The Arbajter family lived in Płock at 3 Kwiatka Street in the tenement house of Mendel Jakub Perelgryc and his wife Hinda Małka nee Radzik. Hersz Icek Arbajter (1889-1942), son of Mordka and Chaja Hinda nee Żwirek, was a tailor by profession. His wife was […]
Sunday, March 1, 2020, marks the 79th anniversary of the last deportation of Jews from the Płock ghetto. On this day, the Nobiscum Foundation invites you to the Art Gallery of Płock for the premiere of its third publication – the book entitled “Tema. Memories […]
At the beginning of the 19th century, the square with a brick house on the property marked with mortgage number 283 belonged to a carpenter Jan Franciszek Frahm (around 1768-1813) from Hamburg. As he had no children, after his death the property was inherited in half by his wife Krystyna née Mertens, and in the second half by his brother – Joachim Henryk Frahm (around 1775-1819), who was a master blacksmith. By virtue of the arrangement concluded in the Płock Notary Office in 1815, Joachim Henryk purchased her part of the property from Krystyna.
After the death of Joachim Henryk Frahm, the property was inherited in half by his children – Jan Franciszek and Fryderyka Wilhelmina, the second part was received by his wife – Fryderyka Wilhelmina née Elz, who, after the death of her husband remarried to Józef Siłakowski, who she admitted as co-owner of the property.
Józef Siłakowski (born in 1791; son of Szymon and Petronella née Kosiński) was a blacksmith by profession, and also a fireman in Płock.
In 1842, Fryderyka Wilhelmina and Józef Siłakowski acquired 1/4 of the property from Fryderyka Wilhelmina Bohm née Frahm. Four years later they bought the part of Jan Franciszek Frahm. After the death of Józef Siłakowski, the co-ownership of the property was inherited by his son Jan Siłakowski (born in 1820) as well as Augusta Wilhelmina and Jerzy Juliusz Herml (grandchildren). The heirloom of Augusta Wilhelmina Winkler née Herml was acquired by virtue of the acts of 1871 and 1873 by Fryderyka Wilhelmina Siłakowska née Elz.
At that time, apart from the brick front house, there were two granaries, a smithy, a brick outbuilding and four wooden outbuildings. There was a garden at the back of the property as well.
In 1877, Jan Siłakowski purchased a 5/8 part of the property from Fryderyka Wilhelmina Siłakowska, becoming its sole owner. In the same year he sold it to the merchant Lejb Płońskier.
Lejb Płońskier was born on July 1, 1844 in Płock, as the son of Mordka and Sura. His wife was Nycha Małka née Horenfeld (1842-1894), daughter of Dawid and Sura Ryfka née Bauman. Lejb Płońskier traded tobacco products. He was also a well-known social activist, co-founder and member of the board of the Society of Free Medical Assistance to Poor Jews, and co-founder of the Jewish Charity Society in Płock. He was also a member of the Płock Jewish religious commune supervision.
During Lejb Płońskier’s ownership, significant investments were made in the property. In 1879, the owner received permission to build a store in the outbuilding, and the following year – to open two shops in the front house. In 1887 he received permission for building a third floor extension of the brick outbuilding in the yard of the property and construction of another wooden outbuilding.
According to information from 1888, next to the brick, one-story front house, with rooms in the attic, in the property there was also a brick one-story outbuilding covered with tiles (a wooden outbuilding stood between the above-mentioned buildings), a three-story stone outbuilding with basements, a brick wall sukkah and a three-story brick outbuilding. Furthermore, there was an orchard and a number of utilitarian buildings.
In 1898, the one-story front house was extended and rebuilt, the three-story outbuilding was extended, and a one-story brick outbuilding was erected. In 1900, a brick one-story utility building was erected as well.
After the death of Lejb Płońskier (he died in 1908), the property was inherited by his children: Rafał, Szajna Hinda Sztern, Hena Rojza Fast, Ruchla Łaja Lewin, Rywka Lewin, Hudes Szlosberg, Ejdla and Blima. The sisters sold their parts to Rafał for the sum of 6839 rubles.
