Hechaluc – Pioneer Jewish organization
Hechaluc began its activity in Płock in 1923. Its founders were A. Kowalski, F. Fliderblum and M. Kenigsberg. Szymon Margulin, Mojżesz Zander and A. Lejbgot were also part of the board of the organization. The organization’s goal was to emigrate its members to Eretz Israel. Despite the fact that orthodox communities in Płock opposed the newly formed group, the number of its members increased from year to year, and the local branch of Hechaluc became a center of various Zionist activities.
While the Hechaluc organization consisted of young people over the age of 18 who were preparing to travel to Eretz Israel, younger boys and girls were members of its sister organization Hechaluc Hatzair. The organization prepared young people for their future lives as pioneers and focused on cultural activities. In the 1930s, many young boys and girls left the city for Eretz Israel, where most of them lived as pioneers, often in kibbutzim.
Young pioneers from Płock who never reached Israel were murdered, like many others, by the Nazis during World War II.
Bibliography: Plotzk. A History of an Ancient Jewish Community in Poland, ed. E. Eisenberg, Tel-Aviv 1967
