Dawid (Devi) Tuszyński – a painter and master of miniatures, was born in Brzeziny on September 17, 1914 (according to the entries in the registry books for the town of Brzeziny), as a son of Icek Tuszyński (born in 1879) and Sura nee Bajbok (born […]
Under the contract concluded on June 1, 1824 with the Municipal Office of the Town of Płock, the merchant Jakub Lewin Szenwic (born in 1789) received a perpetual lease of the square located at Nowa Street at that time (property 258 E) for an annual […]
Kazimierz Mayzner was born on July 6, 1883 in Warsaw, as the son of Izydor and Anna née Woldenberg. His father was considered a humanist and a patriot, he was an outstanding industrialist, co-owner of a trade company, co-founder of the Mayzner Society of Sugar Factories and sugar factory administrator, member of the Technicians Association in Warsaw and the Public Library Society in Warsaw, founder of schools, shelters and reading rooms. The Woldenberg family was, in turn, one of the more popular and distinguished Jewish families in Płock. Dawid Woldenberg, owner of the property at the former Kanoniczny Square, at Teatralna Street and the property of Nagórki Dobrskie, Wierzbówiec and the palace in Luberadz, was a well-known Płock philanthropist, co-founder of the Town Credit Society and Płock Charity Society. For many years he was also a member of the Volunteer Fire Brigade and a member of the Synagogue Supervision Board.
In 1903, Kazimierz Mayzner graduated from the 5th Government Philological Gymnasium (Middle School) in Warsaw, the graduates of which were, among others, Leo Belmont, Józef Hersz Dawidsohn and Marceli Handelsman. He also studied at the Faculty of Architecture of the Warsaw University of Technology, then left for Paris, where he also studied painting. In 1911 he graduated in law from Dorpat. In the years 1911–1917 he served as an assistant to lawyer Karol Gustaw Dunin, then as a counselor of the Central Welfare Council. In 1917, Kazimierz Mayzner came to his mother’s hometown, where he took the position of a deputy prosecutor, later a prosecutor, at the District Court in Płock. At that time, he lived in a tenement house at 6 Dobrzyńska Street (currently Kazimierza Wielkiego). In 1918 he joined the Town Council in Płock. During the Polish-Bolshevik war, he volunteered to join the army, where he served for two years as a lieutenant – auditor of the judicial corps.
In 1921 he was entered on the list of lawyers of the Law Council in Warsaw, department of Płock. Although, as Kazimierz Askanas recalls, law was a passion for Kazimierz Mayzner, he also was an activist in various areas of politics: he was associated with the Polish Socialist Party, then the National Workers’ Party and Christian Democracy. At the same time, he was the author of numerous articles published in newspapers and magazines (“Gazeta Polska”, “Scena Polska”, “Życie Mazowsza” and “Dziennik Płocki”), editor of “Przegląd Płocki” and “Głos Płocki”. He was one of the active members of the Tourism Support Association established in 1935 in Płock, whose goal was to promote tourism to Płock and its organization.
The greatest work of Kazimierz Mayzner’s life was the Artistic Club of Płock.
In 1929, with the participation of a small group of artists, musicians, writers as well as experts and art lovers, he set off to promote artistic life in Płock and create an art club in the town. The club was initially called the Płock Artists’ Club, from 1931 – the Płocczan Art Club (in Płock it was known as KAP). Thanks to the efforts of Kazimierz Mayzner, KAP became a user of the Płock theater building with a large exhibition hall and a modernly furnished café with a large garden and dancing space. The Artistic Club of Płock conducted broad activity, becoming the main organizer of cultural life in Płock: it organized exhibitions, lectures, discussions, performances and concerts. At exhibitions, the club presented works of, among others Natan Korzeń, Fiszel Zylberberg, Erna Gutkind, Maksymilian Eljowicz and Abraham Skórnik. Kazimierz Mayzner supported artists, painters and musicians by helping them with selling paintings and in organization of concerts.