Rafał Płońskier (1870-1930), married to Chana née Kino, with whom he had three children: Moryc Markus, Fejbusz and Mira, was an industrialist. Before World War I he was a manager of a tobacco factory in Grodno. He was a member of the Credit Society in Płock, from 1912 a partner in A. Rogozik’s Banking Company. From 1905, he was the vice-president of the Jewish Community Council in Płock, from 1918 – the president of the Trade Union of Jewish Merchants in Płock. In the interwar period he was the president of the Jewish Hospital. He was also a member of the board of the Jewish Charity Society. He was a co-founder of the Association of Real Estate Owners of the town of Płock.
Since 1917, Edward Trautman’s bookstore operated in Płońskier’s estate. In the interwar period, at 4 Kolegialna Street, there was a grocery store of Szlama Lanilut, tobacco shop of Rafał Płońskier (later of M. Szlossberg), sewing machines were sold there by Henoch Szylit, and roofing paper by B. Zeligman.
Among the residents of the property was the well-known photographer from Płock, Samuel Józef Ostrower.
Samuel Józef Ostrower (1888-1933), son of Icek Gitman and Szajndla Ruchla née Lask, in 1918 married Dwojra Borensztejn, daughter of Moszek Jakub and Rajzla née Tyński. In 1922, their son Alexander was born. Ostrower received education related to the profession of photographer thanks to Apoloniusz Grzywiński in 1908-1911. After serving in the army from 1911 to 1913, he practiced in Zambrów and Lipno for four years. From 1917 he worked at the photographic studio of Sylwin Przybojewski. In 1921 he opened an independent photographic studio under the name “Rembrandt” Artistic Photography Studio. The studio was located in the yard of the property at the corner of Tumska and Kolegialna Streets. The area of Ostrower’s photographic activity was portrait, individual and group photography. Ostrower’s photographs were published in the local press, including “Mazowsze Płockie and Kujawy”. During the “Art of Płock” exhibition, presented in 1932, Ostrower exhibited five photographs titled: “Interior”, “Head” (three photographs of this title) and “Studio”. In 1932, Ostrower moved the studio to 8a Tumska Street. After his death, the photo studio was run by his wife Dora with the help of photographer Szmul Robak. Because it brought little income to its owner, who had a child, in 1936 she sold the studio to Abram Watman.
Around 1933, Adam Neuman-Nowicki (born 1925 – link: the biogram of Adam Neuman-Nowicki) moved to Płońskier’s tenement house with his parents – Mosze Szlomo (1893-1942) and Frymeta neé Goldkind (1894-1942). Mosze Szlomo Nejman was an accountant at the Margulies agricultural machinery factory, later he ran the state lottery at 3 Kolegialna Street. In the tenement house at 4 Kolegialna Street, the Nejman family ran a hotel. Adam Neuman-Nowicki recalls their apartment in the Płońskier tenement house:
The property on Kolegialna Street had a one-story front house, three outbuildings and two courtyards. On one side of the entrance gate there was Kozakiewicz’s confectionery, and on the other side – Szylit’s bicycle shop. The caretaker lived in the one-story outbuilding on the first floor, and a tenant on the ground floor. In the middle outbuilding on the first floor was our apartment, and on the second floor lived the Salak family with their daughter and younger son Andrzej, who was my school friend. In the second courtyard on the right was a bakery of the Kozakiewicz confectionery, while on the left were sheds and a public toilet used mostly by the employees of the bakery. The whole building had a sewage system and each flat had its own toilet. We had four rooms, a kitchen and a bathroom with a tub, a sink and a toilet. Parents converted one large room into two smaller ones. At the beginning, there were two double, one four-bed and one single room for our guests. In the middle of the apartment there was a spacious dining room with a large table, a piano and a couch, as well as a table with a radio […] I remember some unusual guests. They were the Jewish theater groups of Ida Kamińska and at other times Lola Folman.
By the decision of the District Court in Płock of September 27, 1932, the owner of the property located at ul. Kolegialna 4 became the Bankruptcy Trustee of the A. Rogozik Banking Company in Płock. Pursuant to the decision of the Management Board of the Credit Society of the Town of Płock of March 2, 1933, the property was put up for sale by public auction due to late loan installments. Its last owner was Jakub Józef Głowiński, who purchased it at a public auction at the Town Court on October 4, 1937.
