Jakub Lejb Szenwic (1866-1927), son of Markus and Gitla (Augusta) née Ginsberg, was a well-known merchant, banker, social activist and philanthropist in Płock. Charity balls were held in his premises, among others. to support the Talmud Torah. He was one of the founders of the Jewish Charity Society, whose aim was to provide funds for the improvement of material and moral existence, provide clothing, food, financial support, activities or services, provide the poor with medical supplies, place them in hospitals, shelters, set up cheap canteens, tea rooms, workhouses, outpatient clinics, dormitories, shelters, and co-founder of the Free Care Society for Poor Ill Jews. At the beginning of World War I, he co-organized the Committee for Aid to Jews. In 1915 he became a juror of the District Court in Płock. He ran a private banking house at Tumska Street, in Dobrowolski’s tenement house. Many times he was elected a member of the synagogue supervision in Płock.
Jakub Lejb Szenwic’s wife was Sura Ryfka (Sara) née Łabędź (born 1868), daughter of Majer Hersz and Mariem Rojza, who came from the town of Siemiatycze. The couple had five children: sons Dawid (1890-1920) and Wilhelm (1892-1955) and daughters Gustawa (born 1894), Fryda (born 1898) and Janina (1907-1911), who died prematurely.
Dawid Szenwic was born on December 15, 1890. After graduating from the Płock middle school, in 1909 he went to study in Berlin, where he attended the Academy of Commerce. He then transferred to the Law Faculty of the University of Heidelberg. For family reasons, he was forced to interrupt his studies and return to Poland. For many years he ran the banking house of his father Jakub Lejb Szenwic. In 1916, he married Helena née Czapliński, born on February 15, 1897, the daughter of Maks and Regina née Gold, who came from Włocławek. The couple had one daughter – Janina, who was born on June 9, 1919 in Płock. Two years earlier, in 1917, Dawid Szenwic resumed his interrupted law studies at the University of Warsaw.
On August 3, 1920, Dawid Szenwic volunteered for the army, responding to the calls of Płock and nationwide Jewish organizations in the face of the Bolshevik invasion. He was assigned to the Military Economic Office in Płock. He died at the age of 29 on August 18, 1920. He was buried in the Jewish cemetery at Okopowa Street in Warsaw.
Fryda Szenwic was a well-known painter in pre-war Płock. She was born on May 20, 1898, in a house at 14 Grodzka Street. In 1924, she married Izaak Margulies – the son of Moryc and Frajda née Ejzenberg, co-owner of the well-known Płock Tool and Agricultural Machine Factory. The spouses lived in a tenement house at 11 Tumska Street. Fryda Margulies took part in the exhibition “The Art of Płock” organized in 1932 in the English Hotel at 9 Tumska Street, the purpose of which was to illustrate the intentions and works of Płock artists and craftsmen, as well as to arouse interest in art and artistic craftsmanship among the inhabitants of the town and the region At the exhibition, she presented a work entitled “Portrait of Dr. F.”.