As Kazimierz Askanas points out: “KAP’s activities created the town’s cultural and artistic atmosphere, not present there before, encouraging an unusual revival of cultural life, and in particular, creative work. The creation of the Artistic Club of Płock and Kazimierz Mayzner, who was the creator and main activist of this institution, should be considered a unicum on a national scale […] He managed to introduce the Club on the path of broad popularization of culture. At the same time, he expanded the Club’s activities to take care of artistic craftsmanship, and finally – the town’s aesthetics”.
Kazimierz Mayzner’s great success was “Szopki Płockie” (“Płock Farces”) – unusually accurate satires on representatives of the authorities and intelligentsia of Płock and the ideology of BBWR, as well as the exhibition of his play “Dziewczyna z winiarni” (“The Girl from the Winery”), which enjoyed great popularity among the inhabitants of Płock. Kazimierz Mayzner was awarded the laurel of the Polish Academy of Literature and the Gold Cross of Merit.
The activity of the Art Club of Płock was interrupted by the outbreak of World War II. Kazimierz Mayzner volunteered for the 4th Cavalry Regiment. After the war, he was imprisoned in the Murnau camp. After being released from the camp, he came back to Płock and returned to his legal practice. He died on March 28, 1951.
Bibliography:
Askanas K., Adwokat Kazimierz Mayzner – znana postać na Mazowszu, „Palestra” 30/7(343), 1986, pp. 53-59
Askanas K., Sztuka Płocka, Płock 1991
Przedpełski J., Stefański J., Żydzi płoccy w dziejach miasta, Płock 2012
Fiszel Zylberberg (1909-1942), graphic artist and painter, was the son of the trader Wolf Zelig and Hena Ruchla nee Nordenberg. At the age of 16 he went to Warsaw, where he studied drawing during private lessons. Since 1930 he studied as a free student of […]
Nusen aka Natan Korzeń was born on April 17, 1895 in Płock, as the son of Szlama Majer and Ruchla Łaja nee Szczawińska. Natan Korzeń, a member of a young group of Polish painters, was considered one of the most important Jewish artists in Poland. […]
An extraordinary 1937 film by Józef Herman Keller and his son Norton has been just published on JewishPlock.eu. The Nobiscum Foundation received the film courtesy of Susan Keller Mouckley, Sandra Brygart Rodriguez and Arieh Bomzon. The film was digitized by the Yad Vashem Institute at the turn of January and February this year and presents not only scenes from Płock, but also members of the Brygart, Bomzon, Keller, Rotman, Cynamon and Ejzenman families. It is also worth paying attention to the music of the Sztetl group, which, although performed and recorded today, originates from traditional Jewish music of the interwar period.
The film was presented for the first time at the Art Gallery of Płock during the premiere of the book “Tema. Memories of the time of Holocaust” on March 1, and is now available on our website, accompanied by an extensive commentary by Arieh Bomzon: https://jewishplock.eu/en/movie1937/
At the same time, we publish the results of research conducted since September 2019 by Gabriela Nowak-Dąbrowska as part of the project “Remembrance. Płock 1939”. Over 6200 names, surnames and other information about members of the Płock Jewish community come from archival documents from the autumn of 1939. This monumental work is the first, but not the last stage of the project “Remembrance. Płock 1939 ”implemented by the Nobiscum Foundation.
More information about the project and a table with the results of the research can be found here: https://jewishplock.eu/en/remembrance-plock1939/
On the night of February 20-21, 1941, the Germans began to deport Jews from Płock. On the morning of February 21, the Jewish population was concentrated on Kwiatka Street and between the synagogue and Bielska Street: “… since 4 in the morning, there was light […]
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 of the time of Holocaust”, which is a record of conversations between Tema Lichtenstein and her grandson, Joshua Newman, as well as an audiovisual presentation of the project “Remembrance. Płock 1939”, being the result of six-month research aimed at commemorating all Jewish citizens of Płock living in town at the beginning of World War II. Special photographs for the presentation were made by Among Scratches. The premiere will be accompanied by a concert entitled “Zachor” performed by Płock-based artist 3kropki.
The book “Tema. Memories of the time of Holocaust “:
In 2020, we celebrate the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. On this occasion, the Nobiscum Foundation publishes the book “Tema. Memories of the time of Holocaust”, which is a special record of the testimony of Tema Lichtenstein – a witness to German crimes who survived the Holocaust.