Jakub Józef Głowiński, born on December 4, 1870 in Płock, was the son of Mordka – a trader and Chaja Ryfka. His wife was Mindla née Podrygał, with whom he had six children: Masza Cwyja Flek, Jerma, Menachem, Chaja Rywa Arendt, Ruchla Arendt and Tauba Merenlender. Jakub Józef Głowiński was a member of the board of the Zionist Office association in Płock and the owner of several Płock properties (at 24 Szeroka St., 22 Tumska St. and 11 Królewiecka St.), and above all a well-known industrialist from Płock, co-owner of the J.J. Głowiński, A. Kenigsberg & Co. Merchants’ Mill in Płock. The company was founded in 1913. It was located in a real estate marked with mortgage number 185½ B (45 Bielska St.), which Jakub Józef Głowiński, Abram Liber Kenigsberg, Abram Pantofel and Hersz Chaim Hamburger purchased from Franciszek Gutowski. It was an electric flour mill.
In 1927, Głowiński leased a steam mill in Włocławek from the company “L. L. Sztern & Sons Włocławek Steam Mill Co.”, and in 1929 he established another company with them in order to purchase, sale and process grain as well as grain products such as flour, bran, etc. under the name L. Stern, JJ Głowiński, A. Kenigsberg & Co. Mercantile House, with its registered office in Włocławek 30/32 Karnkowskiego St. A year earlier, Jakub Józef Głowiński, together with Menachem Głowiński and Mordka Głowiński, established a company with Hersz Ajzyk in order to operate a motor mill built in Ajzyk’s estate in Dobrzyń nad Drwęcą. Commercial part of the enterprise under the name “J.J. Głowiński & Co.” was run exclusively by the Głowiński family – they were responsible for buying and selling grain, grain products, concluding contracts with sellers, buyers, issuing, signing checks, bills of exchange and all monetary obligations.
Jakub Józef Głowiński and his five children were murdered during World War II. His inheritance passed after his death to Ruchla Arendt and Zygmunt Flek – the only son of Masza Cwyja Flek nee Głowińska.
After the war, the property at 4 Kolegialna 4 Street housed the seat of the Leatherworkers and Saddlers Cooperative and a vulcanization company of Stanisław Grzymała.
Bibliography:
Nowak G., Kolegialna 4 [exhibition catalogue], Płock, 2017
This Monday, 27 January 2020, marks the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Answering the annual appeal of the Shalom Foundation, let us join the “Light of Remembrance” action that day. Let’s light candles in our windows in Płock at 6 p.m. as a sign of commemoration […]
The tenement house at 26 Sienkiewicza Street in Płock, in which the Private Upper Secondary Art School is currently located, belonged to the Altberg family before the war. Here, on March 15, 1938, Paulina Altberg, née Golde, daughter of Benjamin and Liba Rechla née Goldsztejn, who […]
In 1857, Chaim Rafał Kempner (ca. 1817-1870) opened a large bookshop in Płock, where a reading room and a library also operated. The bookstore, which was located at Grodzka Street, recommended all the book novelties, in all branches of science, as well as romance, novels of the best contemporary writers, school and elementary books and those for religious services of various editions and authors, in various bindings or without them; sermon books and dictionaries in all languages; books for children in various languages, which can be used to learn and play with pictures; atlases, maps, handwriting and drawing patterns, and various women’s embroidery; musical scores and sheet music, as well as all stationery and lined notebooks. The bookshop accepted prepayments for all works in the country by subscriptions, for buyers in larger lots, the bookshop offered a certain discount. The shop also had in stock the busts of famous people available at affordable prices.
After the death of Chaim Rafał, his wife Estera Fajga née Erlich (1817-1881), daughter of Mosze and Lipka, who came from Lublin, obtained the license to run the bookstore. Estera Fajga Kempner was also the owner of a pharmacy store, traded tobacco products, and had a lottery ticket office. Her store of sheet music and writing materials offered to clients, among others, religious, musical, economic books, office paper, drawing paper, letter cards, greeting cards, quill and steel pens, Siberian drawing pencils, Chinese ink, French Chenal paints, Parisian designs for pencil and oil drawings, visiting tickets, journal souvenir, photo albums and frames. From 1870, Estera Fajga Kempner was the owner of the property at 16 Grodzka Street (mortgage no. 44), which she purchased from Teodora and Jan Gerber for the sum of 3000 rubles. Thanks to a loan from the Town Fund in 1871, she erected a tenement house in the neo-Renaissance style. In 1881, her son Ludwik (Lejbusz) Kempner (1849-1908) took over the bookshop. Lejbusz was married to Tauba nee Kahan (Kon), born in 1850 in Płock, with whom he had four children: Brana Liba (who married Icek Feinberg), Chaim Rafał, Nachman and Cecylia. In 1883, Ludwik Kempner built a tenement house at 14 Grodzka Street, where he moved the bookshop that existed here until 1914. After the death of Estera Fajga Kempner, the property was owned by her sons – Ludwik and Mosiek Hersz (1832-1904). In 1883, after buying a part from his brother, Mosiek became the sole owner. After his death, the property was taken over by his daughters: Salomea, Felicja, Chana Lipka, Cypra Gołda and Etka. In 1906, Etka aka Justyna Majde bought a share in the property.
