Date: Fri, 18 Jul 2001 22:53:21 -0500
From: Karen Drexler thedrex "at" juno.com
Subject: Re: Glowaczow Shtetl, Poland

My beloved gramma, my mom's mom, Yetta (Channah Yitta Freidman(Frydman?) Lipchitz, was from Glowaczow. She called it "Gluvachuv" so I think I have the right place. Gramma's dad was Moshe Frydman, a tailor, and her mom was Bayla Cohan Zucker- if that makes any connections for you. More to the point, I'm new at this "roots thing" and am hoping you would be willing to point me in the right . Since the town was so small-1100?- who knows? We may be related! I would love to hear anything else you know. And wow, you arelated to the town rabbi! Now that's someone who probably knew everyone! Is there anyone in your family who would know tales from the rabbi?

My gramma Yetta was born in the mid 1890's. She eventually immigrated to Toronto because her sister Brondel had married a man named Monson from Glowaczow and they had moved there. I'm told they came through Cananda

because it was easier somehow. Then, they all followed family to NewYork City, and then to upstate NY- Rochester. So, she aher were only onwho survived the war. EXCEPT, after the war, it was discovered that 2 of their nephews, my mom's 1st cousins, had survived the camps.

But the subject of her family was very upsetting for gramma discuss, so iwashard to get information from her. She would just start to cry and say "I kent talk about dem dahlink".

A tiny true story for you:

When my mom was little, during the WW2 years, she used to greet the postman downstairs of their apt. building and run the mail up to gramma. One day, "a postal card dahlink" arrived from her grampa Moshe in Europe whom she had never met. She only knew a bit of Yiddish then, but was very excited to deliver something so precious. Upon reading the card however, instead of being happy, gramma broke into tears. Turns out, it said something like: "Ware all tohere in this nice place,your whole family. Your mother is doing better than she has in years". Only problem was, Bayla, gramma's mom, had already been dead for years. Gramma knew what he was saying but my mom was very confused.

I think gramma had a total of 6 siblings who were all married with children. But no one in any of those families was ever heard from again EXCEPT for the 2 above mentioned nephew's.

One nephew is Sol Rosenzweig. One of gramma's sisters, whose name I think was Cypojra, married a butcher named Rosenzwieg and had Sol. He lives in Florida and I met him this winter.. The good news is that his daughter Fran arranged to have Speilberg's Shoah Project Tape him a few years ago when his symptoms weren't so bad. He gave a lovely description of "Gluvachuv", as if it were a pastoral New England town. The last Sol saw of his family, any of my gramma's family, they were all in the Warsaw Ghetto.

The nephew in Israel my mother has met, and I need to question her more about him. He was the son of another of gramma's sisters. I just hope he has Email or access to it! I believe he has children and hopefully they have Email. I don't know if he and Sol have ever been in touch. Wouldn't it be amazing if he were the "Yosi" you mentioned?!

If you can share anything more than the above about Glowaczow, I would be grateful, and if the names FREIDMAN, COHAN, LIPCHITZ, ZUCKER, DREXLER, MILLKOFSKY, MONSON, ABRAMSON, or ROSENZWEIG mean anything to you, I hopeyou will fill me in. Any help or information or contacts would be greatly appreciated.

Best regards
Karen Drexler

Page Last Updated October 3rd, 2003

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