Borys Kowadło – photographer, was born on December 2, 1911 in a house at 4 Bielska Street, in the family of Dawid and Ruda nee Asz. His father was a ritual slaughterer. Borys Kowadło was a student at the photo studio of his brother-in-law Abram […]
Icek (Izaak) Bernsztajn – lawyer, teacher and publicist, was born on November 13, 1899 in Płock (in the house at 15 Kwiatka Street) in the family of Tobiasz and Sura. In 1918, he entered the seventh grade of the Philological Middle School of the Men’s […]
Yaakov (Jakub) Guterman – painter and illustrator, born in 1935 in Warsaw, the son of Simcha and Ewa née Alterowicz. His hometown is Płock, where he lived with his parents in a one-story house at 64 Sienkiewicza Street. Jakub’s father ran a knitting workshop and was also one of the co-founders of the Płock branch of the Frajhajt organization. On March 1, 1941, the Guterman family, together with other Jews from Płock, were deported to the camp in Działdowo. The Gutermans spent the following years of the war wandering around various towns and villages, hiding thanks to Aryan papers. Jakub Guterman spent the last months of the war in the village of Zawady near Łowicz. Simcha Guterman died in the first days of the Warsaw Uprising. Jakub and his mother returned to Płock. He finished primary school here, for one year he attended the Władysław Jagiełło High School. In 1950 he emigrated with his mother and stepfather to Israel. He studied literature at the University of Jerusalem and art at the Avny Institute in Tel Aviv. He lived in kibbutz Ein Harod, then (to this day) in Ha-Ogen. For forty years he taught literature in high school and worked as a book illustrator (his artistic output includes over 170 books). He was also a graphic editor of weeklies for children, published poems and translations, including Polish poetry.
The house at 64 Sienkiewicza Street in Płock in the register of historic monuments!
Abram Hersz aka Alfred Blay was born on May 30, 1876 in Płock. His father Natan (1839-1915) came from Kalisz. His mother was Estera née Landau (1845-1928), daughter of Icek Tobiasz and Małka. Alfred Blay had three siblings: brother Szmul Tobiasz (1868-1899) and sisters Hinda […]
We are entering the seventh year of JewishPlock.eu – the most important online source of information about the history of the Płock Jewish community! On the website you will find family albums, biograms, information about places related to the Jewish community of the city of […]
An extraordinary publication on the history of the Jews of Płock has been published – it is a source study of the “Pinkas Hakahal” – chronicle of the Jewish community in Płock in the years 1762-1818, originally preserved in the collection of the Jewish Historical Institute, undertaken by our friend Pnina Stern. The beautifully designed book was published in Hebrew in Israel. Congratulations to the author of the study!
Below we publish an abstract of the work written by Pnina Stern:
The “Pinkas Hakahal” of Płock is the book in which the decisions of the leadership of the Jewish community of Płock in the years 1762-1818 were recorded. The manuscript is in the archive of the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw (Pinkas Płocki AŻIH114/1). Nobody knows how it got there or when. Its existence became public only in 2007.
About 240 of the 270 written pages are in Hebrew integrated with some Yiddish and some Aramaic. The Hebrew in the Pinkas is typical of the Ashkenazi Hebrew that was used at that time.
Most of the non-Hebrew pages are in old Polish. Four pages are in Medieval Latin and about two pages are in old German. The parts, which are in Polish, Latin, and German, are merely receipts for loans or payments of debts by the community.
The topics dealt with in the Pinkas are the election, which took place once a year in the intermediate days of Passover; the list of the people appointed to different community tasks; community regulations; inner-community and other taxes; real estate matters, and social matters. Great attention was given to supervising the way that the elected people dealt with matters and fulfilled their duties.
It is obvious that the synagogue had a most central function in the life of the community. It was, of course, the place for religious ritual. However, it was also the place where important community matters were announced like the buying or selling of real estate, and where the banning ceremony of disruptive community members took place.
This academic edition of this Pinkas includes a transcription of the text of the manuscript plus annotations. It also includes supplementary tools – a historical introduction; an explanation of features of the Pinkas, and of the difficulties in deciphering it; a dictionary of concepts and an explanation of words taken from foreign languages; a translation of place names into their original language; a dictionary of abbreviations and initials in Hebrew, Polish, and Latin; a Yiddish glossary; an Aramaic glossary; charts of the functions in the community, and how people were chosen for those functions; and an index of the important subjects that are discussed in the Pinkas.
The importance of the manuscript is great because it is almost the only authentic source on the life of the Jewish community of Płock in the second half of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century. It can shed light on the leadership and the administration of other Jewish communities in Poland at that time. The impression that the reader gets from reading the Pinkas is of a lively, active, vivid, autonomous Jewish community.
Pnina Stern
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Adam Neuman-Nowicki (1925-2021) – a native of Płock, author of the book entitled “Struggle for life”. In connection with this special occasion, the Nobiscum Foundation prepares a new guidebook – “In the footsteps of Adam […]
The house at 64 Sienkiewicza Street in Płock, where Symcha Guterman lived with his wife Ewa and son Jakub, was entered into the register of monuments! We are very happy and hope that in the future, when the building is renovated, a plaque commemorating Symcha […]
At the beginning of September, we invite everyone to the premiere of a documentary film produced by the Nobiscum Foundation on the initiative of Arieh Bomzon and Sandra Brygart Rodriguez – descendants of the Bomzon and Brygart Jewish families from Płock. The film shows their sentimental journey to the hometown of their ancestors and their efforts to discover their roots and “fill the genealogical suitcase”, as well as get to know places related to the past of their families.
The film was based on interviews conducted by the Nobiscum Foundation with Arieh and Sandra in the spring of 2023. Appearing in the documentary are also, among others: Arieh’s sons – Ze’ev, Ilan and David, his granddaughter Tomer, Sandra’s son Evan, as well as the residents of Płock who, at various stages and in various roles, accompanied our heroes in discovering the history of their families.
We invite you to the double premiere of the film on Sunday, September 1, 2024, at 6 p.m. at the Darmstadt House in Płock (8 Old Market Square) and on Monday, September 2, 2024, also at 6 p.m., at the Memorial House in Płońsk (2 Warszawska Street).
The event is included in the program of the European Days of Jewish Culture 2024, held under the slogan “Family”.
Organizers:
Nobiscum Foundation
Darmstadt House – Center of Culture and Art in Płock
Memorial House – Municipal Cultural Center in Płońsk
Admission to both premieres is free of charge, the number of places is limited, prior registration is required: info@fundacjanobiscum.eu or by phone +48 574 188 454
On the occasion of the 104th anniversary of the defense of Płock against the Bolsheviks, we recall the Jews of Płock who joined the Polish Army as volunteers during the Bolshevik invasion in 1920 As Szmul Grojnem Wasserman, born in 1897, wrote: “In July 1920 […]