Tema Lichtenstein (1918–2008) was born in Warsaw, since the early 1930s her family lived in Płock. Tema’s father, Jakub Zylbersztajn, ran a carpentry workshop here in the house at 27 Kolegialna Street, where his family lived until the beginning of September 1940. Zylbersztajn presented his furniture, highly valued by the Płock clientele, at the “Art of Płock” exhibition in 1932. After graduating from school (she was a graduate of the Jewish Middle School of Humanities), until the outbreak of war, Tema worked as a clerk. The outbreak of World War II irrevocably changed the life of the Zylbersztajn family. At the end of 1940, Tema, together with her parents and sister Fela, found herself in the Płock ghetto. In February 1941, the Zylbersztajns were deported to the ghetto in Jadów, and from there to Starachowice and Bodzentyn. The parents of Tema, Jakub and Frajda were then deported to the labor camp in Radom, and later to Auschwitz. Jakub then went to Dachau, Frajda to Bergen-Belsen. Tema and Fela worked in an ammunition factory in Starachowice. There they met Jan Ciok from the nearby village of Wąchock, who helped young women escape and find shelter in the home of Teofil Nowak from the village of Bronkowice. Teofil Nowak and his family helped Fela recover from typhus and arranged documents that enabled her to work in Germany. Tema stayed with Teofil Nowak until the end of the war, taking care of his house and his son. Teofil’s sister Helena Senderska was also involved in helping Tema and Fela. On November 21, 1993, Yad Vashem recognized Jan Ciok, Teofil Nowak and Helena Senderska as Righteous Among the Nations. After returning to Płock, shortly after liberation, Tema became involved in a relationship with Dawid Lichtenstein – a friend from the time before the war, a watchmaker. They left for Germany, then to Sweden, where they got married, and in 1951 emigrated to the United States.
The publication of Tema’s testimony, in the form of an interview she gave her grandson Joshua Newman in 1994, is an attempt to preserve the war experience of one of the Jewish families associated with Płock, at the same time the experience of a Jewish citizen of Płock, who throughout her whole life carried tragic memories that she could not share with anyone outside the family. As Joshua Newman points out in the introduction to the interview, after the premiere of Steven Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List”, his film crew recorded a part of Tema’s testimony for the archive that the director created, but many of the episodes that were discussed during her conversation with her grandson have never been preserved on archival tapes, due to the understandable difficulty she had discussing such difficult experience with strangers.
The Nobiscum Foundation has published the book as part of its paid public benefit activity. The book will be available for sale starting from the day of its premiere.
Project “Remembrance. Płock 1939”:
From around 9,000 of Jewish people living in Płock before the outbreak of World War II, only a few survived. When talking about these dark times, we use numbers, often forgetting that specific people are behind them. Men, women and children. Every now and then important, necessary and smart projects arise in the public space that motivate us to take on new challenges. Inspired by the initiative of Dariusz Popiela “People, not numbers” and the project of the Grodzka Gate – NN Theater Center – “Lublin. 43,000”, the Nobiscum Foundation implemented the project “Remembrance. Płock 1939”, the goal of which is to commemorate all Jewish residents of the town of Płock, who perished in the Holocaust and information about whom can be found in archival documents from the World War II period. The results of this huge research , conducted by Gabriela Nowak-Dąbrowska, vice president of the Nobiscum Foundation, will be published at the beginning of March 2020 on the JewishPlock.eu website run by the foundation. Before this happens, we will present those results on 1 March in a multimedia form, which, apart from the names of the Płock Jews, will be based on photographs specially created for this purpose by Among Scratches.
jewishplock.eu/en/remembrance-plock-1939/
www.facebook.com/AmongScratches/
3kropki:
A solo project of Krzysztof Piotrowski from Płock, guitarist of the band Schrottersburg. During the premiere, the artist will play music specially prepared for the occasion entitled “Zachor”, inspired by the history of the local Jewish community and dedicated to Jews from Płock who perished in the Holocaust.
www.facebook.com/3kropki-113179249233215/
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 […]