In the interwar period, at 14 Grodzka Street, there was a cloth shop of Icek Kowadło, a tailor’s workshop of M. Gutkind and a dental office of Natalia Gutkind. At 16 Grodzka Street, there was the hat studio of N. Szenwic. The last pre-war owners of the property at 14 Grodzka Street were Ludwika Feinberg and Celina Daszyńska, of the one at 16 Grodzka Street – Justyna Majde.
Nachum Sokołow was born on 1 January 1859 in Wyszogród, as the son of Szmul Josek (born in 1827, son of Icek and Gitla Chaja née Bresler) and Mariem Gitla (born in 1830, daughter of Szmul and Itta Smrodynia aka Kohn). He spent his childhood […]
The history of the Flatau family in Płock dates back to the times of the Duchy of Warsaw, when Joachim (Nochem) Judas, a merchant from the Grand Duchy of Poznań, came to Płock from the town of Gołancz. In the Jewish civil registry documents of […]
On December 27 1868 Edward Flatau, one of the greatest Polish doctors and the most prominent scholars, was born in Płock.
Edward was the son of banker Ludwik Flatau and Anna nee Heyman. In 1886 he graduated from Płock Secondary School with a gold medal and went to study at the medical department of the Moscow State University. He attended lectures by eminent professors, including neurologist Alexei Kożewnikow and psychiatrist Sergey Korsakov. After graduating from the Moscow State University, in 1892 he went to Berlin, where he continued his education until 1899. He worked on neuropathology, neuroanatomy and neurohistology. The years spent in Berlin gave a foundation for his great and comprehensive knowledge in the field of anatomy, pathology and the nervous system treatment. He cooperated, among others, with Emanuel Mendel, Hermann Oppenheim, Ernst Remak and Hugo Liepmann. The first work that immediately made him famous in Europe was “The atlas of the human brain and the course of nerve fibers”. This atlas was published in 1894 and was translated into Polish, Russian, English and French. In 1898 he was offered the position of a supervisor of the neurology department in Buenos Aires. Flatau, however, did not accept this proposal and in 1899 he returned to his home country. In Warsaw, he was a consultant in internal and surgical departments, at the same time he arranged a laboratory in his private apartment, where he continued his own work in the field of anatomy. In 1904 he became the head of the Jewish Hospital in Czyste. Leading a small department with 20 beds, Flatau formed a group of doctors, encouraged them to work in clinical treatment and anatomy and gradually, thanks to his deep knowledge, unusual pedagogical skills and personal charm, he created a school, which educated a number of well-known neurologists. Thanks to his efforts in 1913, his unit was moved to a new pavilion, designed just like the European clinics. Two years earlier Flatau arranged a workshop for the research in anatomy and pathology at the Psychological Society, and in 1912 he moved it to the new building of the Warsaw Scientific Society, of which he had been a member since 1908. In 1912 he published a monograph about migraine, for which he suffered his whole life. Flatau was also a member of the Polish Academy of Learning, a member of the Neurological Society in Paris and the Society of Psychiatry and Neurology in Vienna, an honorary member of the Neurological Society in Moscow and the Medical Society in Vilnius. He was the author of over 100 publications in Polish, German, French and Russian.
He died in 1932 of a brain tumor. He was buried in the Jewish cemetery at Okopowa Street in Warsaw.
(text based on the memoirs of Teofil Dawid Simchowicz on Edward Flatau in the Annual of the Warsaw Scientific Society from 1932)
Lejzor Brygart was born on March 13, 1893, he was the son of Szlama (1842-1911) and Iska nee Fibus (1855-1918). Szlama Brygart was a butcher by profession. Lejzor had a younger brother – Dawid (born in 1894). In 1913, Lejzor Brygart married Dwojra Ides Bomzon […]
