The Jews of Płock during the defense of the city against the Bolsheviks in 1920
On August 18, 1920, the Bolshevik army attacked Płock. Until August 19, the city’s civilian population, including women and children, heroically defended themselves on the barricades along with the army, preventing soldiers of Bolshevik Russia from gaining the bridgehead and crossing the Vistula.
In the face of Bolshevik danger, the Jews of Płock did not remain passive. Already ca. July 10, the board of the Jewish community adopted a resolution that reads: “Like one man, children of one land, we must stand up for the country. Whoever is strong and healthy, let him stand up to the enemy, whoever is incapable of fighting, let him sacrifice his social work on the altar of the homeland.”
The Jewish community set up a committee which operated in the recruitment and support section for soldiers and running the hospital for the wounded. The idea of defending the country was undertaken by Jewish youth from the Jewish Co-educational Middle School of Humanities. Local manufacturers of Jewish origin – Izydor Sarna and Maurycy Margulies – also supported Płock residents.
Source: G. Gołębiewski, “Obrona Płocka przed wojskami bolszewickimi 18-19 sierpnia 1920 r.” [Defense of Płock against the Bolshevik forces, August 18-19, 1920], Płock 2015
On a plaque commemorating people killed in the defense of Płock in August 1920 on the guard house building (4 Tumska Street) one can find the names of Jews of Płock: Izaak Assante, Chaim Hammer, Abram Narwa, Ber Nordenberg, Chaim Ogman, Uszer Rotenberg and Dawid Szenwic.
